For the past few days I've noticed my windows fogging up worse than normal and a smell of coolant inside of my disco. At first I thought the smell could be coming in through my vents due to a small leak that I have at the heater plate under the hood (have the parts to replace I just haven't found the time); however, yesterday I rolled down the windows to help with my fogging problem and noticed steam coming from under the dash. Immediately I knew what my problem was. I went out this morning and looked to see if the O-Rings were leaking and it appears that no coolant is coming from the connections. It looks like it's coming from somewhere on the core itself and running down the casing and into the passenger side vent.

Has anyone that is fairly mechanical taken apart the dash before, do I really have to disconnect the HVAC system? I'm trying to decide if this is something I want do myself or if it would just be worth saving the headache and taking it in. I've replaced the head gasket myself and that didn't scare me as much as bleeding the air conditioning and getting my dash apart and back in to where it won't squeak every time I take a corner.

To clarify I have a 2000 Disco II with 140,000 miles. Thank you in advance for all the help. I don't know how far in debt I would be if this forum didn't exist.

 

I recently had this same issue on my 04. After exploring the options and getting some advice from some of the experienced members on the board--I decided to have a local indi shop do the work. Apparently you have to pull off the whole dash/fascia, but you can check out this link for a possible way to change the core without going this route: http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdet...eatercore.html. That link is for a Range Rover.

That being said, the job cost me ten hours in labor ($90/hr) and $150 for the heater core. If you are in the DC metro area, I'd be happy to reccomend the shop that I used.

 

Thanks for the advice, I think you're right about having it done. Does anyone know of any good shops in the Atlanta area? Also, can I get by with bypassing the heater core completely until I can figure out how I'm going to pay for it to be fixed?

 

You can bypass the heater. Take a look at page 26-2-4 of the Rave Manual for the cooling system coolant flow. Part 3 is two hoses that are the entry and exit hoses for the heater core. If you take the hose that coolant flows into the heater and connect it to the heater return pipe, you will bypass the heater.

This is what I was told by the mechanic before I decided that I could not go without heat for the winter. Some of the more experienced folks on here may offer a different idea or opinion with regards to bypassing the heater.

 

That's exactly what I ended up doing. I just wanted to make sure it does not have to be an open loop system. The hose is a little kinked and may not allow much flow. I drove down the interstate for about ten minutes to make sure it would be okay to get to work tomorrow and everything seemed okay.