Hello all,

A few days ago I noticed a funny smell inside my car (7A-FE), and I discovered now that the passengers carpet is all wet. Also some steam is coming out from the dashboard when I turn off the engine. (You hear some sizzling sound then)
To me it looks like a leak somewhere inside... I'm afraid it's going to be expensive to find the leak/fix it.

Does anyone has an idea what I could try?

Sounds like heater core to me.

heater core! if you turn the heat all the way to cold does it stop leaking as bad?

There was hardly any cooling fluid left, so I refilled it. But since it's warm nowadays here, I hardly put the heater on, just the cold air. It still leaks when its all the way to cold.

To replace this heater core, it means to remove the whole dash?

yes, its not THAT bad if you take your time. its a good 6-8 hour project if you pay a shop to do it, $700ish in JUST labor. for a DIY'er plan on about a day to take it apart and a day to put it back together. get several trays and organize your bolts and nuts and parts, work slowly, and you'll be OK...maybe.

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Hmm, you are right. Here they asked 700 euros for it. Are there any instructions/diagrams available for how to remove the dashboard?

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I have to do the same thing. I have not found a how to yet but the manual has a decent discription and a few good pics of how to take the dash out. But it looks a lot worse than it is.

This post has been edited by ETNRIDER: Jul 2, 2009 - 10:03 AM

theres worse cars to do a heater core on than a toyota, just gets a little cramped. pull the front seats out for extra room.

i forgot to mention, if you can live without heat for a while then you can bypass the heater core. just loop the heater core coolant lines together with a barbed hose fitting and 2 hose clamps. that way you can still drive it, albeit without heat.