Got 179K miles on my 'Fire, and wanna know (before either leaves me stranded) when/if I should replace these soon? Both are OE, and the car has been regularly maintained. If the core needs replaced, I'll probably drop in some new hoses and water pump while the coolant is drained.
well its easy to tell if you need cv joints. get under the car and see if the boots are torn and leaking grease. as for the heater core? is it leaking coolant in the car or on the ground? if not i wouldnt worry about replacing it. you can if you want to
K, well, I didn't really ask the question right. I'm pretty savy with a wrench and been under the hood a number of times. What I shoulda asked is what is a typical life-span for CV joints and heater core. Fortunately, no outward signs anywhere of part failure. Yet.
don't bother with them. A bad CV joint will be easy to hear. The Cv joint is the easiest to change but it won't let go just like that unless you beat the crap out of your car all the time.
The heater core is a PITA to do so unless it leaks, don't touch it.
Gilles
2.3 Ho
