My heater core sprung a leak today. Does anyone have any tips or shortcuts to replacing it? How long did it take to do the job? Pepboys was going to bill me for seven hours of work, screw that.

Eric

 

Seven!??! Jesus. When my heator core broke the mechanics I took it to charged me 80 dollars for parts & labor.

I don't really have any advice, other than to keep some towels handy for the bit of antifreeze still left in the hoses and heater core that might spill out when you get it off.

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89 iroc-z 305 tbi
k&n filtercharger, open element air filter. nuffin' else

 

Certain years prolly will take that long. You'll have to remove the whole dash. However, on '86 Camaros at least all you have to remove is a small black panel under the pass. side dash. Took about 45 mins. Word of advice take the old one out and take it to the auto store to make sure the pipes line up exactly. I went to Trak Auto, they got the one supposedly for my car but the pipes were at a slightly different angle. I tried bending them slightly without breaking them, but no luck. I took my old one with me when I went back and Trak didn't have any more. I went to the local auto store and they had one that matched perfectly. Also put a towel down as some leakage might occur from the old one.

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2 Tickets to game= $250
Gas= $20
Sitting 20ft. from MJ= Priceless
'86 IROC T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK HEADERS Hooker CatBack
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

If your car's dash/heater core setup is like mine (91 Formula), 7 hrs is a fair time estimate. Unless you're lucky (e.g. 86 Camaro like mentioned above), you will indeed have to back out the entire dash, piece by piece, screw by screw (to make it much easier on yourself, take the five minutes to remove both ft. seats and make some room!

It is not as much hard as it is time-consuming. Keep everything organized as you dismantle so you can put it back together only once, quickly. And remember to cut (unless you can remove them w/o cutting) the heater core hoses before you try to pull it out from inside. Hell, you may as well take all that extra hose garbage (to/from the heater control valve) out of the mix while you're at it (go straight from the core back to the radiator to get the hose mess off your psgr. valve cover, if you have the HCV). I'm kicking myself for not having done that, since I need to do it now...

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Joel Geerling
91 Formula, red, 305 TBI, Edelbrock 14x3 open element, TBI 1/2" spacer, Hypertech street chip, Crank/Alt Pulleys, 180* stat, Hedman hedders, 3" cat, Hooker catback

 

i agree with him.

i personally (alone) removed the dash to remove the heater core and components from my 91 RS. A solid 3 hrs to pull the panels/knee bracket/drop the column/dashboard/and ultimately the dash..dump the seats, you WILL NEED THE ROOM (i didnt, it would have saved me from so much frustration). place a good amount of towel beneath the core, to prevent from damaging your interior. have someone with you when you try to reinstall the dash, that was a painstaking process!! 7 hrs is about what it took me alone...with potty breaks and stretch breaks and a food run.

to hell with pepboys, save yourself the money (and ensure it gets done..i dont trust pepboys anymore), if you do it yourself, you learn ALOT about your car. do the math 7 hrs x $60+= 420 bucks right there. DIY

 

Its not THAT hard of a job. I just swapped my heater core today and yes, it was time consuming, but not 7 hours. I worked pretty slow, and it took about 3 hours total. Go read the tech article on swapping heater cores, it'll tell ya most of all you need to know. Removing the dash pad and the passenger side 6x9 will make it A LOT easier to get at a screw that is on top of the plastic box surrounding the heater core. That one screw alone took me an hour. Oh, and be careful when you put the new core in. Don't tweak on the pipes too much. They will crack and the next morning you will have a nice puddle of coolant on the passenger side. No joke, it has happened to me Just lube up the hoses so they go on easy and you're all set.