OEM heater core discontinued: Best replacement?
- Thread starter Gambaholic
- Start date
i dunno. It was a impulse purchase. I have some sort of vacuum leak in the area and have read a few posts where it turned out to be the intake manifold. Figured if it was I’d rather have a Mopar replacement. If it’s not i’ll just hold onto it. Im getting into a bad habit of buying up Mopar replacement parts in fear they won’t be available if/when said part goes bad.
My heater core showed up today. No Mopar markings on it. It’s a Valeo? Made in a France. Also looks to have some damage on the side.
I paid $187 thinking it was a oem Mopar heater core. Should I send it back? Does that damage on the side make a difference?
I paid $187 thinking it was a oem Mopar heater core. Should I send it back? Does that damage on the side make a difference?
It’s not Chinese, which is a big plus. There’s a chance that the OE heater core wasn’t made by Mopar and was supplied by someone else. I can’t verify that since I’ve never removed mine.
Did yours come in a Mopar box? It should have it was OEM. Are there any markings on it at all as far as part numbers go?
Those crushed fins won’t cause any issue, but that’s still a little concerning. Did it say what seller shipped yours on Amazon? The seller mine came from is BAM Autoparts.
PPS-GF40 is the part number on the heater core. The box has a Mopar sticker with the correct part number on it. It came from Swift Parts.
That’s confusing as hell... Mopar parts weren’t made in China. Canada yes, but not China.
Mine will be here on Tuesday. I’ll let you know if it looks identical to yours or not.
I wish I had a reference as to who made the factory heater core. It could have been Mopar, but it also could have been an OEM supplier.
Mine is the French one too. Looks exactly the same as above with the same fin damage too. No Mopar anywhere; I requested a refund.
It's hard to say whether it's OEM or not. There's a chance that Jeep had a supplier of heater cores and they never were in-house Mopar to begin with.
But the only way to know this would be for someone to remove the factory heater core from their later model TJ and see if it has any Mopar markings on it.
The heater core part number changed over the years, so that's why I was thinking that maybe on the later 05-06 model TJs (which this heater core is for), they changed to an aftermarket supplier.
I want to know what the heater core is that came out of someones 05-06 TJ... that's the only way to know for sure.
Sure looks like this one cant see or find a manufacturer location on this one. Or on there website. But all other aftermarket heater cores are black from the pictures.
Same color
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5337789113&icep_item=401174155412
Mine looks identical to the one you got. It came today in the same box with the Mopar part numbers on it (but nothing covering up the barcode like yours had), and it's a Valeo unit that says "Made in France" on it.
I'm very convinced that this is an OEM heater core for the later model TJs. My guess is Mopar was using Valeo as the supplier for the later model TJs. This is 100% normal within the auto industry as @Ranger_b0b mentioned. I'm going to keep it. It's made in France by a quality company.
Oddly, mine has the same fin damage that yours does as well. That won't affect it at all, just kind of weird that they all have that damage in the same location.
That’s good news. I purchased a Mopar power steering pully from the same vendor I got the heater core from (Swift Part). The box the pully came in had a sticker over the barcode as well. It must just be thing with the vendor. All in all, I feel good about the heater core. Thanks man.
No problem! As long as it's not the Autozone Duralast brand or something similar, haha.
I am about to order the same core from SwiftPart. Any reason you have found since August that I shouldn't?
To me the fins don't look damaged, rather marked with a lot number. 12 A 71?
I haven’t actually installed mine yet. The original heater core is still limping along. I’m hoping to make it through the winter and install it when it’s a little warmer outside. Pretty cold over here I’m tge high desert. Maybe ask Chris if he installed his.
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
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I changed the core in my ‘06 1 year ago. Ordered a MOPAR core. It was the brown one made in France like posted earlier. It was identical to the one that came out of my Jeep.
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