Long story short today i found out my heater core broke and there is like no antifreeze left in my car. My dad is not sure if we can fix it ourselves...he used to be a GM mechanic in the 80's but is not sure of the procedure of putting a heatercore in a camaro and doesnt know if we can do it at home. My question is, what are the steps involved, can it be done at home, and how much does a new heater core cost.

IF anyone has a service manual for a camaro, i would GREATLY appriciate it if you could photocopy or take a picture of the page(s) about fixing the heater core because if we are gona do it ourselves we're gonna need the directions and we dont have a service manual.

Any help would be greatly appriciated because i am not gona drive my car until this gets fixed and until then i have to drive a minivan .

 

Here is alink, found in the tech pages of this site:

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...atercore.shtml

 

one of the simplest gm cars to do just follow the link above. took a half hour on my old car

 

aLrite thanks for that link guys...that does sound alot less painful than my dad expected. He did however, wonder if anyone had the service manual and they could just take a picture of the diagram or scan it or something. If anyone has a service manual for any 3rd gen f-body it will do. doesnt have to be a 1992 camaro manual. If this is at all possible i'd REALLY appriciate it. --Hey i dont need it but my dad wants to see a diagram and make sure that the link is on par with what the service manual says.

Also, are the hoses that send the antifreeze to the heater core accesible in a way that we can bypas the heater core in order for me to drive the car in the meantime. If the process is a PITA or its just not wise to do so, let me know because im fine if i dont have to drive my car for a week or so.

Thanks for everything so far!

 

Heater core? Who needs one of those? (says the guy shivering when he goes home to drive his car on the weekends occasionally)..

Somewhat a pain in the *** because you have to take just about all of the dash apart. If its your first time it'll be quite overwhelming feeling, but it really isn't that bad.

My $15 Hayne's manual from Autozone has a good rightup on the procedure that I would have followed (if I wasn't taking the entire interior apart and gutting the backside of the dash anyways.

 

Well i wont be the one doing most of the work. As i said, my dad used to be a GM mechanic but i think even he may get frustrated with this repair. Ive done some searching and it seems like its a very tedious job. most people are saying 3-4 hours. I'm trying to get the most info together so that when me and my dad do this, we know exactly what we're doing and we get it done as painless as possible...

So if anyone has a 3rd gen service manual could you PLEASE scan or take a picture of the diagram.. And if you guys have any other tips that make this replacement any easier please share!!

 

I took my Camaro off the road today, just for that reason. I have no heater core. Gettin' a little chilly in the mornings, and can't see where I'm goin.

 

Its not too bad of a job, can easily be done in a weekend, so no worries about not being able to get to work.

 

I just deleted mine when it took a dump and ran a hose from the water pump to the engine .Works great temporarily
Im gonna get a new one and install it eventually.

 

^^^^

Exactly what i would do if mine blew now because at the first snowflake my cars having a good sleep for the winter under a tarp beside the boat

 

I scanned you the page from the gm manual here is a better link. I know on the fire birds it is the same even though it says til 86. just watch for the top screw like shown in the picture.

I didn't have to take half the stuff off everyone else did

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...ht=heater+core

 

I see the link to the page about the screw but where is the page you scanned from the service manual???

 

RED FLAG!!!

How is it there "is like no antifreeze left in my car" and you just found out it was the heater core. Didn't all the antifreeze on the floor clue you in?

Are you SURE it's the heater core?

 

AJ's correct. Normally, a pond forms in the pass side foot well--the windshield will fog over too.

JamesC

 

I did have a puddle in the pass side footwell...

 

OK. You failed to mention that so I thought I'd check.

Didn't want you replacing something that didn't need replacing.

 

It took me longer to find a replacement than to replace the core. The angles of the standpipes on the core are critical. The first replacement I got was not quite right, and complicated the installation of the heater hoses in an already cramped area under the hood. I took the old core (core core?) and matched it after looking through several boxes of replacements at different suppliers.

The actual change was only a couple of hours, and a good part of that was fitting the hoses. If you remove the bolt the secures the lower right corner of the dash to the A pillar, you can flex the dash panel outward slightly to allow access to the top core case screw. You'll need a ¼" drive ratchet, 7mm socket, and about 10" of extension to reach this top screw. It's a lot faster than removing the upper dash pad, but that's not a major chore either, and allosw access to the top as well as the rest of the dash, so you can clean up, replace failed dash lamps, etcetera. Take your pick.

Remember the very hot water, wet/dry shop vac, and several old towels to help extract the old coolant from the carpet fibers and foam silencer pads on the lower dash trim and knee bolster. I'm now using DexCool so that the erosion from sitting for months at a time doesn't eat through the core so quickly.

 

yea sorry i didnt mention that...as i said my dad is an ex pontiac mechanic and he diagnosed it immediately. Hopefully ill get this done by next weekend. Kinda sucks because i broke my hand at my football game fri night and its really hard to drive now so i might not even drive my car when the heater core gets fixed.

 

I deleted mine as well.. I suppose when i put the new dash in I will replace it.. maybe... i suppose... if i have to..... Since the cars sleep all winter long, Makes working on the paseenger side engine alot easier though lol. I did the same as above, took a hose and went from waterpump to intake.. and called it a day after I came out of the store and noticed a huge puddle of coolant on the ground under the passenger side..... no coolant in the car, and hoses both good and tight (i figure i broke one of those pipes on the core at the firewall)

Replaceing it is not a big thing really and you do not have to remove the entire dash.... just the computer and moveing some wires around. of course it all depends on the tools you have, and what is all in your way (my computer is gone... ripped it out when i went all non-cc)

 

Mack,

To answer your question, yes you can bypass the heater core. Just take the two hoses on the firewall that connect to the heater core and connect them together. That is how I am currently running my Trans Am. Just remember, no heat.