Trickling water sound in heater core.

brian2sun

brian2sun

Elite Member
When I'm driving and I have the temp. control moved to heat, if I get above 3000 rpms I can hear trickling water behind the dash which I'm sure is my heater core. Anyone else had this noise?

AFAIK, my heater core is the o.g. 13 year old one and I'm assuming it's probably a little corroded/plugged up and I'm not looking forward to replacing it. One thing I figured I'd try before I go tearing apart my whole dash is removing the core's inlet and outlet hoses on the firewall and simply blowing it out backwards with a garden hose (a suggestion by someone on a thread on yotatech). I can't find a picture or anything in the FSM on which hose is which, can anybody tell me?
 
Register to hide this ad
JohnsD90 said:
Dammit, this sucks, i thought your problems were solved. I feel for ya man, atleast your no leaking.
Click to expand...

I'm glad it's not leaking (yet) too. This has actually been going on for a few months now. I had to put it on the backburner so I could solve my engine problems, but now that it's running nice and healthy I'm ready to take care of this heater core BS. After that I have to put my sliders on (which have been staring at me for a couple weeks now) and then get some new door light triggers. Then it'll be tip top!
 
Are you sure it's not just your coolant level that needs to be adjusted?
Usually, this sound is because the coolant is low and it's the air you hear in the heater core.
 
I would try bleeding the system before taking it apart...
Put the nose of your truck higher than the back so the rad cap is higher than any other part of the system, let it run till normal working temp. and then revi it a couple of time up to 3000-3500 rpm. If there is air in the system, it should get out.
 
Charlee78 said:
I would try bleeding the system before taking it apart...
Put the nose of your truck higher than the back so the rad cap is higher than any other part of the system, let it run till normal working temp. and then revi it a couple of time up to 3000-3500 rpm. If there is air in the system, it should get out.
Click to expand...

Welp, too late. I took the inlet/outlet hoses off tonight and blew it out with the garden hose. A bunch of green crap blew out right at first and it seemed a little obstructed. I put the hose on each tube and blew it out both ways and it cleared out and flowed freely after a few seconds. No more noise while driving so far! My Dad said the same thing about air in the system so if I hear it again I'll try bleeding it. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
It's still not making any noise so I'll go ahead and call this one fixed. If any of you guys are getting the trickling thing, blow it out with the hose before you loose your mind tearing apart the dash to replace the heater core, it works!
 
I have the same problem.... Any pics of the hoses to disconnect and where to blow it out from? Thanks
 
atokin said:
I have the same problem.... Any pics of the hoses to disconnect and where to blow it out from? Thanks
Click to expand...

heaterhoses.jpg~original


Not the greatest pic, but they're where the light is shining (connected to the firewall). The one on the passenger side is the outlet and next to it towards the driver side is the inlet. I blew it out backwards, then forwards, backwards again, etc.. about 5 times with the garden hose. It hasn't made any noise since. Post your results too!
 
Hey Brian2Sun, I've got the exact same problem as well as my radiator fluid slowly leaking out. I have to add water about every 3-4 days. But the trickling noise started a couple weeks ago. So, could you elaborate a little about "blew it out backwards, then forwards, backwards again, etc"? I'm wanting to try your fix, but i'm not sure exactly what you mean by that.

Should i disconnect both hoses in the image and blow water through them, or disconnect both hoses completely at both ends and flush them out? Sorry, never done this and am learning how to maintenance my vehicle myself. Thanks!
 
SDsurfer said:
Should i disconnect both hoses in the image and blow water through them?
Click to expand...

You disconnect those hoses in the image above and blow the water through the firewall via the inlet and outlet. Then hook the hoses back up and see if the trickling went away.
 
Is there somewhere further back that you could disconnect the hoses and blow water through them? I would rather hook it up to a jug and collect what I am blowing out rather than just flushing it down the drain.
 
canuck-t4r said:
Is there somewhere further back that you could disconnect the hoses and blow water through them? I would rather hook it up to a jug and collect what I am blowing out rather than just flushing it down the drain.
Click to expand...

You can use a shop-vac and suck it (sorry) rather than blowing it.

I use my shop-vac whenever doing coolant evacuation. It does a better job getting everything cleared out.
 
Last edited:
SDsurfer said:
I've got the exact same problem as well as my radiator fluid slowly leaking out. I have to add water about every 3-4 days. But the trickling noise started a couple weeks ago.

Are you saying the fluid is leaking from the heater core itself or just from the radiator? if you've got a small leak in the heater core then stop using it before it fully ruptures and blows green/red all over windshield (happened to me not just once but twice!)
Click to expand...
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread but does anyone have a picture of where to access the hoses to the heater core? I don’t believe the picture from the OP is still available.

Also, after you flush the heater core and connect the hoses, do you need to bleed the cooling system of all air again too? Or should it be ok to just make sure the radiator and reservoir is topped off?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 462 (members: 2, guests: 460)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,316
Messages
3,554,111
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top