I am experiencing intermittently foggy windows like my defroster dont work. I also smell syrupy antifreeze smell in the truck at times.
I do have another explanation for the smell though. I changed all the hoses myself and leaked coolant everywhere under the hood. Then I didnt get them tight enough and they leaked. The truck overheated cause I had air in the system and cooked the thermostat. I had it replaced and the hoses tightened. The truck still runs hot (but not overheat) at times.
Could it be the heater core?
How do I check the heater core on an 87 ranger?
i mechanic for a living,,and the only good way to check one is remove it,,and do a pressure check on it,while its under water,,if it leaks then its bad,,i have done a few this way just to narrow it down,,but from what you said about it getting hot,it could be other things causing it,id go back over it,,and check everything,,,and make sure the radiator is not clogged up,,they,ll get gunk built up in the bottom of them,,and it will cause them to heat up sometimes,,other than that,,you,ll have to re-check everything,,if it got hot enough,,it might have blown a head gasket,,it is possible,,,just check it,,or have it pressure checked to see if its ok,,and go from there,,good luck hope this help,s.
How do I check the heater core on an 87 ranger?
Could be, but you likely blew your head gasket or warped the head when you overheated it. If there is no coolant in the passenger floorboard, it probably isn't the heater core.
Sounds like your heater core is leaching coolant which may not show up as an actual wet floor type leak. You could temporarily disconnect the two heater hoses at the firewall and hook them directly together so that the heater core was totally disconnected. Then if the smell and oil deposits on the inside of the windshield did not return (after cleaning the inside of the windshield), you know you likely have a bad heater core. Don't try to repair it, just replace it with a new heater core.
You may want to make sure the right thermostat was put in. Some places put a lower torque springed thermostat in vehicles so the owner will have to keep bringing it back due to slight overheating. Your manual should tell you what type of thermostat is needed.
If it stills causes problems then you may have busted a head gasket. Which you can tell by looking around the head to see if you see any leaks coming from around the seal.
Also if you want to check the heater core you will have to take most of the dash board off and all of the glove box to access it. Just because you dont have anti-freeze in the floor bored doesnt mean the heater core is still good. In some vehicles the components can be very warm and vaperate the liquid which in case would put a thin film on the inside of your window that is hard to get off. By looking at the window if you to have a film, the vaporized anti-freeze will give your window a rainbow looking affect.
