I found the cause of the Tiger's leaking cooling system (I couldn't
find any obvious leaks anywhere else) and occassional coolant smell, and
running hot, tonight when I took out the heater core. It is rusted at
the bottom front and has obviously spring a leak. It's going to the
radiator shop tommorow for repair. As is often noted, the ends were
expanded out a lot, making very difficult to remove from the box it sits
in. I had to gradually pry it out. I'm going to see if the shop can
fashion some kind of plates on the ends to keep them from bulging out
again. (I use a 13 lb. radiator cap, by the way. Is this the correct
pressure?).
The "flipper" that controls air flow to the passenger compartment
(underneath the heater core) has broken off from the small plate that
screws to it, that "plate" being connected to the screen control
(Off/Car/Screen). Looking down the heater box to the flipper, I can not
figure out how I can re-attach that little plate to the flipper so it
moves when I move control lever on the dash. In fact, I can't figure out
how the heck the factory installed it in the first place. The plate
was/is held on by two very small screws, it looks like. On my car, one
of the screws has pulled away from the flipper, the other screw appears
to have broken (the head is in the "plate" and the tip of the screw is
in the flipper).
Has anyone out there made this repair, and what tools did you use to do
it. There is really not enough room down there to hold tiny screws and
turn them in with a screwdriver, or whatever. Or is there?
Also, it appears that I should entirely line the bottom of the heater
box with a gasket, on which the core will sit again tommorow night.
Correct on this too?
Thanks for the usual help!!
Steve Sage
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