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Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
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| | | | Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 341 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 341 | I know heater cores have been a frequent topic but I couldn't find much on doing your own pressure test. I saw Denny's setup but I'm not a machinist and was wondering if anyone else successfully pressure tested their own heater core.
Allan
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1951 GMC 1/2-ton
Two 1953 Chevy 3100 5-window
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 554 | The local radiator shop only charged me $8.00 to test mine.
Not something I expect to do again so I went that route.
Chuck | | | | | Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,107 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,107 | yeah, i did with mine in the 40. i hooked up a rubber hose to one connection with a pipe nipple with a tee in the end of the hose i put a 0-15lb gage on a port of the tee and a ball valve on the other port. i took my garden hose and made it to fit the other connection on the core open the ball valve and slowly supply water to the core at 5 psi and when all the air stops coming out close the ball vavle and slowly pressurized the core to 5psi and turn off water supply. if its still holding pressure 15 minutes later and the core is still dry then it doesnt leak. if its sitting in the sun while your doing this the presuure will rise | | | | | Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 9,671 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 9,671 | All I can add is don't go over about 7-8 psi or you will warp or pop the cooling tubes. 5 psi would be ideal pressure for a test. Using air pressure and a dip tank will pin point any leaks better than water pressure.
DG
Last edited by Denny Graham; 04/27/2011 7:06 PM.
Denny G
Sandwich, IL
| | | | | Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 341 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 341 | I found an older radiator shop with a young man running it and he charged me $10 to pressure test it, using air pressure and a tank just as Denny suggested. No leaks! 
Allan
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1951 GMC 1/2-ton
Two 1953 Chevy 3100 5-window
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 9,671 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 9,671 | Ten bucks well spent Allan. I had a friend that ran a radiator shop in town here for forty years. He's the one that told me about over pressurizing the heater cores. The old cores tubes were extreamly thin and even a few pounds over can damage them.
DG
Denny G
Sandwich, IL
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 639 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 639 | I saw a nice Air Flow on Ebay I wanted to bid on but the guy said he pressure tested the core to 40 psi and it was good  I either avoided a scam or missed out on one impossibly strong core. Yeah, right  | | | | | Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 457 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 457 | twotone, I think I saw that same heater on Ebay and when I saw that "40 psi", I said well, that's junk now!!! It didn't even occur to me that that might be a scam!! RED FLAG! We all need to be careful.....
1940 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup "KC"
A day without sunshine is like, well, ..... dark!
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 467 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 467 | I just got one done here locally ..it was not cheap..but it did pass.
For that price I would do it myself next time and rig up some low pressure air system. | | |
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