heater core help!!!!

[abesmith69]

Guys I have tore everything off the inside of my car

I can see the heater core box and I have disconnected the hoses....is there anything else that needs to be disconnected ?

Also am I gonna have to cut the box ????

Please let me how I can do this !!

THANK YOU ALOT!

Abe

[rick8750]

Abe,

You'll need to unscrew the blower motor just to the right of the heater core assembly. drop the blower motor out and put it to the side. This will allow you to pull the heater core assembly out about 3 1/2 inches from the firewall and about 2 inches down. after you've acomplished that you can use a long screwdriver to keep the heatercore assembly pry'd open as you pull the old heater core out. be carefull not to damage the fins on the new heater core during the installation or it will fail within 6 months. only use the above method if you want to do the job without discharging the a/c system. if you ARE going to discharge the a/c system then you should remove the entire heater core assembly before removing the heater core.

[abesmith69]

is a 90 convertible different ?

Cause when I look to the right of the heater core I see a black box, I am assuming that the blower motor is in there but the only screws I can find to take that out are below by the filter....although when I take the screwed out it is still held together by the black gum ****.......

OR are you talking about inside the engine ??

If you could be a little more specific on where it is and stuff I would REALLY Appreciate it.. THanks again!

Abe

[rick8750]

Yeah, thats the blower motor. Inside the passenger compartment just to the right of the heater core assembly. after you have removed the screws that connect the blower motor to the heater core assembly you might need to unbolt one screw from the firewall on the inside of the passenger compartment just an inch or so under where the carpet starts (only in some models). Make sure you have unbolted the 2 studs that mount the heater core assembly from inside the engine compartment as well. This will allow you to pull the heater core assembly slightly in and down. The metal tubing that connects the a/c dryer assembly in the engine compartment is pretty tough so don't by shy, you can tug pretty hard on the heater core assembly from the passenger compartment (within reason of course). There is a bracket on the dryer assembly inside the engine compartment (some models only) that will need to be bent out of the way before you can pull the heater core assembly from inside the passenger compartment. Ok... now, you're ready to pull the blower motor. pry it out and to the right towards the passenger side door. pry it back and forth until you hear a smacky sound. Thats the black gum starting to give. from there it should wiggle out. Let me know how it turns out. Good luck!

[greydan]

I just put one in my '87.
Used Chiltons and a factory manual to make me beleive I really had to remove the enitire dash right to the firewall.
The box assy. on mine had 2 screws. One to the left center, one above the carpet. Two nuts on the engine side of the firewall.
The top of the heater core enclosure lifts right off after the cover screws are removed. I did have to remove the a/c compressor line to the air-core, to pull the whole air box back from the firewall on the inside, to access it.
Note..if it was leaking onto your carpet, clean everything up, dry and lysol the carpet. I've got a case of mildew that is beeing difficult at best to get rid of now, after 5 weeks.

[fiveohpatrol]

well if you wanna do it, get bloody, break stuff and have major problems getting it done then do it the way its been suggested before but...

JUST CUT IT

it is sooo much easier when you cut the top of the box off, you dont have to pull it back at all or discharge the AC or remover the blower motor, just pull the dash back, cut the box, remove the 2 screws and now you can change the core out

done it twice this way (second time needed because I accidentally broke the tube off from the engine bay while removing the hose for an intake swap)

[abesmith69]

Okay guys!

I got the heater core installed, I used the "cut the box" gimmick and it worked fine, pryed the case back and slid the old one out and slid the new one in, hooked up the hoses and installed the dash.

WELLLLLL when I started the car and left it running for a bit I noticed there was no hot air coming out!!!!! I dont know what the deal is, but I really need help its actually starting to get cold here in Florida. Things that dont work are Windshiled Wiper Fluid, Mileage counter, Speedometer, Oil Pressure, and the console dimmer.

Also when I tried to use the heater the black unit inside the engine compartment frosted over(near the heater core hoses), not sure what the deal is there. If you guys could help me out I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Abe

[Mustang_289]

Sounds like when you put the dash back in - you didn't reconnect the speedo cable to the speedometer and some of the instrument cluster wires - this is real easy to do - this happened to us when we did our heater core.

Are you sure your two heater core hoses from the engine aren't kinked up? Also check your top radiator hose to be sure that your thermostat has opened up and water is flowing through the engine - which than will also flow through your heater core. Is your blower working to blow air across the heater core to heat it up?

[rick8750]

Abe,
One other quick note. Make sure you have all the vacum lines attached because they are required when opening and closing the air valve to allow hot air to pass into the duct. if you turn the dial from cold to hot you should be able to hear the valve opening. One way to check it is to switch between FLOOR-VENT-DEFROST-MAX-NORMAL you should notice the air valves opening and re-routing the air to where you dialed it. If some of this or all of it doesn't work then it's just vacum lines. They could be either crossed or still disconnected.