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Heater smells like antifreeze

X

XJFever

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Anchorage, Alaska
I tried searching and couldn't find anything on this site. It smells kind of funny and actually makes me sick after a while with the heater on. I noticed my antifreeze level has been dropping and kind of put two and two together. Havn't really noticed any liquid on the passenger side floor mat, but the smell does not go away.
Could this be fixed by flushing the heater core or should I replace it? Hopefully it's not a blown head gasket-I've never had to deal with this before. Any Ideas?
 
Sounds like a leak in the heater core or it's fittings.

Flushing it probably will only make it worse by cleaning out whatever particles are in the system that have it partially blocked.

Avoid cooling system stop leaks to fix it. I've seen them completely clog a heater core before.

my$.02
 
X3, it is most likely a leak developing in the heater core.

Kind of a pain in the butt to repair. Part is cheap, but the process to remove/replace is labor intensive. Hope you can do the work yourself, or this repair can be expensive at a shop.
 
I was going to suggest pulling the hoses going to the heater core and bypass it as a temporary fix until you have time to fix it. Then I saw your in Anchorage and probably really want the heater.

If you do a search there are a few good writeups on replacing the heater core.
 
yea i definately would'nt do anything about it if it wasn't 30 degrees and dropping right now. i guess i'll look into the core then. good thing i got a garage to do this all in
 
late models suck. aldata quotes it as a 7.5 hour job i just took one out last week (my first one) and it shouldnt take you more time than that if your only working on that but i have 5 years of shop mechanicing experience. if you dont have much experience dopnt tough it leave it to a tech there way too much stuff that can go wrong
 
I've done enough to my Jeep to want to just tackle this myself. The only thing I'm iffy about is discharging the A/C and i guess just remembering where everything went. I'm gonna have to take lots of pics and use baggies.

What should I use to discharge the A/C?
 
If I'm just replacing my heater core, is it possible to do without dealing with the A/C system? I was told from a carquest guy that it was. (he was reading out of a haynes repair manual, and talked to his mechanic friend)
 
you don't have to discharge the AC system, the AC core is seperate from the heater. Did you check the writeups I posted?

And for the record it is highly illegal to discharge the AC system yourself without the proper equipment. Can't be releasing refrigerant gasses into the open air. If you do need to evacuate the system have a shop do it.
 
yea i checked your links. I have a 99. In the writeup, the evaporator was replaced too. i wasn't sure if i had to mess with the a/c if i was just doing the heater core. Didn't find any info on that.

And yes, I know it is illegal, plus bad for the environment. I wasn't planning on polluting
 
If you can get it apart enough to get the heater core out, you should be able to get away with not opening the AC system. If you DO open it up, make sure you replace the filter/drier assembly when you put it back together. Once left open for more than a few minutes it will have absorbed all the moisture it is able to from being exposed to the air rendering it useless.

Like I mentioned earlier, I've only worked on the 96 and down XJs. Didn't realize you had a 99 until your last post ;) I would go for it and see how much you can get apart without disconnecting the AC lines.
 
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