It is under the hood on the passenger side attached to the firewall. If the car wasn't an AC car the firewall would be rather flat, the protruding part from where it would have been flat is the evaporator housing. Another way to find it would be to look for the two AC pipes that would have went to the compressor, they attach to the evaporator.

 

Ah, gotcha! I wondered what was in that big box. I figured it might be part of the old AC system. Looks like one of the hoses was just cut off at the firewall. I will have to poke around in there and see if I can find that valve. Where would it be? In under the fender lip?

 

Hello Crew!

Been doing more investigating on the Olds. Did some searching and located the old evaporator radiator. No worries about it causing the fog, due to the fact that it's all busted up.

So, I thought to myself "welp, if it ain't that, it's gotta be the heater core".
Did some feeling around under the dash...and found the dreaded green drips 🙁

crap.

Sooooo...I counted all the fasteners holding the heater box 😵‍💫. It's an AC car, so the heater box is a bit more complicated than on a non-AC car.

Based on the fact that I don't drive much on days that required heat, I am gonna bypass the heater core for now. Don't feel like ripping the dash/firewall apart this season. I'll see how it goes this summer and make the call next winter.

 

Glad you found the source of the leak, hopefully replacement cores are available.

 

Thanks! Yes, cores are a regular stock item at NAPA and can be found on eBay.

But, its the teardown that I'm not excited about. Just gonna bypass it this summer!

 

If you do replace the core eventually, pressure test the new one before installing it...a difficult install and a leaking new core won't make you happy.

 

HA! You are absolutely right! I would not be pleased!

 

Hey, I just recently did a complete rebuild of my heater hvac system. My heater core was also leaking. Word of advice, there is an internal vacuum control within the heater box. After pulling out the heater box, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL when splitting the 2 joints apart. If you didn’t know that part was there (like I did) you will break it and have to spend a hundred bucks on a replacement chamber. Goodluck , if you have any questions I can help you out. It actually may be easier than you think. I’m probably around your sons age, 17 y/o. It’s a beauty of a car to work on

 

You might want to look into repairing the original heater core, radiator shop can handle that task

 

Hey! Thanks for the information… It's good advice. I will remember that for when I decide to take it apart.

 

Hello Folks!

As the weather improves, Hudson and I are out working on the Olds more often. This weekend, we got some solid work done. We by-passed the leaky radiator core, which stopped the fogging issue that was discussed in previous posts. We changed out the oil with some fresh 50 weight. We pumped out the rear diff and replaced the fluid. We installed an original speedo cable thanks to member deaddds. And we completed our parcel shelf project!

When we got the car, the rear shelf was in a sad state. The original mesh material was basically falling apart and was covered up with a chunk of old household carpet.


We removed the carpet and CAREFULLY removed the brittle-as-a-saltine cardboard shelf. Spent some time cleaning it and removing the old stitching and cover. We went to a local fabric place and got some marine grade vinyl in black. I tried to match the green from the interior, but all the colors just weren't quite close enough.

Then we cut the material to size with enough overhang to wrap around the original cardboard.


With the right shape and size ready, we applied spray-on contact to both sides, let it tack up, and ever-so-carefully laid the vinyl on the board. Then we flipped it over and wrapped the vinyl around the edges.



The last step was to install the shelf and tape down the leading edge. Turned out great, and Hudson is very proud of his efforts!

 

Don't want to see you have problems, I've never put 50 weight oil in a car like that and I've never seen it recommended. Did you mean 20W-50? If it is 50 weight I'd drain it, replace the filter and get thinner oil in it such as 10W-30 or whatever the owners manual suggests if you have one.

 

my mistake… It's 20w-50.

 

I've been searching for the post on here where 20w-50 was recommended for the 394ci, but I haven't had much luck. I've found lots of guys saying that 10W-30 is the right weight for that engine in the summer months. This also corresponds with some pics that a few members posted from original service manuals. Soooooo 10W-30 it will be! Thanks for the catch, Sugar Bear.