i beleive my heater core is going bad (antifreeze smell, foggy windshield) and i heard that you can bypass the heater core. do you just put in a peice of hose to connect the 2 heater hoses at the firewall? or is it something else? also will this hurt my engine in anyway? got to get time and money to replace the core.

 

it wont hurt the engine at all it just by passes the heater core so no more heat in the cabin in the winter. What i did on my truck same principle applys here is this: cut the hoses from the firewall off at the firewall. Take the feed hose from the engine and pull off the return hose that went from the firewall to the engine and put the feed hose onto the connection where the return went. And you have bypassed the heater core

 

thanks spike, would people recomend doing the heater core on your own, or take it to the dealership?

 

well you have to pull the entire dash almost ot get to it. If you live in a place where it doenst get to cold like Fl then screw that and just leave it alone.

 

You can buy a bypass from autozone as well. I have mine bypassed right now, but my new one is sitting on my floor.

 

lol...

i need my heat...

 

can a bad heater core keep my a/c from cooling?

 

no... a/c is completely different...

it runs off the belts...

the heater core takes warm coolant and runs it through a radiator looking thing where air runs through to make warm air... if you live in a warm climate then it aint needed... just dress warm for them rare days...

 

if you go to stangnet.com there is a great how-to post on doing the heater core yourself, im in the same boat as you, mine was bypassed when i bought the car, and im hoping i dont need it this winter.

 

Just so the next curious person knows...YES!, is the correct answer.
A bad/leaking heater core doesn't actually cause the A/C to not work, but the leaking
hot water in the mixer box causes warm air and steam to mix with the cold air from the A/C side and it won't blow cold.