Hose stuffed in heater core nipple.....

[shadango]

We are reinstalling our rebuilt slant 6 in our 80 volare....doing an inventory of things I came across a weird thing.....looks like someone stuck a pice if hose inside the one heater core tube.....

First I thought maybe they had a leak in the tube and used the hose to "fix" it somehow but that wouldn't work....

Maybe they did it to restrict flow?

 

[Aspen500]

Have never seen that before. I've seen the nipple on the engine have a restrictor (just a smaller hole in the fitting) and some with an inline restrictor placed inside one of the heater hoses (Ford's mainly).
From my understanding, it's to limit pressure surges in the core, like on sudden WOT acceleration. Keeps the core and/or tanks from ballooning.

Why some have a a restrictor of some sort and others don't, no idea.

 

[BudW]

Around ’80 or so, Chrysler changed heater hose sizes. The Older cars (‘60’s – not sure of year breakdown off hand) and newer cars ~81 and up, again not sure of year of change) used both 5/8” heater hoses.

A majority of the ‘70’s cars used 5/8” on one hose and ½” hose on other heater hose.

The fitting is not too hard to change when changing engines from one year to another year.
On small blocks, change the heater hose fitting on intake. On big blocks, change fitting on water pump housing. Not sure on /6, but I know the fitting is there and is different.

I have seen people add tape or another hose on top of the smaller fitting (either engine side or on heater core side) to use the larger (5/8") hose - instead of getting or reusing the correct fitting!

Now, if this is not what you are referring to, then IDK.

BudW

 

[Aspen500]

He's got a rubber reducer INSIDE the heater core tube. Not sure if it is a stock thing or was added by someone as a restrictor. It appears to be a piece made for that purpose.

I remember adding a restrictor to Ford products sometime in the late '80's(was a Ford tech from 1986-2007) as part of a TSB or maybe it was a recall (I don't recall, lol) It had something to do with preventing heater core failure but didn't affect the heat output at all. It restricted the inlet to around 1/4" or so.

 

[shadango]

Well, the heater did work before, though it was may, we checked it....so gonna leave it as is for now I guess unless someone thinks it will cause damage....seeing as restrcities are apparantly common, I don't see why it should be an issue if this was the goal of whoever pUT it there.....

 

[Aspen500]

It must have been put there for a reason or,,,,,,was always there since new. To get good heat, you don't need that big of an inlet opening. As I said, some are only 1/4" and still can cook you out of the car on a balmy winter day of -20 degrees.

 

[droptop]

My 80 did not have that when I changed the heater core. I don't think it is a factory thing. I would say someone put that in there for what ever reason.

 

[doublechaz]

When my heater core popped it was when I dropped the hammer, so a restrictor might make sense.

 

[BudW]

A leaking heater core on a 30+ year old car – could be normal (ie: not caused by anything - but age).

 

[doublechaz]

In my case it wasn't leaking at all and then I floored it for about 4 seconds to clear some traffic and at the end it was hissing. I guess it dpeneds on what you mean by 'caused'. Certainly 40 years was a factor, the higher volume water pump was probably a factor, but the immediate and summary factor was sudden pressure from the wound out engine. I wasn't surprised by this, just had to turn off the heat for the drive home and then loop the hoses until the core arrived.

 

[BudW]

The heater core on my 38k mile Volare, started to leak.
Not hissing or pouring yet. It is only leaving a film on windshield, at this time.