Re: [DMCForum] Re: white haze (Bypassing Heater Core)

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxxxxx>]

> My questions now are --  if coolant is leaking outside the cab, why 
> do its vapors  it condense on the windshield?  Wouldn't I see signs 
> of leaking coolant on the ground where my D is parked?

Lauren, leaks like this usually start out very slow.  As long as coolant is circulating in the heater core, it is hot.  So for very slow leaks, it can mostly evaporate before it finds the drain.

Just before Mike & I drove our cars from Maryland to the Pigeon Forge show, we noticed an oily residue in his condensate drain.  I was sure it was refrigerant oil.  I even tasted it.  (Okay, yeah, I'm crazy, but I spit it back out. :-)  It didn't taste sweet like coolant.  And I was sure that a leaky heater core would drip in the foot-well before it would find the condensate drain.  But then I had never seen one leak on a DeLorean before.  When we took his dash apart, we found to my surprise that his evaporator was clean & free of refrigerant oil residue that would be characteristic of a leak.  Instead his evaporator leak was on one of the tubes sticking thru to the wheel well.  To my surprise, what I thought was refrigerant oil was stale coolant.  It was obvious once we got the heater core out.  He had orange Dexcool in there, BTW -- bad stuff for DeLoreans.

> Is this the tube you mean?  The ~ 3/4" black rubber one?

Nope.  You are looking at one of the refrigerant lines.  What you need to locate is an open-ended black rubber hose.  It's closer to 5/8" OD.  I think I see a bit of it in your photo.  Look behind the bracket holding the accumulator (that aluminum cylinder).  In the middle of the bracket is a bolt.  Directly under that bolt you can see the hose.  The bracket is casting a shadow on it, and there is a tie-strap in front of it.

When you get to the open end of that hose, look in there and see if any of it is oily.  It was on Mike's car.  But then his aircon had not been working for a long time.  In your case, you use your aircon often, so maybe the regular flow of condensate keeps any coolant residue washed clean.  I just thought of that.  Me dummy.  {takes bow}


Walt

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