Changing heater core

PeteyAce

Member
Jul 2, 2004
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Ok, i had a post yesterday bout not having heat in my car, i changed my thermostat and now i had heat in burst but still got cold, so then i thought maybe there was a clog somewhere and went to get it flushed out at my uncles shop, he blew out the heater and now ::drum roll:: its leaking! im getting some coolant inside and that nice greenish fog right above my dash ( i wasnt getting this before i went to the shop), so now i need a new heater core, i searched but where can i find a step by step guide on how to change my heater core?
 
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If you are cheap and lazy like me you might want to try blowing it out first. At the other dealership I used to work for we had a professional kit that put pressurized water in the heater core. I don't have such a tool now but I try to use a variable flow blow gun and a rubber tip. Ease pressure into the heater core SLOWLY. Then try and flush it both ways. 99% of the time this will work. It will save you time and money if it works. In the worst case scenerio you will either A) have your heater core not work which it does not already or B) get a hole in the HC which needs to be replaced anyways if this does not work (that has never happened to me).
 
If you are cheap and lazy like me you might want to try blowing it out first. At the other dealership I used to work for we had a professional kit that put pressurized water in the heater core. I don't have such a tool now but I try to use a variable flow blow gun and a rubber tip. Ease pressure into the heater core SLOWLY. Then try and flush it both ways. 99% of the time this will work. It will save you time and money if it works. In the worst case scenerio you will either A) have your heater core not work which it does not already or B) get a hole in the HC which needs to be replaced anyways if this does not work (that has never happened to me).


Apparently you just reply to the titles of threads instead of actually reading the posts.



Changing the heater core sucks. It took me a good 2 or 3 hours to do mine. The worst part is there is barely enough room to get the heater core out once you get the dash pulled back, so you'll end up with lots of tiny little scrapes and cuts all over your hands.
 
Apparently you just reply to the titles of threads instead of actually reading the posts.
Yep. Did you read where it said I was lazy? First sentence...


Changing the heater core sucks. It took me a good 2 or 3 hours to do mine. The worst part is there is barely enough room to get the heater core out once you get the dash pulled back, so you'll end up with lots of tiny little scrapes and cuts all over your hands.
Poor baby do a heater core on an explorer. Book time for some of those are 8-12 hours.
 
I'm highly allergic to brake clean, if I get any on my hands, they swell up red and my skin basically burns off where ever it touched. I'm actually at the end of recovering from that right now, my hands still have some scab on the tops of them.

Brake fluid doesn't feel great in your eyes either.
 
I'm highly allergic to brake clean, if I get any on my hands, they swell up red and my skin basically burns off where ever it touched. I'm actually at the end of recovering from that right now, my hands still have some scab on the tops of them.

Brake fluid doesn't feel great in your eyes either.


Once I got a giant drop of brake kleen in the eye ( I had sprayed away excessive oil to locate an oil leak) and bam the biggest damn drop fell smack dab in the middle of my eye. That really sucks.

Imagine what that crap will do to your eyeball!
 
What's the story with the restrictor that's suppose to be in one of the hoses? It's not mentioned in most of the threads that I have been looking at throught the search. My son has my car in AZ and the heater core went out. We decided to replace the core instead of bypass it since it would be a good learning experience for him ( he's going to UTI in Avondale ). He is seeing steam again but no water on the floorboard. He was at AMP yesterday buying another part for the car and he brought up the heater core issue. He was told that if you don't have the restrictor it will blow the heater core. He also said that that the new core or hose ( were ever the restrictor is ) does not come with one. More info on this would be greatly appriciated.
 
Just get yourself a round chunk of metal (preferably brass) and drill a 3/8 to 1/2 inch hole in the middle. Place it in the pressure side of the system before it goes into the core.
 
What's the story with the restrictor that's suppose to be in one of the hoses? It's not mentioned in most of the threads that I have been looking at throught the search. My son has my car in AZ and the heater core went out. We decided to replace the core instead of bypass it since it would be a good learning experience for him ( he's going to UTI in Avondale ). He is seeing steam again but no water on the floorboard. He was at AMP yesterday buying another part for the car and he brought up the heater core issue. He was told that if you don't have the restrictor it will blow the heater core. He also said that that the new core or hose ( were ever the restrictor is ) does not come with one. More info on this would be greatly appriciated.

Correct. The new hoses will not come with a restrictor. Here is some info from a technical service bulletin about relocating the restrictor to prevent it from dislodging from it's original position. Image 2 has the part number for the restrictor.

50_restrictor_location1.gif


50_restrictor_location2.gif
 

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