Hey cLAYH!
How is it holding up?
A little over 1 year for me and still tight, heated and dry.

 

Well, finally after a year or so with zero heat, and the fact I had the wifes mini van to drive when it's really cold out, I changed out the heater core.

It's really not as hard as it looks. I was in no hurry at all and it took me 6 hours. This included a bunch of re wiring of guages and light switches.

It looks a little intimidating but when you get into, it's pretty easy. I did go the same route as ClayH did and left the HVAC box on the firewall. With the dash pulled back onto the seats, you have access to everything but not enough to actually get in there and wrestle the box back onto the firewall.

I went one step further though and yes, cut the heater core piping as ClayH did but also just ran new heater hose from the core directly to the motor connections itself. I can get to the heater core connections through the glove box opening if necessary. I highly doubt there will be an issue though. The heater hose is such a tight fit on the heater core piping that with the hose clamps torqued up, there should not be a problem.

Sure it's not the "right way" of doing it but it works. I'm all for doing things by the book but in this case, it would have added a bunch of time and I'm sure aggravation wrestling the HVAC box back onto the firewall.

So the old tub has heat again and I actually forgot what these trucks put out for heat. I left it idling in the driveway to purge any air out of the system and while the heat was on, it got might toasty in the cab!

Jeff

 

I just changed the heater core in my '96. I cut the heater core lines like cLAYH's. I just ran new hose through the firewall to the hard lines on the engine.
Only problem was I did crack the dash by leaning over it. I've epoxied the dash from the underside. I hope that holds. We'll see.
My question is, I've seen it mentioned several times how I could remove the glove box if the clamps needed snugging up. With my glove box out, I still have no access to that area... It's OK, I used spring clamps. Is it just the '98-up dashes that have this hole behind the glove box?

 

I emptied out the stuff in the glove box, bent the sides in enough that the "ears" on both sides could be pried in to allow the glove box to flop past "open".
With it flopped down out of the way, I can access the hose clamps to the left.

 

How often do the AC Evaorators fail? Im changing out the heater core this weekend, and cant really afford the extra $120 this week. Plus a the cost of a re-charge. Is this asking for trouble by not changing it? Or could it last for a long time also?

 

If you are going to remove the heater plenum to change the heater core then you will have to drop the AC charge. If you don't have the equipment to recharge it yourself then I would also change the evaporator.

If you are doing the heater core Clays way then no or if you can do your own AC work then again no. To change the evaporator you have to remove the plenum.

 

Evap cores last on some and not so well on others..can't predict.
I figured if I needed to replace it later, it'd just be difficult later and not difficult now.
Coming up on 2 years tight, heated & dry

 

I replaced mine 5 years ago with one with swivel lines. had to cut the old one out, but new one slid right in.
No leaking so far.

 

I know this post is old but I wanted to say I just did this mod tonight to replace my leaking heater core and it worked like a charm. My dad is a mechanic, he just replaced the heater core in my uncles 99 dodge ram and it cost almost 1000 bucks after discharge and recharge of the AC, new heater core, new evaporator (cuz why not at that point) and labor.

He was shaking his head at our job after we finished (3 hours start to finish) and just told me "don't tell your uncle". LOL

Anyways ClayH, THANKS GREAT IDEA!

 

well I did mine today.
I tried in vain to get the old heater hoses off the old core. should have just left them alone.
so I had to use the new heater cores lines through the fire wall.

I bought the one with the swivel lines, but could not get it in no matter how I twisted and tried. so I cut the new ones lines. put the heater hoses on the out side, ran that through the fire wall and connected them back together with the short pieces of heater hose.

even out of the truck I could not get the old heater hose off the old heater core tubes.

I am so glad that it was nice out today and that I did this. As the old heater core was just starting to leak. the foam had sticky coolant on it and there was just a little puddle at the bottom of the heater core.

so I took a lot of the dash apart that I didn't need to.

there are two bolts behind the kick panels. the plastic under the steering wheel and the steering wheel nuts. there is a wire thing connected to the steering collume that you want to take loose, I think it is the blinker shut off.

there are 2 bolts and 2 nuts under the the plastic of the center support. I used a 3 foot 2x4 to support the dash near the steering column at I was afraid of breaking off the tilt wheel lever.


I only had one dash type screw left over. I took out many that I didn't need to. you only have to remove the plasic under the steering wheel. I pretty much took every screw out of the lower dash portion.. you don't have to!!!

also you need to pull the 4x4 lever back. you also need to shift the truck (auto) into low gear. put the steering wheel adjustment it the up position to give you a bit more room.

I am not sure why, with the flex tubes I could not get it in there as stated above.

here are pictures of my old heater core.. no wonder I did not have heat even with the radiator covered over. no real heat until the truck was at around 190... today it was 60 here and so I went after this project.
after I got it all back together and started up the truck. I could feel a little heat before the temp gauge even started to move.

the heater core is tiny... what a pain in the ***.




top of old core!!!!









Bottom.... no wonder...

 

oh, and I had tried flushing and flushing.. vinegar soak.. flush flush flush... **** this took 4 hours was a pain in the ***. I will report back the next cold day and let you guys know how this worked out. Looking at the old one, the heat HAS to be better.

thank you for posting up this short cut. I had to use the advice given even with the turnable tubed heater core.

carquest part number. htr 94736. 63.49$

 

oh and the old core felt heavy. like it was still full of liquid. so top or bottom I think it was 90 percent plugged up. if there is an interest I could cut it in half. After the truck warmed up to around 160 I could smell hot plastic.


this place is great, thank you to all those that post up the fixes or how to fix stuff... really, from the heart, thank you.
just this fix, with your help, I figure even as much of a pain in the butt it was. I made 250.00 an hour for those 4 hours and that included going and getting the heater core.

 

ok, I have heat. 3 or 4 miles and the heat starts. I still have the radiator covered (about 80 percent). But before I could drive the 10 miles to work and had a problem with the windsheild frosting back over. 20 min in the drive and it is warm enough to load the kids up for day care.

Thank you again for posting this fix up!

 

I just phoned piston ring and he said there are 2 sizes to order, one is 8" long and one is 8 5/8 " long, is there a way to see before it is removed.

 

Two weekends ago I joined the ranks of the "cut the heater core tubes" clan. It sure is nice having heat in the truck again! No leaks so far.