I have the dash all apart, it feels like the box that holds the heater core in place is completely loose. I can pull one end out and if I could get the tubes through the fire wall it would slide right out. I can't seem to get the plastic casing around the core back far enough to get the heater core tubes out of the fire wall.

Does that plastic casing around the core need to come all the way out? It appears that the flap door hinge is hanging it up some.

Advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

It's been a little while since I did this job, but I remember that even when everything was loose, it was still a bear to get the core in and out of the plastic box. I kept wiggling, cursing and trying different ways. It eventually popped out and in, but I honestly don't remember exactly what the right combination was. I had to bend the new heater core tubes a bit to get them to align with the holes in the firewall.

 

I got the heater core in, the hoses connected, and got everything all buttoned up. We were just letting it sit there idleing when we started seeing the dreaded steam coming out of the vents, and then a drip coming from around the heater core housing. I'm pretty sure that I go everything cleaned up good. I'm sure the new heater core COULD be bad. If the hoses were leaking would you suspect they would leak INSIDE the car but not outside by the fire wall?

I am considering just building a by-pass hose. Has anyone ever done that? We never drive the thing when it is even cool out so the heater is not needed.

Thanks a bunch.

 

Its real easy to bypass. Do a search on this forum on heater core bypass and you will find several options for your application.