Heater Core Leaking

[jay79cj7]

I noticed a small spot of antifreeze under my 00 XJ yesterday... It looks like I am dripping out the drain tube on the firewall just over the passenger side frame rail. So, I assume this means that I have a leaking heater core, which sounds like a huge pain to fix.

I have looked into it a bit and it sounds like I am going to have to depressurize and disconnect the A/C system to take out the core. This is even more of a huge pain! Has anybody on here ever had to replace the heater core and is there a way to avoid breaking into the A/C? Obviously I don't want to go pay an arm and a leg to a repair shop to fix this, but it seems like a pretty big undertaking on my daily driver.

What would make my heater core go bad anyway?

I guess I will put a bypass tube in for now and wait until I get a chance to fix it. With Chicago winters and summers, I have to have both heat and A/C!

 

[dingus]

how many miles has it been since you changed your coolant? your heater core is part of the cooling system - antifreeze flows through it. i don't see how your AC lines would be involved at all in this situation, unless they're just in the way???

-nate

 

[jay79cj7]

I don't remember how long, probably about 2 yrs, 40k miles. I was going to change it this fall.
The heater core and the AC stuff are all in the same box I guess, which is why they say I have to remove it all. I am looking for any experience or tricks around it.

 

[jay79cj7]

RE: 1985 cj body mounts stuck and broke

Well, good news and bad news. It wasn't antifreeze leaking. It stopped as suddenly as it started. It turns out that green fluid was compressor oil with UV dye in it. A shot evaporator! Yeah! So this means I have heat for the winter without having to do anything, but it means I have no A/C for the remainder of the summer. The drive to the church in my tux in 2 weeks should be comfy. It also means I don't have to risk screwing up my A/C system tearing into that box, since its already screwed up. I'll probably find a slow weekend and devote it to taking the whole dash area apart. Fun.