Are you going to replace the car heating radiator? read this before

The heating radiator is located inside the passenger compartment and allows us to have calefacción and not be cold in winter. This radiator is part of the vehicle's cooling circuit and transports the antifreeze that circulates through the engine. That's why, it is important to replace it when it has a leak.

As the car warms up, the antifreeze heats up and thus, the air that comes out of the different air nozzles distributed throughout the passenger compartment is heated. For this reason, it always takes a while to start warming up as the engine needs to warm up. This is what you should know if you have to replace the heating radiator of your car.

Symptoms that the heating radiator has broken

Keep in mind that the heating radiator is not inspected during the useful life of the car, as it is in an area that is very difficult to access. Only when the following symptoms are noticed is it checked and repaired:

• Humidity inside the car because antifreeze leaks out. This translates into two very clear symptoms:
  • antifreeze smell in the passenger compartment
  • When we turn on the heating, car windows mist up abnormally.
  • The carpet gets wet with antifreeze, always in the front seats and more usually in the passenger side. Which over time causes mold.
• loss of antifreeze, which we will notice in the expansion vessel.
• The heater doesn't do its job.. This symptom by itself does not mean that there is a leak, but it can indicate that it has been clogged.

Why does the heating radiator leak antifreeze?

• You can go through a design defect or a manufacturing defect in assembly. Although it is also possible that it happens in very old cars. For example, it is a common problem in the Seat León I and Toledo II when they already have many years behind them.
• Heater radiator leaks can also occur when using a wrong coolant. This can happen for several reasons:
  • Use the one that is not suitable for your car. Especially if it becomes organic when it should be inorganic or vice versa, because each one protects certain materials and not others.
  • Mix incompatible antifreeze. Again, inorganic with organic, but also G12 with G13 for example. In the article Antifreeze for the car: what types are there and which can be mixed, we tell you everything so you don't make mistakes.
  • Not changing antifreeze when it's time. The heating radiator and the rest of the circuit will suffer because it loses anticorrosive properties.

what if it breaks

Apart from the uncomfortable symptoms in the cabin that we mentioned before, you can also cause damage to the cooling system of the car and therefore the motor. Keep in mind that it is a continuous antifreeze leak with which its cooling can be reduced.

This problem may seem to go away just by refilling the antifreeze periodically, but it's not like that. As air enters the circuit, it can stay in areas where it does not come out, unless the system is purged. Therefore, there will be uncooled areas and damage that will come out sooner or later. Therefore, it is important to replace the heating radiator.

How to change the heating radiator of a car

Replacing the heating radiator is one of the most laborious repairs because of how inaccessible this radiator is. In the vast majority of cars it is located behind the dashboard and can only be accessed by removing it. infinity of pieces. Each model is different, but you can list the steps to take in almost all cars:

• The first is disconnect battery, because many electrical components are going to be touched. In the article How to safely disconnect car battery we explain how.
• Disassemble parts and components up to the heating radiator. A job that, to be done well, requires extensive knowledge of mechanics and quite possibly a good understanding of the model. This involves removing a huge number of parts:
  • airbags
  • Defensive Midfielder
  • Module under the steering wheel
  • Bookmarks
  • Center console
  • Glove box
  • aerators
  • Trims
  • Dashboard
  • possibly some crossbar
  • And all electrical connections that are attached to each part
• remove windshield wipers and, if there is, the plastic module that protects the area under the windshield. This way you can remove the dashboard screws in the engine compartment and reach the heating radiator ducts.
• As to coolant, you can do two things:
  • bring a container inside of the car to catch the antifreeze that comes out when removing the radiator. For which you have to open the expansion vessel so that air can enter through the other side.
  • or drain the antifreeze before to remove the radiator so that it does not stain anything and thus change the liquid.
• From the engine compartment, you should unhook the gas tubes air conditioning and those of the antifreeze that go to the radiator.
• remove the radiator of heating and install the new
• Clean everything what you can the stained area with antifreeze before closing.
• put it back together All
• refill the liquid antifreeze and purges the cooling circuit.

What happens if it's done wrong

As you can see, it is a very laborious repair in which many parts are assembled and disassembled of the car. many of them have little or no visibility of the hooks to be able to do it. Therefore, to replace the heating radiator, it is necessary to know the model and have good mechanical knowledge.

If the cabin is sealed badly, water can enter every time it rains. Also, if electrical components are installed incorrectlylights will illuminate in the instrumentation and may cause serious failures. Not to say you have to integrity and safety of the car can be reduced with a bad assembly of parts. Including airbags.

Therefore, We strongly recommend that you do not do this operation, unless you meet the knowledge and experience requirements. Nor should you leave this job in the hands of just anyone. Better if it is the official house or some specialized workshop on your brand

Botton line

Well, this is very useful, but suddenly one day comes and we see the carpet a little wet, usually on the passenger side. We do not give it importance, but after a few days we noticed that windows fog up more easily and we perceive a little antifreeze smell.

If we find ourselves in this situation, most likely the heating radiator is chipped. The solution seems easy, change it for a new one, but when it comes to working, it gets much more complicated.

Normally, changing the heating radiator takes several hours since it is necessary, in many cases, to completely disassemble the dashboard of the car. If we decide to do it ourselves, the first thing we should do is arm ourselves with patience and take a good box for the amount of screws and staples that we will remove.

The ideal would be to have a diagram of the dashboard of our car but, if we do not have it, based on patience and care we can remove it perfectly. Of course, it is very important to pay close attention to how we disassemble it to return everything to its place later.

Once we have removed the dashboard, it is recommended drain antifreeze of the car so as not to empty it on the carpet. We analyze if it is really the radiator that is wrong or maybe it is a hose.

When we have replaced it, we will pour antifreeze into the car and we will purge the circuit correctly. Once it has been verified that there is no loss of antifreeze and that it has been correctly assembled, we will place the dashboard again carefully. leave nothing behind, because I don't think we'd like to dismantle it again.