“WITH EVERYTHING UNBLOCKED, THE COMMODORE’S HEATER IS NOW ABOUT TWICE AS HOT!”

had sat in a shed in Qld for 16 years; t he last ser v ice sticker on t he windscreen was dated 2001. Usually I change a ll t he f luids – oils, coolant and bra ke f luid – in any classic car but until now I’d changed only the wagon’s engine oil and f ilter. This ev idence of corrosion inside the Commodore’s cooling system meant it was possibly f ull of cr ud.

I removed the heater deliver y pipes from t he engine, poked a garden hose into one and turned it on… A great wad of orange cruddy muck splurged out. I swapped the garden hose into t he ot her heater pipe and yep, more y uk k y muck! There must have been a beer can’s worth of rust y ooze hidden in t hat heater core !

The heater-hose inlet and out let barbs on t he front of the engine showed signs of corrosion that would have slowed t he f low of hot water, too. Here, access was tight but I simply used a stubby screwdriver and a short bolt to scratch and poke around inside t he out lets to unblock them.

I got my Commodore going again wit h just water in the system to check the heater’s operation before insta lling new coolant hoses (and coolant) a few days later. With ever y t hing unblocked and f lushed-out – and wit h fresh coolant for t he f irst time in possibly t wo decades – the heater now works nicely!

01 Everything was given a good flush with a garden hose 01

0303 Thumbs up, GT ticks another item off the To Do list.

0202 The heater outlets were unblocked, bushstyle and now it works like a treat.