If anyone has any knowledge or advice on how much work is involved in replacing the heater core on 123 car. (82 240d)

I plan to replace my anti-freeze mixture today and before draining the system I thought I would add some "radiator flush" to clean system.

However, I would skip the flush at the advice of this forum.

My concern is that the flush would work "too good" and cause leaks in the heater core. (this happened to me with years ago with Taurus, which was a nightmare to replace)

Anybody, have any experience or general advice?

Thanks,
dave

I usually pull the radiator and take a look into the outlets/inlets. If I don't see any/little crud I don't bother flushing. Flushing is a real pain, time consuming and makes a mess, dumps a lot of toxic chemicals on the driveway, etc. I like to do a partial coolant change once a year. I dump the radiator and then top off with fresh stuff. Works for me. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

Mercedes flush medium is only citric acid. That should not adversely effect any of the related components. Other aftermarket solvents are likely to be way too corrosive, which would account for eating the heater core on your Taurus.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

I just removed the heater core from an 82 300D. Needed to pull the dash. Heater core is found in the big black plastic box right in the center of the dash. It is attached to the ac condensor and the fan coming in from the left side in another plastic box.
A real pain to disentangle all of the wires and heater controls running around and through that big box. The core itself appears to be made from aluminum, or some sort of light metal. If you follow the heater hoses up to the center area of the firewall you can see just where the core is located.

If there is no leak or blockage in the heater core, I would not mess with it. This is the epitome of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

You can simply remove the hoses at the firewall, and flush it with clear water. The other safe choice would be Mikes Citric Acid recommendation.

Unless there are problems of some sort, you can simply flush everything with water and put in fresh antifreeze.

Good luck,

Well the decision is unanimous,

I really appreciate you gentlemen's input!

All advice stated was very usefull.

The bottom line is that I will flush with water only.

I worked several hours today installing a block heater. Not quite finished yet, Hope she's water tight.

thanks again.
dave

I hope you took notes and/or pictures of the block heater install. Let us know how it works.

__________________
Orland Park, IL
1985 300SD 215,000 miles

Billrok,
Unfortunately I did not take pictures as I am not up to speed with the high-tech digital cameras and such...yet
I am only half done with the job so far. I do have the heater element installed in the block, but still have to reassemble some things before I can try her out.
I'll let you know how it works as we are having some faily cold weather. (20's at dawn last few days)
I'm sure its colder in Illinois.