Is this a leaking heater core?

[vnthomas18]

I would really appreciate your help. I was wondering how would i be able to bypass the heater core, When the car has been running for awhile, it leaks a lot of radiator fluids(dries a rust color), and leaves the car cabin smelling of fish. The leak is right below the passenger seat, I removed the right front tire and i see the leak(little drain coming from behind the dash). Some friends was telling me that its the heater core but the car carpet isn't wet. Any ideas of what it is. The car is a 2004 ford taurus SE. I REALLY APPRECIATE Y"ALLS HELP. THANKs

[Johnny Mullet]

To bypass a heater core, you need to follow both coolant hoses that go to the core and remove them. Use a pipe nipple and run the two together for a simple bypass.

8 months till Christmas! I would replace the core myself.

[shorod]

Originally Posted by vnthomas18

...When the car has been running for awhile, it leaks a lot of radiator fluids(dries a rust color), and leaves the car cabin smelling of fish. The leak is right below the passenger seat, I removed the right front tire and i see the leak(little drain coming from behind the dash). Some friends was telling me that its the heater core but the car carpet isn't wet.

Most of your description sounds like a heater core, but where is it drying a rust color if the carpet isn't wet? What kind of leak rate out of the drain tube are you talking about here? If the heater core leak is pretty big, you will probably have a wet spot on the carpet. Have you tried blotting the carpet with a paper towel to see if it picks up anything?

When you say leaking right below the passenger seat, I assume you mean in the passenger side footwell beneath the dash, but then I have to wonder what's leaking if the carpet isn't wet.

Does your Taurus have a sunroof?

Also, I've changed the thread title to something meaningful per the forum guidelines that you agreed to when registering on the forum.

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

I wonder if you may have another problem than a leaky heater core. I guess you could have antifreeze leave the heater core the way you described, but I sure wouldn't have thought that would be where it would be going. Are you loosing antifreeze and having to top it off? Does your antifreeze look yellow-ish green to brown or a nice clear green? When you use the heat set on hot and blower on high, does it smell like antifreeze like at your overflow reservoir or like sweet antifreeze or something else? You say it smells fishy. Does it smell fishy when you use the a/c or defrost? The a/c is known to get gook and growth in it that could smell bad, and the condensate from the a/c does drain out the back/underneath the hvac stuff. I pose this only as an alternate possiblity, but it could very well be a leaking heater core. Please let us know what you find.

[vnthomas18]

Originally Posted by shorod

Most of your description sounds like a heater core, but where is it drying a rust color if the carpet isn't wet? What kind of leak rate out of the drain tube are you talking about here? If the heater core leak is pretty big, you will probably have a wet spot on the carpet. Have you tried blotting the carpet with a paper towel to see if it picks up anything?

When you say leaking right below the passenger seat, I assume you mean in the passenger side footwell beneath the dash, but then I have to wonder what's leaking if the carpet isn't wet.

Does your Taurus have a sunroof?

Also, I've changed the thread title to something meaningful per the forum guidelines that you agreed to when registering on the forum.

-Rod

No, no sunroof, its behind the dash its coming from the firewall, and the carpet isn't wet. it leaks on the outside of the car right under the passenger seat. ( outside of the car)......

[shorod]

Ahhh, okay. Does it only leak after you've been using the A/C or defroster? If so, that would be normal. And as tripledaddy suggested, the smell you are getting could be due to mildew in the evaporator housing.

What you may want to try to determine if it's a heater core problem or now would be to buy/borrow a cooling system pressure tester and see if the cooling system will hold pressure at the rated system pressure. Do not exceed the rated pressure. Or, an alternative would be to install cooling system/water system dye into the cooling system and check the end of the drain tube or the puddle that's dripping out side the car for signs of the dye (glows under UV/Black light).

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

Can you stick some newspaper under the car while it sits for awhile to identify the color of what is dripping? If you have to, run the car, run the heat, ac or whatever to get it to leak over the paper. Watery, even if tinted is most likely from the ac, but it won't be slippery and smelly like your antifreeze in the reservoir. Gold, green or inbetween and smell like your antifreeze is, well, your antifreeze leaking. If in fact it is water condensate from your ac, then the evaporator and the case it's in need cleaning. Supposedly there are cleaners available at parts stores, and I think there may even be a procedure already discussed in this or another Ford forum. Probably if this is from the ac, the condensate water became backed up, found something to rust and then grew some gunk. So, to avoid this again, you will want to be sure there isn't any blockage of the ac drain that I will assume for now is what is draining fluid, albeit only partially.