heat smells like coolant real bad

[funkingonutz]

so im driving home from work and its a little chilly out so i turn on the heat. Its smells awuful!!!
and it likes to fog up my windows real bad to...but anyways
so im home and i pop the hood to look for a coolant leak somewhere...nothing, looked in the passenger side cab under the dash...nothing
then i decided to grab the upper rad. hose it was real soft, like no coolant in it at all, i shut the truck off and crak open the rad. tons of air came out of the system, and it kept girgiling so i start it back up and start adding 50/50 coolant...it took a whole damn gallon, then after i grabbed the upper rad hose to try and suck the collant down about two quarts poured right out of the radatior.
ok now im stumped..
still no pressure in the upper hose
rad. is full
no coolant coming out of the weep holes on the waterpump
heat smells real bad

air in the cooling system??

then after looking around a little i noticed a little spout on the firewall next to the heater core/box there was coolant dripping out of it
so im thinking i need a heatercore and a thermostat, i dont know what do you think??
o yeah..and it has'nt overheated at all...yet

BTW: its a 95 3.0L

 

[Muscleford]

Heater core. The coolant is draining from the AC drain that is what you see. The fact that you are fogging windows means the heater core is toast.

 

[Roadkill]

I concur.

 

[Jason]

They are both right.

 

[funkingonutz]

ok so what about the air in the system..will that go away once i replace the heater core??

 

[Jason]

it's not air. But after replacing the heater core, run it for a while in the driveway without the radiator cap on.

 

[funkingonutz]

yeah so i have to remove the ENTIRE dash to get to this thing huh??
i have my HAYNES manual and it says to remove the instrument cluster to get to the 4 bolts holding the access cover to the heater core


it says and i quote: "remove instument cluster(see chapter 12)"
so i have to pull off the steering wheel and stuff...great!!
so far i have the glove box out, the passenger airbag cover (my truck does'nt have a pass. airbag),
the radio, and bezel around the radio and the climate controls, the climate controls, and now i can see one bolt that holds on the access cover, (the one near the floor) where are the others??
am i really going to actually have to remove the dash??
I REALLY DONT WANT TO

 

[MAKG]

Yup, and there is a sticky on that at the top of the forum. Very much worth a read.

 

[funkingonutz]

alright i maned up and pulled the dash there is just one little problem....the dash is out BUT its still "in"
its getting hung up on a HUGE wiring harness right behind the e-brake, its huge and seems to have somesort of like a suitcase handle on it. around it are 6 little tabs 3 one side and 3 the other. i cant get this harness to budge!
HELP!!!

 

[thegoat4]

Yeah, that thing's a bastard. Plugmonster.

Lift your fuse box loose inside the engine compartment and look below it on the firewall. There are three plugs with bolts in them. 10mm heads. Unbolt them, then figure out some way to release the six tabs all at once while pulling the handle. Then it'll come loose. You could probably just yank on it like a gorilla, but I think that could lead to lots of pain and suffering if something unexpected breaks.

I pulled on mine gently while using a pick to release the tabs one at a time. Awful to do, but doable.

 

[funkingonutz]

...yanked on it like a gorilla,
scraped my whole arm and cut it up real bad, i broke off ALL the tabs except two.

 

[funkingonutz]

finally got the thing out
question:
the new one did'nt come with that foam insulate stuff that the old one has, do i really need it? where can i get it besides ford
can i try and save the old stuff?

God this whole project was a PITA, two things were real bad, the plugmonster and getting the big black box out that the heatercore was in.
That damn plugmonster bit me pretty hard too!! lol.

Anything i should watch out for when reassembling??

I know I have like 30 electrical connections to make,not including the radio antenna and the one wire i cut on the passenger side.

Thanks guys you are all very helpful