heater core

[mikeys89ltd]

I'm looking for the low down on replacing the heater core. The inside of my crown vic smells like coolant, windshield fogs up all the time, and coolant level is always low.

Thing is I'm not very good under the hood and advice would be awesome before I go scheduling an appt. at mech. shop.

Many thanks

[gabegt90]

nice crank windows lol try searching for that i the forums there should be some threads on it. it is as a least a 10 hour job. got to drop down the dash then remove the heater doors.
Must off the guys here spend a good weekend doing it

[gadget73]

well, its not hard per say as its a pain in the ass. You will pay a nice sum to have someone do this for you at most shops, probably about a grand. You can do it yourself if you have some hand tools and a bit of patience. There are some threads on here about this too

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...ht=heater+core

couple pics of what the disaster looks like once its all apart
http://lunar.gadget73.com/images/galactica/heater_core/

an article written up by Dereck

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00101.html

I did mine somewhat different, I pulled it out through the top, not the bottom, and the air plenum stayed in place. The official Ford instructions involve pulling the air plenum though.

hm, it occurs to me that apparently nobody has really properly photographed taking all that bs apart before. I'll see if I can get some pics of what you have to pull apart tomorrow maybe. I'm not actually going to pop the dash just for pics, but I should be able to get something together .

[Lincolnmania]

the labor guide give 6 hrs to replace the heater core......make sure to get a genuine ford heater core or one from a carquest....they seem decent....no cheapie discount store heater cores......where are you located btw?

[Blaze86Vic]

i just replaced mine in about 3 hours this past weekend. So it's not all that bad, but it can turn into a massive job if it gets out of hand.

And nice to see another manual door master!

[ironstealth]

my old vic had a bad heater core-it leaked inside and outside ON the cats. smoked like crazy. went to home depot,spent about $2.50 on some brass fittings and teflon tape and just connected the inlet and outlet to each other. took about 5 mins and still had plenty of heat through the vents. i wouldnt even bother with replacing it.

[86VickyLX]

I'm looking for the low down on replacing the heater core. The inside of my crown vic smells like coolant, windshield fogs up all the time, and coolant level is always low.

Thing is I'm not very good under the hood and advice would be awesome before I go scheduling an appt. at mech. shop.

Many thanks

ooh ooh! I know!!!!
If you want to do it that is.

Heres what you got to do.

Mark all bolts that you take off, give a discription of where they went.

Mark all wiring connections that you may disconnect as well.


UNDER HOOD:
Disconnect the negative battery terminal.

Drain coolant until level is lower than the heater core hoses.

Disconnect heater core hoses. Mark where which one went.

INTERIOR:
Remove the dashpad.

Remove trim around the dash.

Remove kick Panels.
Disconnect Shift Indicator from steering column.
(remove cover behind steering wheel, unbolt the white ring. it may be broken, it might not be. Carfully remove wire from black clip on the shifter.)

(I removed the entire instrument cluster. My speedo cable didn't let the dash come out as far as it could.)

Remove trim panel below steering column (where the fuse box is)

Drop Steering Column
(Find the four bolts on the column bolted to the brace. Socket size 15mm) Before you drop the column, put emergency brake on and chock the wheels!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbolt bottom of heater core box, two bolts down by the floor. (remove cover if any)

Unbolt the dash support at both sides of the dash.

Unbolt the dash support nut that is located where the steering column usually is.

Unscrew or unbolt the bolts at the top of the dash by the windshield. only the ones right by the dash.

Pull the dash forward and down.

Remove the insulation below the windshield to expose a nut behind it. Unbolt it.

Pull the box with the heater core out towards you and pull it down. Clear the holes in the firewall. Long ass heater pipes.

Unbolt the cover on the top of the box. 4 bolts.
Remove cover

Pull out old heater core. It'll be a little hard to get out but play around with it a bit and it will come out.

Save the rubber thing that's wrapped around the core.

Get your new core.

Clean out the box where the heater core was out with windex after you wipe all the antifreeze in there with a rag or paper towel.

Wrap the rubber thing around the new core.

Put the core back in the box.

Bolt the cover of box back on.

Line up box on the studs.

Bolt box up.

(Check to make sure that there are no connections disconnected [vacuum hoses, wires wiring harnesses etc.])

Get dash into position. (You'll have to get it over the air plenum)

Start a screw on each side of the dash.

Bolt dash into place.

Bolt all dash supports back up.

Connect any disconnected harnesses that you disconnected.

Bolt steering column back up.

Reattach shift indicator cable.

put kick panels and all covers you removed, back on.

put dash pad back on.

Put everything back on that you disconnected.

[grandpaslincoln]

my old vic had a bad heater core-it leaked inside and outside ON the cats. smoked like crazy. went to home depot,spent about $2.50 on some brass fittings and teflon tape and just connected the inlet and outlet to each other. took about 5 mins and still had plenty of heat through the vents. i wouldnt even bother with replacing it.

I don't get how the heater core could still put out heat if you connected the two sides together.

[ironstealth]

just stick your heat on vent and it'll blow out warm air from the engine bay and outside. the heater core isnt really neccasary. and it wont even change your coolant pressure.

[mrltd]

Yeah, I'm sure that works great on cold nights to defrost.


You must live down south where "cold" is 60*

The heater core isn't too bad, especially once you've done 20 or so.

[87_crown_vic]

i guess it would act like an old style radiator. i thought of getting measurements of the heater core box, getting some flexible copper tubing, and some reducers. then you can have your own home made radiator that wont root out on the sides and bust the seams. just an idea.

[Lincolnmania]

dumbest thing i ever heard.......wont work here

[mrltd]

i guess it would act like an old style radiator. i thought of getting measurements of the heater core box, getting some flexible copper tubing, and some reducers. then you can have your own home made radiator that wont root out on the sides and bust the seams. just an idea.

So you took the core out and put a copper loop in the heater box? Or just plugged it off in the engine compartment?

My cores always rotted in the insides, except for the few I blew up from excessive pressure

[87_crown_vic]

i havent done it yet...i was thinking of making a type of heater core.

[mrltd]

Well, it won't do much good. Hate to say the setup the cars currently have is about the most efficient way to heat. And not that effective on the vics. The heat in my car is rather lacking. I'm glad I don't drive it much in the winter.