Imagine a warm and nice summer day, cruising along the seashore for a cup of coffee in a nice cafe (overpriced but you don't care 'cause this is the day you've been working so hard for) with your wife sitting aside. "It was me who rebuild this car and it's my wife sitting here next to me".
Then there are a couple of drops, then more dripping and finally the coolant almost pouring out of the heater core and you know that no good thing can last long. And here, on the left is the reason for my ruined day. It is the the low-cost aluminium heater core that I purchased from NPD when the original gave up three years ago. I do not know whether it is made in Mexico or in China but I do know that it is of inferior quality. Do not buy one !
On the right in the above picture is the original style core which is about to go in. Hecho en Mexico, said the sticker on it. Note the differences on the structure and location of the water inlets. I this case it wasn't the inlet that failed anyhow. It was the core tubing that leaked. The newer has more openings to let the air flow through.
The case itself has been fixed earlier so this time it only to clean it...
... and to re-package it.
I tried to place the hose clamps in such a position that the hoses can be replaced without removing the case. Remember to connect the wires before pushing the case back into the firewall. It's difficult, if not impossible, to do later.
It went in easily (I've done it so many times before) and gives more warm air now.
Oh that would ruin a good outing for sure! It's one of the reasons I re-used my original core after confirming that it had no leaks. I had heard about issues with repro cores.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Alex ! Preserve the original whenever possible. Reconditioned original is probably better than a sloppy repro.
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