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heater blowing oil thru floor vents


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gearboy
New User

Nov 2, 2008, 7:15 AM

Post #1 of 2 (1467 views)
heater blowing oil thru floor vents Sign In

Just bought 2002 Ford 359 XLT van, have only driven it home. As I was removing all the bench seats I noticed that the heater vents on the floor are covered in oil! I also see that there is spray residue on the wall panels over these vents. I have not tried turning on the heater to see what happens, nor even running the motor long enough for it to get hot. Is this a bad heater core, or is there a blown head gasket, or worse? I also noticed an oil leak on the exhaust system under the middle of the van. Could this be related? I'm worried I just made a bad deal on this van. Thanks for your help.


Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Tom Greenleaf profile image

Nov 2, 2008, 8:04 AM

Post #2 of 2 (1463 views)
Re: heater blowing oil thru floor vents Sign In

Eeeek! Yuk!

This is a bit of a first so let's see what we can determine here.

Air for heat should come from cowl up by wipers then blended as per request thru distribution box. On a "recirc" or "max" request air from inside the cabin is returned for re-heating or re-cooling.

Air would pass thru the A/C's evaporator which has pressurized refrigerant gas and oil contained within the system which is there to lube the compressor for A/C season but oil would settle where it may in components but remain sealed. That oil is reasonably harmless IMO but I wouldn't care for the smell or burning it could be hazardous.

This oil is far more likely to drip out the condensate spout or perhaps at the bottom seam of the plastic distribution box but I've never seen it make it to vents!

Ok: If there was a sudden blow-out in the evaporator there would be a rush of refrigerant with some oil sprayed about and if that occured while it was operating (likely if so) then I can see how that oil could get moved along. This would cease as there's only so much available. If A/C works at all right now that problem is highly unlikely!

That leaves oil or oiliness from some other source. If oil can leak from engine, trans, or whatever assessorie onto hot exhaust parts it would likely smoke and you would likely smell it. It really shouldn't be directed to where incoming air is from though in any case??

If you are just noticing air stains from vents it might be somewhat normal and would clean up. Vent grates could be removed for further cleaning. If this vehicle was heavily smoked in that could be the source of staining but not oil.

*********************

Start over here: Is this rear heat vents you are talking about? There is anti-freeze in a rear heater core that could make an anit-freeze mess. That usually fogs windows and they don't clean up easily. If you could get some on a clean cloth it would rinse with water whereas an oil wouldn't. Perhaps that's what's going on if all this is REAR only vents and problem noticed there. Rear heat could be bypassed for the moment till core or leak is fixed. This may have hoses that could leak on exhaust running under vehicle - not sure how Ford did it with this van but likely routed underneath vehicle.

Will the seller of this vehicle help you out with this problem?

T







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