I have a 1998 F150 Lariat Triton 4.6

Out of the blue yesterday a strong odor of coolant started comming out of the vents. Whether I have AC, heat or nothing on at all. I figured it has to be a leak in the heating coil. Yes? There is no visible leakage or odor on the exterior of the vehicle. The odor is very strong inside the cab.

Does anyone have a schematic of where the heating coil is and how to get to it? Or a link to a website with schematics.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

The heater CORE is buried inside the dash on the pass. side of the truck. Do a couple of searches and you should get a link describing the FUN ( not ) this will be. Summary, drop steering column, pull apart dash, say lots of bad words, think about trading as soon as it's back together, finally get to core. takes all of 15mins to actually remove it and reinstall new one, reverse steps that got you to here. Easy. The post, if memory serves me well, estimates one complete day or the most part of a weekend ( counting part store runs and beers to calm back down). The wife's Expy just needed this. Since my AC guy had work left on the AC system rebuild I had him do the heater core as well. I think mine would have been around $700.00 for just the heater core. I just wasn't feeling lucky about the whole thing but it could probably be done by the above average shade tree.

 

Thanks for the reply. I did some investigating locally and I would need to leave it with someone for 2 days and it would cost roughly $400-600. I just don't have the time in my schedule to be without a vehicle for 2 days right now.

So for now I cut the hoses and by passed the core. I won't need heat in the truck until Dec. if at all. At least It doesn't smell inside the cab anymore.


Thanks again for the reply.

 

Search this forum and the interior care forum, crossreferencing with my user name; I did a quick and dirty write up on removing the dash to access the heater core, should you decide to tackle this job yourself later on.

 

Thanks!