Heater Core Replacement

I have the dreaded failed heater core (2014 Passat TDI SE). In addition, it caused a P2457 EGR inefficient code as well as the core supplies coolant to the EGR cooler. Couple of questions:

- I purchased the car with the drive easy program extended warranty to 60K miles, I'm at 46K miles now. Will that cover heater core replacement?

- Cost. Looks like from other members who've had this done, it costs like $800 plus including labor to have it fixed and replaced by the dealer.

-Is it harmful to drive the car for awhile until I can get this fixed? I worry about the EGR cooler without the coolant from the plugged heater core. Is it bad to let this go for awhile? Will it cause a crack or other damage to the EGR cooler?

-Has anyone been successful with a heater core flush?

-and, for those who've had the core replaced, I know it involves R&R of the whole dashboard which scares me. I'm worried if removed, if I'll have rattles for the rest of the car's life. It's such an invasive repair.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Your extended warranty should cover it. So far nobody has successfully flushed the heater core (at least by reports here on TDIClub) although several dealers have tried as part of the diagnostics tree.

Thanks VeeDubTDI!

Am I wrong in thinking VW will replace it even without a extended warranty for a year old car?

My dealer replaced my heater core under an agreement with vw. Splitting cost between the 2. That's what they told me anyway. Charged me $225 for a coolant flush. Which I thought was bs. Left the dealer and the heater never really heated up going down the road. Argued with the dealer and they kept the car and ran more tests. Came back with changing the heater core again. And come to find out they replaced the egr cooler also. No charge this time. Was wondering if the first time they just tried flushing it and it seemed to work idling in 1 spot. But going down the road was another story.
Car was a 13 with 43000 miles.

so what is failing in them? these are aluminum and with G13 coolant shouldn't really ever fail until some owner way down the road fails to change the coolant- and even then it would take years for the acidic coolant to eat its way threw the thing.
OR is the heat and pressure form the EGR cooler taking them out?

I think it's been covered in another post. But the passages are smaller and plug up more frequently? Some one was going to cut one apart. But I haven't seen the results.

huh, well time to go flush my coolant

I can't believe VW still uses this damn heater core. Had the same problem in my wife's 2001 Passat.

There are so many threads on this it's sad. I did some investigation into this and have a few threads at Passatworld.

My one bit of advice on the subject - NEVER MIX COOLANT IN THESE CARS! Always get the VW / Pentosin coolant. PERIOD!

I traded it in. Not messing with the bull **** heater cores, freezing locks, blown turbos, sway bar links, etc. Not worth the fuel mileage.

I think everyone on here has that same feeling somewhere in the back of their mind, but I still love the MPG and diesel torque with a great ride. I gave my old 2009 Accord to my father and its not perfect either, in fact its much worse than our NMS as it only has 35K and we are battling oil soaked spark plugs with constant misfiring and rear brakes that wear to the rotors in 20K

Misfire lawsuit that closed prior to mine having issues
http://www.classactionsnews.com/settlements/honda-misfire-class-action-lawsuit-settlement

Rear brake:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/honda-settles-class-action-suit-over-brakes/?_r=0

Cars are simply not built as strong as the glory days of late 1990's

Since the heater core is parallel flow (a tank on either end), a flush will not do any good.

I still need to cut the one apart that a forum member sent me... maybe I'll have time this week.

It's at Linden VW here in NJ. Took it in Yesterday (Tues), and should get it back today or tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be alright with it. I have a pit in my stomach due to the dash having to be removed for the repair... It's covered under my extended warranty.

Hey, don't feel bad. Here's a Lexus GS that isn't that much older than your Passat (and quite literally cost TWICE as much) that is getting a new $2600 center HVAC case:



Newer cars are just fragile, overcomplicated, and needlessly expensive while chock full of cheap parts.

Let me fix this for you:
Newer cars are just fragile, overcomplicated, and needlessly expensive while chock full of cheap Chinese parts.

we are in the market for a new truck, but man- who on earth can cough up $60K for something that isn't really all that much more modern than the pickups a decade ago (minus the head unit) all the while forums online are full of people having really severe problems with them!

60k? Isn't a base 1/2 ton anything like 20k? ***?

I think you need to stop looking at gold plated peanuts and just look at peanuts.

Especially Chinese peanuts.

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jason_ said:

60k? Isn't a base 1/2 ton anything like 20k? ***?

I think you need to stop looking at gold plated peanuts and just look at peanuts.

Especially Chinese peanuts.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

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Exactly.

Or you could just do what people with common sense do: buy an older used one that is in good condition, don't drive it needlessly every day, and keep it nice for when you DO actually need it.

Oh, and it will likely be more reliable to boot. And paid for.

$60k.... that is absurd. The new F150 STARTS at around $22k. Mine was $3k. It was about $16k new 19 years ago.

It's not hard to get a new truck up to $60k. Mine was $42k in 2006. My wife's Traverse was $55k in 2009.

If you can use a base model truck for $22k go for it. Some people can't.

50pascals said:

It's not hard to get a new truck up to $60k. Mine was $42k in 2006. My wife's Traverse was $55k in 2009.

If you can use a base model truck for $22k go for it. Some people can't.

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I scored a pair of F550s open chassis, , diesel, manual 4x4 with pto on the xfer case with a wet kit.. 52k together.

Guess that's the advantage of not buying navigation and a sunroof.

But some people enjoy a 60k$ f150 shortbox.

/me shrugs.

Oh, and they paid themselves in 3 years.

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$52,000 for a pair is a great deal!

I could never own a full sized truck with anything but an 8 ft bed. Short bed trucks (especially these newer short-short bed trucks) are so lame. It's like owning a horse with no legs.

I see these clowns struggling to put ANYTHING in the bed at the lumber yard, LMAO....

oilhammer said:

I could never own a full sized truck with anything but an 8 ft bed. Short bed trucks (especially these newer short-short bed trucks) are so lame. It's like owning a horse with no legs.
I see these clowns struggling to put ANYTHING in the bed at the lumber yard, LMAO....

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But it's so much easier to park when you commute to work in it!

VeeDubTDI said:

But it's so much easier to park when you commute to work in it!

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Not with the crewless crewcab stuck in the middle of it making the wheelbase half a block long, LOL.

oilhammer said:

I could never own a full sized truck with anything but an 8 ft bed. Short bed trucks (especially these newer short-short bed trucks) are so lame. It's like owning a horse with no legs.
I see these clowns struggling to put ANYTHING in the bed at the lumber yard, LMAO....

Click to expand...

I could (and have) put 10' long pine boards in my wife's Santa Fe and closed the rear deck lid with room to spare. Short bed trucks can't carry that kind of lumber without tie downs.

jason_ said:

I scored a pair of F550s open chassis, , diesel, manual 4x4 with pto on the xfer case with a wet kit.. 52k together.

Guess that's the advantage of not buying navigation and a sunroof.

But some people enjoy a 60k$ f150 shortbox.

/me shrugs.

Oh, and they paid themselves in 3 years.

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You illustrated a point I have made for a long time - Medium duty trucks can be bought for a bargain. I had an F-800 with a cummins that I made into a hauler. My total cost was under $10k.

FWIW - My truck is a 3/4 ton Dodge Mega Cab 4x4. I don't know if you can get a $60k half ton. But I do know you can buy a $65k 1 ton dualie!

2013 Jetta heater core #3 planned to go in next week

So this thread is a bunch of months old, but it's now cold out and I figured now would be a good opportunity to bring it back up. That. And my car is cold!

Last year, the heat in my '13 jetta with 56000 miles on it crapped out on the really cold days (works ok when the temps are above 40*F). I took it to the dealer (b/c I had the extended warrantee) and they insisted that the heater core was the problem (top half would heat up, bottom half remained cold). Warrantee company said they wouldn't contribute since it wasn't leaking (jerks) but VW covered 75% of the cost.
That was at the latter end of the winter. Started to warm up and it couldn't be tested.
This year.....same. ARGH. problem. No hot air (unless I recirculate the cabin air). Took it back in. "Heater core is clogged". *blank stare and lots of curse words*

Dealership INSISTS the heater core is clogged again and INSISTS that replacing the heater core AGAIN will remedy the lack of heat (a 60mi one-way commute with no heat in the 20*F temperatures is not so much fun, let me tell you....)

I'm trying to find out a few things:
Are there things OTHER than a clog in the heater core that would manifest with a hot top half and cold bottom half?
What can be done to NOT have this problem again?
Why didn't the replacement heater core remedy the heat problem and what can be done that the HC#3 FIXES it this time?

Thank you in advance

I flushed and flushed and have good flow. It's better. But on speed 4 when it's really cold with fresh intake, unless you keep the rpm around 2k, at least for the 2009 core and impeller size, it's just too pussy for heating sub zero Temps decently before going into cab.
Remember egr is plumbed series (correct me), so regardless whether it's first or last from head, any restriction will make the core suffer, no matter how clean it is.

All this emissions is just making more variables for headache.

What happened to just a core/block/head, a thermostat., then a radiator for backup?


Sent from my s-off'ed m7 with cm11!

first iv herd of jetta cores clogging. Possibly pointing toward coolant rather than ckra flux