I had to have the original heater core in my 97 F150 replaced in Dec. 04. Today I came home from work and as I pulled into the driveway, smoke came out from under my hood and through the vents with that all too familiar antifreeze odor. A few drips came through into the floorboard. I was running the air conditioning today because it was 75 degrees here today in TN. Anyone hear of this happening that soon? I searched Google and saw a couple of things about electrolysis?

 

I don't think electrolysis would set in that quick. First check where you had it repaired to see if they have had any other problems with brand heater core that they used on your truck. If not I would have them do a pressure test on your cooling system too see if their could be another problem. They can reroute the hoses and check the rest of the system.

 

I've seen them go out in that amount of time. You need to put a ground strap from the heater core to the body when you replace it again, should solve the problem

 

In 10/04, my company truck, a 98 or 99 F-250 5.4L 5-Speed, blew the heater core on a material run from Atlanta to Panama City. Luckily, it occurred in Dothan, AL, and not on the back roads of AL. I walked to a Lowes and bought vice grips to clamp off the heater hose, and I bought 8 gallons of water from Winn Dixie. It was enough to band-aid it back to Panama City. We pulled the maintenance file on the truck at the jobsite and realized the core had been just replaced (within the warranty period). The core was replaced at no charge, since the repair was still under warranty.

 

hey i have same truck and had it replaced 3 times!!! the first one lasted about a year and the next one went in a couple months, they were all done at the dealer. i had to raise holy hell for the second one to get covered, they had no question on the third. the third however was a copper/brass core for a crown vic i think. the stock unit is aluminum, and it was from electrolysis. and they did add a ground wire to the ENGINE BLOCK! good luck...

 

Hi everyone. I need some help here. We own a 1997 F-150. Replaced the heater in Dec of 2005. It has already went out!! Of course the warrenty was only good until Dec 2006. Imagine! LOL. My question is this. does anyone have any idea how to fix it. It cost like 811.00 in Dec 2005 from a dealer. Cant imagine the cost now to take it to a dealer now
Thanks for all help

Kathy B

 

Being that spring/summer is almost here you can just bypass the heater core until you save enough money to have it replaced again.