[V8] Heater Box hose leak

[urq]

... the valve is in the tray behind the firewall ... 

There's a whole bunch of metal coolant lines running back and forth behind
the engine ... one line runs along the top of the valley between the
cylinder banks from the thermostat area to connect to the external plumbing,
and there are two ports into the head or block ... the heater core lines
attach to the external plumbing as does the feed line from the coolant tank.
Most all the metal to metal connections use an o-ring rubber gasket.  

Most everything is visible when you remove the airbox and loosen the plate
that holds the spark plug wires that run from side to side.  

If you do want to remove the HVAC airbox to replace the heater core you
should consider replacing the blower as well.  The airbox is quite a PITA,
even worse than the earlier T44s IMO.  The box that covers the motor for the
blend door flaps is vulnerable to damage as the box is being removed from
the car.

Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----


I'm having a bad coolant leak which seems to be coming from the rear  
of the engine.
Everything looks dry back there, so I looked up by the heater core  
and it's leaking around the valve and maybe from where the hoses  
connect. (it's hard to see with all the leaves and junk up there!!)
Anyway, I'm gonna replace the valve and hoses from the engine to the  
core, but before I did, does anyone have some BTDT wisdom on the  
replacement?
Should I take the core out or not?
Is there anything else I should look at while I have everything  
dismantled?