Given that I rarely have rear seat passengers, and even less often in
winter, when the darned thing kept finding more and more ways to leak, I
just removed it, and freed up some additional storage space.

mcneely

On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 4:01 PM Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> A leak from the rear heater is one of the nastiest failures to happen
> inside a vehicle, worse in a Westy. The coolant will go under the floor of
> the cabinet and travel back and forth in the channels of the floor pan. The
> only way to really clean it is to remove the rear bench and floor. As a
> quick attempt to clean the mess jack the front up and then use a wet vac to
> suck up the coolant that flows back under and to the rear of that seat
> cabinet. The common failure are the heater core itself, the valve, the
> valve flange gasket, and my favorite the top snapping off the bleeder! That
> bleeder is not needed, the rear cores bleeds itself easily, replace with a
> M8X1.0 screw glued and sealed into place.
>
> The core itself fails in two ways. The thin tubes actually erode from the
> coolant passing through it and the end cap gaskets fail. The replacements
> are junk so learn to insect often. Luckily this one is easy to get at. When
> not in heating system keep the valve closed. This reduces flow and the
> thermal changes that help tear these up.  Consider one of industrial or big
> rig diesel coolants that don’t use abrasives as part of the corrosion
> control scheme.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Jeff Palmer
> Sent: Friday, May 15, 2020 4:25 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Leaky rear heater
>
> It’s gotta be the valve. Argh!
>
> > On May 15, 2020, at 3:18 PM, Jack R <jack007@comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > I went with the GW valve, and new core last year when I did my 84 Westy.
> > https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.
> > gowesty.com%2Fproduct%2Fcooling-system-%2F24275%2Fgowesty-rear-heater-
> > core-valve&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7Cb3ee8872b691464e484908d7f90e2359%7C84
> > df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637251711431947984&amp;sdata=
> > EgaGwKuemmqprDAWAs3cQ%2FwCfGfPo5X0BtrGfaUboys%3D&amp;reserved=0
> >
> > No leaks, no smell, plenty of heat!
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> > Behalf Of Eric Caron
> > Sent: Friday, May 15, 2020 2:58 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Re: Leaky rear heater
> >
> > Yes, it was not fun to clean up.  But the valve isn’t usually replaced
> along with the core.  The core does not come with a new valve in may
> experience.
> >
> > There are some plastic tabs in the floor.  They can be removed to help
> with drainage and cleaning.  I removed mine on list recommendation to
> prevent future coolant mess.  I should check them but at the time I duct
> taped them and put water drainage holes too small for mice.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> >
> >> On May 15, 2020, at 2:43 PM, Bruce Todd <beeceetee@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>
> >> Could it be the mechanic didn't mop up all the old coolant seeping
> >> around under the back bench - seems to me the floor of the box around
> >> the rear heater is concealed by thin particle board and hard to clean
> >> underneath it
> >> - perhaps coolant could have been hiding under the heater or particle
> >> board and then shifted / flowed to a visible  area?
> >>
> >> Bruce
> >>
> >>> On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 7:35 AM Jeff Palmer
> >>> <w.jeff.palmer@icloud.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi everyone.  I had my rear heater replace a few weeks ago after
> >>> noticing the smell of coolant.  Didn't notice any leaks, until my
> >>> mechanic told me he saw coolant dripping from the body.  It must
> >>> have been a pretty small leak.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> It's been running fine with no smell since replacement but the other
> >>> day i found a puddle on the ground underneath the rear bench area.
> >>> I took the cover off and keep expecting to see it sitting there in a
> >>> puddle of coolant but nothing.  Is there anywhere else it might be
> >>> leaking if it's not the heater itself?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Thanks
> >>>
> >>> Jeff
> >>>
> >>> 85 Westfalia
> >>>
> >>>
>