Heater core

This is a heater core from a older Ferrari sports car.The customer complaint is that its not heating the car up like it should so the first thing I did was to "flow check " the core by running water through it and seeing if there is a noticeable restriction. Sure enought it looked to me like it was plugged up so we moved to the next faze of the operation pulling it apart to clean it.

We have removed the bottom tank of the heater by melting all of the solder out of the tank seam and gently tapping off the tank leaving the tubes that Carrie the coolant through the heater exposed so we can manually clean the heater out.

You can see how much this heater is plugged up I would guess it to be 80% restricted.
 The next phase of the process is to clean it out by running a steel rod through the tubes, scrubbing it down with wire brush, and using heat and acid to finish the job.

Here is a picture of the core and tank together.
This is an exotic style of heater core with a baffle down the middle and the tank soldered to it. Most heaters aren't manufactured this way. Your heater in your car is most likly aluminum and not cleanable if you own anything newer than 1995 model (there are some exceptions).
 A bit of advice if you need a heater replaced in your car,  lots of mechanics don't like to do heater cores as it can be labor intensive and it is considered a specialized repair.  Call a radiator repair shop the cost will be much less than that of a dealership as we do hundred's of heaters every year. We also sell new heaters at a lower cost than you will find in most places.
Remember we are here to help an will always answer any questions you might have. Give us a call. Here is a link to our web site. Happy motoring!
 http://www.intermountainradiator.com