Heater Core Poor Boy Fix - photo
 

I read of others doing this, so tried it last Xmas when the car was back. Pot of water w/ silicate "coolant sealant", circulated w/ a 300D electric water pump. My son uses this 84 300D at college in San Diego, so he doesn't need much heat and a slight leak is tolerable. He won't answer whether the fix worked (ungrateful kid wants a new car). That same week, Car Talk had a call from a lady in Santa Cruz. They said "you don't need a heater, well maybe there, but not if you lived in San Diego". I don't think they even put heaters in the cars sold 20 miles away in Mexico.

If you're going to try that stuff that's an excellent way to do it!

-J

A couple years ago a friend had a leaking heater core on a 240D (that I sold him 6 years previous) so we pumped hot "stop leak" through it, and its still fixed:P Theres no way I want to pull a heater core:eek:

Take it from me, it's not an easy job, but I did it.

I found so many things that were done WRONG on my car by 3 previous owners repair guys. The heater core was replaced around 2002, with the OEM replacement, but they didnt even put the heater box back together right, damaged vacuum lines, and had a sensor wire running across one of the defroster vent openings... I could look down in there thru the windshield and see the wire!

When I did mine, I got everything put back where it is supposed to be. There are no rattles and squeaks anymore, because I replaced ALL of the screws, and the missing ones were aquired at my local Benz junkyard.

Now, the heater, and all door flaps work correctly. No vacuum leaks anymore. Total time on the job: about 9 hours. Every time I run the heater now, I feel good.

Nice job. In San Diego an alternative would have been to bypass the heater core and install a small 12 volt heater for the few times heat is needed.

I guess the heater core replacing job on a w115 is a real bear. My indy friend said it was something like a 30 or 40 shop hour job :eek:.