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gouba

e30 interior coolant leak

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I have diagnosed a problem with my e30, I pulled up my carpet to find the base of the carpet in the passenger foot well wet with coolant. Based on this I figured I have a general heater core fail.

I tried to replicate this with the carpet off pinpoint the source of the leak but I couldnt get coolant to leak. The other day, i parked my car in a sharp decline (nose downhill) and noticed that coolant then leaked into the footwell.

So based on this what is the most likely component to be failing and causing the leak? Would I have to replace everything (the heater still produces heat) or do I have a damaged/split O ring somewhere in the mix?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Matt

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I have heard the valve (that switches the water on) is a failure point over the core itself.

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My culprit was the lower heater hose that goes into the firewall. Check it from the engine bay. It's snuggled right between the engine and the firewall.

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Pressure test the cooling system and you'll find the leak

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If it turns out to be this then here's some info.

Photo of the heater exchange valve here (- the blue hoses :) )

The top rivets on the top pipe are what fails ... you need to replace the whole thing if it pops as the plastic turns to s***. Remove the glove box and right hand kick panel to access it.

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