Have you considered getting your existing core repaired?
Heater core recommendation?
- Thread starter Chris Kelley
- Start date
I don't want to be the negative ass wipe on this forum but here I am. If your core already had a few holes what makes you think the two they fixed are the only ones that are on the horizon?
Yep,I don’t get it,seems like all the new heater cores won’t heat good,really that’s their one job?
The later models have plastic caps so less or not repairable like your older copper version.
I was kind of thinking this as well about a repair job might leak elsewhere but maybe it won't. Kind of a crapshoot like the rest of this heater core debacle.
My thoughts exactly on the brassworks reviews. Yeah it might not leak and last longer but it apparently it sucks at its main function, heating the jeep. It also costs $360 now. I just bypass for $5 and have no heat just the same. I can even use a brass bypass.
Yeah that too. Pair that with a crap oem design with no easy access the heater core and evap core.
An experienced repair shop can access the condition of the heater core and make a recommendation. I had similar concerns with mine, not sure if it was salvageable or not. Not all cores are worth repairing. But just because it's old doesn't mean it belongs in the trash pile.
I assume you mean plastic tanks? But yeah, that make sense.
Interesting how Jeep's design methods evolved over the years. My 1998 model was built with a radiator that had plastic tanks but a heater core that was all copper and brass. Eventually Jeep changed the heater cores in 2002 over to plastic tanks as well. It appears that the heater box changed at the same time so maybe Jeep evaluated the heater core design and opted to go with a more "economical" choice in materials?
I found it interesting that my early model OE core doesn't have any turbulators inside. I'm curious if a brand new replacement version would have these or not?
i believe it does have them but there a different type. kind of like a spring from a ink pen, so they dont impact the flow. the ones in replacement cores are like a solid rod with spiral fins going down it, so it impedes the flow of coolant
Ok. I was just going off of the conversation I had with the guy at the radiator shop. He told me there weren't any turbulators inside. It's possible he was mistaken though.
there is a thread way back where someone cut open a old one and a new core and shows the reason why the replacements dont work as well as the originals.
It's a conspiracy. They figure if we have no heat, we will scrap our jeeps for an electric vehicle. Better for the environment.
It very likely isn't the turbulators that are the issue. All things being equal, the turbulators would actually increase the heat output by swirling the coolant and increasing the contact with the internal wall of the passages.
The likely reason why they don't heat as well is because they don't have the same fin count and the same number of rows of tubes that the OEM unit does.
Yes, I remember that thread, he was working on a 2006 model.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-your-heater-core-heat-not-blowing-hot.47253/
I wonder if anyone has opened up an OE early model core?
Funny my buddy has a 99 and I have an 05. They both now need heater cores. We bypassed his last year. His 99 lasted much longer than my 05. My lj has 85k on it but the heater core is 17 years old.
The only ones in stock at most places are the API/PRO. They also are the cheapest at most places. That could be a bad sign depending how you look at it.
I have a 97 and when mine gives me trouble it will go to the radiator shop 1st before I consider buying a replacement....
So, one should assume that their claim to "meet or exceed o.e.m. spec for form, fit and function" is just a line of bullshit?
I also like the claim of "backed by industry leading warranty of 12 months."