Heater smells, need help. (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 29, 2006
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20
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107
Location
Madison, MS
Website
www.bowtielawyer.ms
How do you replace a heater core, is this doable for a novice wrencher?

When I turn the thermostat to anywhere past 65, it starts blowing warm, smelly air..a faint burnt smell, musty, etc.... I searched here, and found just a few post with heater smell complaints and none seem to be on point.

It does it regardless of sitting, idling, driving, throttle or not. It does it even after its warmed up. I checked the cabin filters, it has none. I saw that a battery could be too blame but those symptoms were not exactly like mine, and the battery is 2 years old, and I only have one.

No I did not eat beans, mexican or the like last night.

Any thoughts?
 
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Try turning the heat up flat out, doors open set on recirculate and let it heat up and dry out the duct work and heater/evaporator cores to help get rid of the smell. Also make sure your evaporator drain is clear and not holding water in the bottom of the evap.
 
Also check the intake grills located below the windshield and check to make sure they're not blocked by leaves ect...

I think the evap drain is the most likely culprit. If you do a search there are some posts with good pictures to help locate it.
 
Okay, I carried out the suggested courses of action.

I cleaned the drain and there was some gunk and it seemed to smell like the odor I described...however the smell is still there when I run the heater and it spewed a cloud of dust or burnt something.

It is like there is a liquid inside that is being burned off and coming through the vents...its pretty bad. Also, there was a green liquid on the drain, almost like engine coolant, but it uses red coolant.

Any other thoughts, is it possessed?
 
have you tried spraying something like Lysol etc in the intake to kill any mold?

(try and be sure it won't damage plastics etc)
 
Now that the drain is working it's time to get some cleaner flushed through there.

Install some cabin filters so that you don't get the dust build up again.
 
Has anyone replaced a Heater Core? Is this something I can do with no specialized tools? Searches on here have not revealed a lot of information and googling shows it to be an 11 hour job by the book, potentially, of course, no other details...

ANy advice?
 
Are you sure its the heater core and not someone? Take a shower and try again.
:lol:
 
i think bg sells this product that you spray into the drain and it foams up in there and cleans everything out
 
On a serious note, this is a rare occurence from the heater core. Not much in the way of moisture in the winter to support mold growth. Summer and AC are much more likely. Same thing just happened to me and it turned out that there was a plastic bag stuck to the exhaust. Everything the exhaust heated up, you would smell it.
Scraped it off and all is fine.
 
Cpcc reminds me of a similar problem I saw in one of the shops at work recently. A car had driven over some roadkill and splattered flesh on the rear 1/3 of the exhaust. It was only getting hot enough to rot but not hot enough to burn. The whole car smelled like a rotting carcass.

Maybe an underbody/underhood inspection is warranted.
 
Thanks for responses, defintely a heater core gone bad. Started leaking coolant in the cabin, smoking through vents, smelled awful.

At the shop now, as i understand it is a total PITA to change.


Shop told me it is pretty rare in LC's and only had one Lexus in for this repair. Happens to lots and lots of camrys...
 
The fact that you had green coolant showing on the drain may be a sign that this was caused by the improper coolant corroding the system.

What is the total damage ? do you know the vehicle history ?
 
After much gnashing of teeth and having to drive the YJ for almost 2 weeks the 100 is back home. Heater core went bad. They ordered new core and when it came in it was the wrong one. LC has a standard and a heavy duty, or so I am told, being in MS they figured I had the standard, well it was not.

Anyway, got it back and had a bunch of gremlins in the system, seat heaters did not work interior lights would not come on etc...had to take it back. Finally got everything working.

Figured out that when my fan clutch was replaced 8 months ago they replaced my fluid...assured me that they only used toyota original parts, I gues fluid aint a part. Sometime after that change the heater core goes bad and fluid leaked everywhere. The shop swore the fluid had nothing to do with it, of course.

Had her back for a few weeks now and no other issues. Heat works great and I am satisifed as I can be. It was an expensive repair though with a lot of down time. Over 800 bucks at the independent LC shop. The dealer wanted over a grand and said it would be weeks before the could get the part...they did not want to fool with it, I guess.

So the moral is make sure you stick to red coolant and sell your cruiser before the heater core goes bad.
 
Ouch...sorry too hear. Hope all works well in the future!
 

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