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Guess I might as well settle in here as a regular the way this cars going. Got a 2011 Vic w 280k that seems to have developed a heater box coolant leak over the course of a couple hours yesterday. Defrost stopped working (in the rain) and eventually steam started pouring out the dash vents. The engine began to overheat same time the steam started so I pulled it over to cool off for an hour and nurse myself back to health with a beer. Got back in for the leg home and noticed about 1/4 cup of coolant on the pass floor board mat. So it was no surprise when she started overheating again after about 3-4 miles. The reservoir drank about 2 gals of distilled water and that got her the rest of the way in.

Testing back at the house reveals a pouring leak coming out the bottom of the car right on top of the cat converters way back at the firewall. Crawling underneath, the leak was seen to be coming from a short 1" tube that sticks out from the firewall right above the cat. Not for sure but I would almost bet this is a drainage tube for when the heater core springs a leak.

How likely is this to be my heater box (don't see how it couldn't be) and what do I start doing to get it swapped out? Just got the big heavy shop manual so that'll be a help. I've seen some youtube heater core swap out videos but the closest they come to my year is maybe a 2003.
 
 
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Thanks for that confirmation fuzzy.  I've had someone else tell me that too so hopefully these videos are accurate.

After some more thinking I'm sure now, this can only be a bad heater core.

Is the heater core one of those parts where you should always replace with OEM? If it makes any difference my mileage is at 280k and it does about 25k city miles a year, although the transmission is relatively new. I found a motorcraft model from rockauto for $100 w/ express shipping, but locally I'm finding Murray and Carquest versions for about $35. Tight budget and no time right now so the cheaper and faster the better.

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