Hey Guys! As some may know I recently purchased a 2011 D5k (www01390) with 3400 hours on it. I put it on the job last week and we have moved into the "colder" time of the year here in the western US (8,000' elevation might have something to do with it too!). That means I've been running the heater and whenever I do the cab smells like anti-freeze. I can't see any signs of a leak so, at the moment I suspect that the heater core may be going bad (pin hole leak?). Is this common with this machine? Where is the heater core? How hard is it to replace if that's what needs to be done?
What I’ve seen most is the hoses leaking where they connect to the core. I’ve also seen plenty of leaking cores. I used to look at the core from the right side access door at the rear corner of the machine.
Thanks John C. I'll take a look and see if I can find it through the R/S rear door. I was at Cat yesterday morning and the counter parts person told me that the core was on the left side of the seat. There is a re-circulation filter there but when I removed it the fan assembly was in there but I couldn't see the heater core itself. I suppose it could be inside the fan housing but that looked like it might be difficult to remove if that's where it is. In either case (left side vs. right side) hope that it's not too difficult to get to, and maybe easier from the outside instead of from inside the cab.
I have a d6k and had to replace the evaporator recently. You get to that stuff from the left outside rear access. You have to remove the door and the frame that its mounted to. Not hard to do if you have a little help.
I glossed over and didn't see that you had a cab for some reason. As I recall on the cab machines all the comfort stuff is a package on the left side as stated. On the open machines the heater core was under the seat. It still might be but a parts or service manual would tell you for sure.
See attached for how to remove the heater. Might help you to figure out where you need to access. If you do have to remove it comes out with the aircon condenser which means de-gassing the A/C.
Thanks Nige!!