I have had to replace the heater core in my '91 Suburban at least 4 times in the past 3 years. Unfortunately, I have used Barr's Stop Leak and other such stuff in the past. Could it be that this stuff has built-up in the water jacket of the engine, and has become corrosive to copper over time?
Mark
Are you replacing them because they get plugged up or because they leak?
Doc
I replaced a couple that had the hoses put on opposite sides...pumped the sludge from the block back into the core and plugged it up real good...
I swear by Alumaseal.....great stuff.....
On his truck, one line comes from the intake (feed line) one line goes to the radiator (return line). Reversing these connections to the core would do absolutely nothing as it's still coming from and going to the same place.
Doc
Somebody posted this in June of last year:
Assuming all else is in order, and they really are putting new ones in, this sounds like the same problem that's shown up on some Fords. Due to poor grounds there is some electricity actually flowing thru the coolant and it causes electrolysis, which corrodes the hell out of the heater core. You can check for it by measuring the voltage reading (with the engine running) between coolant and ground. With the rad cap off, stick one voltmeter probe into the coolant about an inch and hook the other probe to battery negative. If you get more then about 0.33 volts you may have an electrolysis problem. Do a search on google and you'll probably find lots of info. On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 16:52:35 -0500, "Defiant" wrote: Hi all I seem to have a problem with my 95 Chevy Silverado pickup that is really getting out of hand and I need some advice or some help. In the last 2 1/2 years I have had 4 heater cores replaced in this truck and the last one went out Friday is there a problem with the Chevy trucks or am I just having a string of bad cores. On the last one the guy who installed it said the old one looked like it had a burn mark in it does anyone have any info on this? Wednesday morning I'm returning it to the same shop for another replacement core under warranty but this time they are installing a GM core instead of a aftermarket core.
I know what you mean about the truck.....If memory serves..(which normally mine SUCKS) it was on a Grand Am or something comparable. The flow made a difference in the performance of the heater. It had to do with how the antifreeze flowed throught the system.
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