Talk about a Bummer!

[57AGIN]

Rick and I were driving home from the Knott's Ford Car Club Council meeting this afternoon.  We wanted to check out how much boost showed on the Boost/Vacuum gauge at about 5000 rpm.  Well, I hit the throttle and read the tach at 5000 rpm, Rick yelled for me to shut it down.  Seems like to water heaters core at Rick's feet sprung a leak and was getting him & my new carpet soaked with coolant.  After getting some detail cloths out of the trunk for Rick to keep the spray from hitting him, I drove the car home gently. I then spent the rest of the day using the shop vac to dry out the carpet, followed up by using a Rug Doctor to shampoo and dry the carpet again and then cleaning off the leather seats and door panel.  Bummer.  Tomorrow after draining the coolant I'll remove the heater in order to get the core repaired again.  I'd had it re-cored before reassembling the car in 2004.  This time, when it goes back together I think I'll install another shutoff valve to ensure isolation of the heater during the warm weather out here. (see photo) NOTE: This photo was taken before installing the blower and the car hadn't been repainted yet.  I believe this photo was taken during the winter as the hose shut off valve is in the open position, allowing hot water to flow into and through the heater core.

The last time this happened was in 1965 in my 65 Mustang.  I was doing 100 mph at the end of the quarter mile at Lions Drag Strip, when all of a sudden the car filled with steam and I couldn't out of the car.  I immediately shut the engine down, rolled the driver side window down so I could see out of the car, I thought I'd really blown the engine.  When I got the car off the strip, I found the passenger side thoroughly soaked with coolant.  Seems like the heater hose connection to the heater had blown off the connection to the heater inside the car.  That one was an easy fix, but from then on during hot weather the car always smelled of coolant.  Hope this doesn't happen with the 57, that's why I spent a lot of time today cleaning up the mess.  I didn't have a shop vac or access to a rug shampoo machine back in 1965.

Bob
57 AGIN

[RICH MUISE]

Bob..LOL..your experiences bring back memories..back in the mid 70's in Huntington Beach I had a rare 67 Cougar GT( talk about a car I never should have got rid of)...a daily driver that was anything but dependable...only kept it about 6 months. The last straw was a late night run to the 7-11 for cigarettes. On the way back I nailed it, and blew a heater hose inside the car..as you said, filled the car with steam and couldn't see where I was going. My fix was easier..I had had it with the car, and the next day I traded it in. Priority back then was dependability to get to my job.Think I bought a station wagon...yuk.

[Ford Blue blood]

Bob solder a wire to the core before you put it back in the heater box and then ground it to a good ground on the body or the engine.

[57AGIN]

Ford Blue Blood:

Interesting suggestion.  How would this help with preventing another blowout of the heater core at high rpm.  Believe me, I do appreciate the advice, but am curious.  I do plan on putting the car back onto the drag strip as soon as a quarter miler opens in Southern Calif.  I was going to dyno the car this coming week, oh well the dyno will still be there in another couple of weeks.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Ford Blue blood]

The heater core being ungrounded allows electrolitic erosion to occur.  The reaction between disimilar metals causes one of them to sacrifice to the other.  Steel loves copper, so copper looses because the slight impurities in the coolent provide the conduit for that erosion.  The action is much the same as the plating process, current flows from the sacrificial metal to the part being plated and carries the plating material with it.  Grounding the heater core eliminates the current path between the block and the coppoer core.

[57AGIN]

Ford Blue Blood:

Thanks, that explanation makes sense.  I wonder why grounding provisions aren't made in the first place?  Oh well, I'll be dismantling the heater today and getting the core removed for repair.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Ford Blue blood]

Back in the day cars were throw away commodities, a 100K car was as rare as hens teeth.  Didn't need to worry with those little issues then.  Most are now grounded, the aluminum cores are even more prone then the copper.