Glug Glug Slurp Slurp ?

[Peter]

Just took my first drive of the year ,and I was reminded of an old problem. I have a gluging, slurping noise coming from the heater core. Over the years I have drained and refilled the the cooling system many times for various reasons, but always end up with this noise. It sounds like air in the system and never goes away.

Is there some trick to filling the cooling system to overcome this?

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[gunnervirus]

Maybe the heater core is bad? Is there any leakage inside the car, or does it smeel like coolant inside?

Sound weird, I've never heard of something like that before...

Just throwing out ideas,

Ben

 

[Peter]

No leakage or smells. The best cure I have found so far is to turn the radio louder!

The only thing I can think of is a restriction in the heater causing some kind of cavitation effect. I have no idea what kind of water speeds or pressures are required for this to occur?

I get good heat out of the heater , so restrictions from that point of view are not a problem.

 

[Ttype83]

Have you tried to flush the system out?
I friend's Delta 88 did that until the heater core gave out

 

[Peter]

I put a new rad. in it about 3 years ago, and flushed it with Prestone gunk before installation. It did not make any difference.

My wife cleans our electric kettle with white vinegar, and it always comes out clean as a whistle. I have considered tipping a gallon of vinegar in, and giving it a blast around the block.

Don't know what effect vinegar would have on the cast iron and gaskets. I don't think there is any aluminum in the cooling system. Any opinions on this thought?

I really don't want to change the heater core just for a little noise.

 

[b4black]

Vinegar's a diluted, week acid, that won't hurt aluminum. If problems arise, like if the heater core springs a leak right after the vinegar, it was about to go anyway.


Sounds like a good idea to me. I tried the Prestone stuff (twice) and it didn't make a difference.

 

[Peter]

Thanks guys . I will try the vinegar trick next time I have to drain the cooling system for something. Which seems to be very frequent these days! e

 

[pat83t]

heater control valve.

It is possible that the heater control valve is loose on the pin and is opening and shutting with surges of water, that would definetly cause this problem and is a cheaper part to replace. Just a thought.

 

[Peter]

Thanks for the tip.

I have checked its function and found the following.

Heater on at max. the valve is open with good heat.

AC on at max. the valve is open and good cold. No vac. in line.

According to Buick the only time this valve closes is at max AC. Mine appears not to close, but I was testing it on a cold day when AC would not usually be on. I will try it again on a warmer day. If it ever gets warm this year. If I apply vac. to the valve it does close. Of course none of this really checks for an internal problem as you are suggesting.

Maybe I should just elliminate it from the system, as even Buick admits it is hard to detect when this valve is not functioning correctly!!