Smoke coming from vents! Help!

[Greg5OH]

was driving for about 2 hours, heater off. Get this weird smell, after few minutes windows start foggin up. Put defrost on hi, within a minute i cant see anything! then i notice smoke/vapor from the vents! Dokt know of its cooland or oil, but heat was still working. Blown heater core?
how to remedy this and finish my trip without dying?

 

[Devon Harley]

Sounds like the dash harness is out if its a nasty burnt smell melting wires smell really badd.

 

[Greg5OH]

Nono its not plastic smell its definiky antifreeze, has that weird slick sticky feeling when i wiped the widows. I suspect heater core internal leak. Can i drain the core? Im going to bypass it but would like to flush or drain the remaining coolant out. The vapor still comes thru wirh everything off

 

[colorado_joe]

If you want to do a quick bypass I would suggest the following. Worked for me on a trip with the Heater core leaking into the passenger foot well.

Go to the closest hardware shop.
Get two barbed plumbing fittings that you can screw together. Find some that make a 180 degree turn on each other so the barbs face the same way.
Un-screw both hoses that go into the heater core on the firewall side under the hood.
You'll lose some coolant and it'll be a little messy, but not bad.
Put on the barbed fittings and you'll be bypassing the heater core.
Get home and find yourself a new heater core.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Nono its not plastic smell its definiky antifreeze, has that weird slick sticky feeling when i wiped the widows. I suspect heater core internal leak. Can i drain the core? Im going to bypass it but would like to flush or drain the remaining coolant out. The vapor still comes thru wirh everything off

Heater core popped. No big deal, easiest repair than you'll ever do on this truck. Disconnect hoses from core in the engine bay. Blow air in one port of core, coolant will come out the other port as core empties partially (this saves the mess on your carpet later). Remove glove box. Remove heater plenum cover behind it. Pull old heater core out. Put new heater core in. Reinstall plenum cover (may have to use a bit of silicone on it if the factory seal tears). Reinstall glove box. Hook up hoses in engine bay. Now is a good time to replace said hoses, they are 5/8" size, buy in bulk by the foot (it's cheaper). Remove rad cap, fire up engine, let run for a few min, adding coolant as needed, reinstall rad cap. Be on your merry way. 22-25 min from start to finish if you're replacing hoses and simply slice old ones w/ razor blade to make 'em let go of the heater core and engine ports.

In the mean time you can bypass the core, yes. Just connect its two hoses together. Blow air thru core to purge most of the coolant.

 

[chris142]

Heater core popped. No big deal, easiest repair than you'll ever do on this truck. Disconnect hoses from core in the engine bay. Blow air in one port of core, coolant will come out the other port as core empties partially (this saves the mess on your carpet later). Remove glove box. Remove heater plenum cover behind it. Pull old heater core out. Put new heater core in. Reinstall plenum cover (may have to use a bit of silicone on it if the factory seal tears). Reinstall glove box. Hook up hoses in engine bay. Now is a good time to replace said hoses, they are 5/8" size, buy in bulk by the foot (it's cheaper). Remove rad cap, fire up engine, let run for a few min, adding coolant as needed, reinstall rad cap. Be on your merry way. 22-25 min from start to finish if you're replacing hoses and simply slice old ones w/ razor blade to make 'em let go of the heater core and engine ports.

In the mean time you can bypass the core, yes. Just connect its two hoses together. Blow air thru core to purge most of the coolant.

This.

 

[franklin2]

You will continue to get some smell and a little fog till what has leaked dries up in the heater duct. If you change the core, you can wipe this out with a rag and it clears up quicker.

 

[Greg5OH]

thanksfully hardware store was only 15 mins away. Got a 1/2" 90elbow and linked the two hoses together. put a foot of hose on the supply line in the core, blew out another pint or so of coolant, smell gone! but jeeeezzzz coming back i was FREEZING

 

[icanfixall]

All the above is correct but let me add this from what has happened to me with this job... I lost the oem heater core many years ago. Got a parts store core for about $20.00 and installed it.. Damn thing lasted about 18 months. Got another one... Damn... It didn't last as long.. So I went to Ford and paid for some peace of mind... Been many years now with no leaks.. There are some things we just need to buy at the dealer. It really is a simple job. Done once and your an expert telling others how to do it. I think the only tool needed is a 5/16 socket and a screw driver. A razor works very well on the old hoses. Doing this job is a great time to replace the hoses. The hot line from the passenger head feeds the heater. Then the cool coolany feeds the water pump. I really don't think it matters which side of the heater core sees the hot coolant.. Maybe someone can tell all of us if this is true..

 

[franklin2]

There have been problems also with some of the aftermarket cores not fitting the heater duct box correctly in the 80-86 trucks. Not sure if it's a problem on the later trucks. And watch out, some of the aftermarket cores are aluminum. Some of these coolant combinations you guys run do not protect aluminum in the cooling system.

 

[purg113]

my local parts store is telling me my 89 has the same heater core as my 93. how true is that?

 

[Greg5OH]

thanks for the info icanfixall. I provably should have bought an oem throe out bearing as well, 10 months after i installed a premium partstore one, ready making noise. And the one in my stang ony lasted a year

 

[OLDBULL8]

How many heater cores do you want? These are copper cores. No I won't ship to Canada. If yours looks like this, I have four of them.