Zombie Slayer: Coolant Filter Install

UMR_Engnr

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I'm going to be installing a coolant filter on my truck and had a few questions. Here is a pic of the setup I intend on using.

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The filter head is a Napa 4019. The line from water pump (return line) will run into the top tee and out to the heater core. The line from the block (feed line) will run into the front tee at the 90degree fitting and into the heater core. As you can see in the pic, I plan on placing a ball valve in the feed line after the filter but before the heater core. My thought is that I can use this to shutoff flow to my heater core in the summer, and that it would be a little simpler (more reliable?) than the ranger vacuum controlled bypass. Is it okay to block this line and not bypass it? The filter will act as a bypass to some degree, but will it cause too much flow through the filter since it is intended to be a bypass filter (I read that restrictive)? Is there any expectation that flow through the heater core circuit is unimpeded, or does engine coolant circulation not care if the core is blocked off?

Also, I get water in my cab where the heater core comes out at the firewall. What are people using to seal this up? Is there a foam piece readily available?

Thanks for the help.
 
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IDIBRONCO

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This may be a stupid question, but are you sure your heater core isn't leaking?
 

UMR_Engnr

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Yep, only happens when it pours outside and my truck is parked uphill. If I park with the nose downhill all is well. I'm going to redo the hoses with Gates Green Stripe hose, so I figured I'd fix it while I had the hoses off.
 

OLDBULL8

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There is a drain line for the heater/AC core, it might be plugged up, it drains the condensation when the AC is on. Also there is a drain for the cowl.

Slay those Walking Dead.
 

UMR_Engnr

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That looks like a gas line ball valve to me?

The ball valve is from McMaster-Carr. Specifically, #4082T43.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#ball-valves/=zb4fnr

NPT Female × Male
*Max. Pressure for Water, Oil, and Inert Gas:
*1/4"-2": 600 psi @ 100° F
*2 1/2"-4": 450 psi @ 100° F
*Max. Pressure for Steam: 150 psi @ 366° F
*Temp. Range: -50° to +400° F
*Vacuum Rating: 29.9" Hg

It has an appropriate temperature range and can run water, oil, and inert gas. I figured that it would be fine to run water and antifreeze. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can always swap it out later if it starts leaking.
 

UMR_Engnr

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There is a drain line for the heater/AC core, it might be plugged up, it drains the condensation when the AC is on. Also there is a drain for the cowl.

Slay those Walking Dead.

Cowl drains are clear. That is one of the first things I did when I bought the truck. They were chock full of all sort of nasty stuff. My AC doesn't work. I'm confident the leak is due to water running down the firewall and then back into the cab when parked on an incline. I thought about just caulking it up, but I've seen foam blocks with two holes for the heater core for other applications, and thought if I could do it more OEM I would.

My wife coined "Zombie Slayer". My two girls (3 and 5) call it "Big Truck" and love riding in it. That alone was worth the modest purchase price. When I first bought it, the last letters on my license plate were EMP completely by coincidence. Very befitting of this truck that just needs one wire to run.
 
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UMR_Engnr

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Ok, I looked into this some more and I'm not convinced about just blocking off the lines. I'm going to remove the ball valve, and use a Ford vacuum modulated coolant bypass valve (Ranger bypass mod). I'll then grab an EGR solenoid valve and harness from Pick n Pull, and run it to an electric push button switch that I'll locate on the blank area of my right side of my climate control panel.

This way I'll be able to electrically shuttoff my heater core whenever I please and it won't be tied to Max AC.
 

BioFarmer93

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My wife coined "Zombie Slayer". My two girls (3 and 5) call it "Big Truck" and love riding in it. That alone was worth the modest purchase price. When I first bought it, the last letters on my license plate were EMP completely by coincidence. Very befitting of this truck that just needs one wire to run.

Sometimes my daughter calls Henry "The apocalypse machine"- and the VBV on my Ag-tag just automatically got assigned "Very Big Vehicle".. I did the coolant bypass filter with the valve to isolate the heater core, it works well, but you only change the valve position twice a year, so not frequent enough in my book to warrant anything electrical. To each his own, though.;Sweet
 

UMR_Engnr

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Sometimes my daughter calls Henry "The apocalypse machine"- and the VBV on my Ag-tag just automatically got assigned "Very Big Vehicle".. I did the coolant bypass filter with the valve to isolate the heater core, it works well, but you only change the valve position twice a year, so not frequent enough in my book to warrant anything electrical. To each his own, though.;Sweet
Could you explain your heater core setup? Inline shutoff or bypass? How do you switch it off (vacuum, manual, etc)? I agree I'm probably over-engineering it.
 

BioFarmer93

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Could you explain your heater core setup? Inline shutoff or bypass? How do you switch it off (vacuum, manual, etc)? I agree I'm probably over-engineering it.

I am hooking things back up this morning and it just so happens that heater hoses were next on the list, and things were camera ready so to speak.. The way I ended up doing it actually gives me the option of going inline or bypass (*wasn't planned for that, was done for efficiency). In winter I don't want any of my available hot water skipping the heater core, hence the valve between the supply & return. Conversely, I still want coolant filtering the rest of the year so the "last" valve before entering the cab is closed and the one between the supply & return is opened. The valves immediately before and after the filter are just to keep excess coolant from spilling during a filter change. Photos may help..
 

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UMR_Engnr

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Thanks for the pictures. That's a lot of valves. Do the PEX fittings work out well with the heater hose?
 

79jasper

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You can do it however you want. Your truck.
But I think you over complicated things.
They do have full flow filters, iirc. And the bypass filters are fine too.
I believe most haven't had problems with degraded heat.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 

BioFarmer93

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Thanks for the pictures. That's a lot of valves. Do the PEX fittings work out well with the heater hose?

Perfectly. A 3/4" PEX (or "Sharkbite") barb fitting works perfectly with 5/8" heater hose or fuel vapor hose. I'm using their valves with coolant and fuel, both still work like the day they were installed, zero leakage.
 

DuRolf

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I put ball valves on the lines going to the dash heater core and the auxiliary heater core in the back of the coach.

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