Hi, i don't know if im posting in the right section, but here goes...

I got an Alpine deck for christmas, and Kenwood speakers for the front, and my dad installed it for me on New Years Day, and it inspired me to build my own center console. I was thinking of putting a small sub in it, prob the back, but the rear heater is in the way. So I took measurements to start out, but I had to work later, so I haven't really gotten that far. Now, I moved the little lever for changing the heat level, and I just left it up, and didn't think much of it. I looked at it to see if I could take it out, but decided not to mess with it. Well, today, when i started my car to warm it up, I put it in neutral, and turned the heater on(in front). I went back inside for like 8 mins, then went outside, and a huge pool of collant was pouring out from the middle of my car! I wasn't able to check on it just tonight, and my dad helped me look for the leak, and we found it.
It turns out the lever on the rear heater control leaks coolant, so its now switched off. Almost all of my coolant was gone, so at work today i filled it back up.
Now I was wondering if its possible to replace the seal on the lever, or if I have to replace the core itself. If not, I'm just gonna scrap it, which i wanted to anyway to fit a small sub there.
On another note, i leak washer fluid heavily, and my power steering pump has a hole in it i think. Any info/comments would be appreciated by anyone.

 

do you really want to lose the heater to put a sub in? i mean, how small of a sub are we talking about here?

practically speaking, i think you are way better off putting that sub in a box or creating a custom cargo box (search "cargo box") to house that sub.

bob

 

You can probably get a replacement heater valve at the dealer. Might pull it out and look at it closely, there may be a leak some place other than the valve.

 

I don't know if im actually going to put in a sub, it would be cool, but i don't know if it will happen. I already plan on making a custom box in the rear anyway.
My rear heater isn't funtional, and I don't think it would be that big a loss if i junked it. Or i might try to fix it. My car is already wired for subs in the rear, from whoever owned it before me(I bought mine the day after thanksgiving last year at some small dealership in Phoenix). Whoever had my Runner before me, had a nice sound system probaly, except for the deck, which was a piece of crap JVC, which had something spilled on it(noticed when we installed new Alpine deck), but he might have taken what he had out when he sold it. Anyways, I'm looking more for ideas on the heater sitiuation and console than the subs, but still interested in the idea of putting a small sub in it. Let me know what you think.

 

My dad pulled it out and you could see a pool of green coolant, and when you moved the lever up, it started to drip. I don't know much about 4Runner's, but it seemed that the problem was that lever.
Also, I didn't even realize till tonight that there was a vent on the floor for it. That makes sense because of the rear heater control, but i always thought there wasn't. I put in shag carpeting in the back, so it covered it up a little.

thx for reply

 

I took out my OEM center console completely for a Tuffy and just removed the rear heater altogether. The rear heater lines were capped off with lugnuts (don't ask) so all I did was take the rear heater lines out of the coolant loop and removed them completely. In Alabama a rear heater is pointless.

 

Yeah, that's what I'll do if i remove it. That will also clear up some space, so I could make a deep box to put crap in, or experiment with cup holders(though this may be a lost cause because there's never been a good cup holder ever!)