Heater core leak

[GTApilot]

Hi. Newby here. I recently bought my 2006 Pilot off my expired 48 mo lease. Currently has 80,000 kms. All was fine...but one month into buying it, you guessed it... a large pool of antifreeze/coolant in the cabin, at feet on passenger side. Needless to say, rad was empty, so I filled it up. No leaks since, but also no heat either. Honda quoted me between $1,700 and $2,100 + taxes to replace heater core, depending if the housing of the core needed to be replaced or not.

After reading many posts and strings on this site, I have not found anything that reads like my problem. No this is not a "loose screw" issue to get valve to work and release heat into cabin - none of these guys complained of their passenger's feet lying in a pool of antifreeze. Yes it's antifreeze...the sweet humid smell and the great dye job it did to my floor carpet are dead give aways.

What I am looking for are answers to:
1) how common is this problem? My Honda dealer said "maybe seen 2 of these in several yrs." I'm thinking I may take this up with Honda...see what it is willing to do for a long and loyal customer.
2) Can it be something other than the heater core (cracked and to be replaced?) Could it be a hose that leads or leaves the heater core? Could it be a valve or some "o-ring" (like I know what that means...damn Internet makes us all sound like we know what we are talking about!!!)
3) Is the quoted $1,700 to $2,100+taxes in the ballpark of what one would pay to have the Heater Core replaced? I know it's very labour intensive, having to take the dash and all out just to get to this part...which in itself is a tell tale sign that the heater core should not readily break and should not have to be replaced ... or else they would have placed the thing in a much more convenient and accessible location, like on top of the dash! Argh!

Can anyone help? Thx in advance.

[rocky]

Never heard it it happening here. Didn't guess it either! Have you run and burped the air out of the system? That alone will trigger no heat in any car.
If there was a leak you'd still have it.

[theirishscion]

Yeah, the leak won't have magically gone away. If you want to save some money on the repair, call around some local independent shops and get prices to do the job. I'm fairly sure you can find someone to do it for closer to $1000. RepairPal is suggesting $918 to $1183 for my zip code. That breaks down to slightly more labor than parts, but close.

[94eg!]

#4 is the only part of the front heating system that enters through the fire wall of the vehicle. The part number is 79110-S0X-A01 and cost $296 from Hondapartsnow.com (aftermarket should be cheaper). This is the only part that could leak inside the cabin on the front heating system. If the rear heater is still working like normal, then you know it's a problem with the front, so it pretty much has to be core. You can check if the hoses connected to the core are bad and possibly causing a leak into the cabin, but they are in the engine bay behind the motor (#16 & 15 in the bottom pic). May be tough to see. Still worth a look:



The rear AC on the other hand is another story. There are two metal pipes running below the car that poke up into the bottom of the center console. Inside the console are two rubber hoses connecting the pipes to the second heater core. If any of these were to fail, you could still have coolant in the passengers area, but it definitely wouldn't be coming from under the dashboard. Probably more near the seat.




Good luck with your problem, I hope it works out...

[GTApilot]

(damn...I had a nicely crafted reply to all...but seems it got lost in internet neverland... so here gos attempt#2)

Thanks to all for the advice and counsel. Much appreciated.

@ Rocky: I'll bring up the burp suggestion with my trusted mechanic. But as you say, the leak is still the leak!

@ theirishscion: yup you got ghe same price range I got from my trusted independent guy: around $1,000.

@ 94ep: damn that's great stuff to run with to my mechanic. Re: back heater - it's working fine (produces heat.) But nevertheless, I will get my guy to check it just in case.

I should have been more precise in my original post: the "leak" was on two occasions, best guess, 2-4 cup of coolant each time. So not a question of drops or a small leak. We're talking Niagara Falls of coolant leaks!

Gioven not many seem to have encountered this issue, I may take this up with Honda. Maybe I reach out to them on "a good day" where they are benevolant and want to make this long standing customer happy....ok, ok, stop laughing. It is worth a try, no?

Thanks again and keep the advice and counsel coming.

GTSpilot.

PS: ...when it rains, it pours... one of the 2 lift arms/pistons-a-ma-gigger that assist in raising the rear liftgate died on me while I was loading up hockey gear into the truck...damn those lift gates are heavy without the lift arms' assistance. Damn thing caused quite the bump on my head.