I wish all heater cores were as easy as a G-Body

[ItsnotaGN]

My 05 Dodge pickup was pretty much disassemble the entire truck, the evap core was bad for the AC, you better believe it got a heater core at the same time.

 

[Local Hero]

My 68 Cougar XR7 with factory AC was the worst followed closely by my 77 Grand Prix. Both cars appeared to have the heater core be the first item down the assembly line and the entire cars were built around them. And it wasn't until I tore into the GP that I found one of the previous owners already had it done once before. All of the shortcuts were already taken and it was still a PITA.

 

[airboatgreg]

I'm thinking if the first step within the service manual is to remove the seats, that it's going to be a 'fun' job... ;-)

If you think about it a bench seat only has 4 bolts so a lot of things are easier without the seat in the way. Plus look at all the spare change you will find

 

[foxtrot]

If you think about it a bench seat only has 4 bolts so a lot of things are easier without the seat in the way. Plus look at all the spare change you will find

I suppose that's one way to look at it but if I'm 'ripping' the entire dash apart, it would be nice to have the seat to sit on -- haha

 

[foxtrot]

My 05 Dodge pickup was pretty much disassemble the entire truck, the evap core was bad for the AC, you better believe it got a heater core at the same time.

I call that a "learningful experience". ;-)

 

[olds307 and 403]

Many Ford's were bastards, in the middle of nowhere and pull the whole dash.

 

[foxtrot]

Many Ford's were bastards, in the middle of nowhere and pull the whole dash.

What does the middle of nowhere have to do with it?

 

[N3M3S1S]

Easiest I ever did was my old Fiero. Remove the passenger side speaker grill on the dash, unbolt it from inside with plenty of room, take it out. It was awesome. I remember I had an old 5.0 Mustang that I looped that line because I was like F that lol.

 

[Jeff L]

The heater core on my 73 Buick was a pain in the butt. Plus I was just learning how to fix cars so my experience was minimal. I had to take off the glove box to access bolts. Then had to take apart some of the heater box. Not sure why but the box would not come off the firewall and I had to open it at the top and just enough to pull out the old heater core. I know I was laying across the engine and swearing for sure.

Worst car I helped do the heater core was a 75-76 Mustang II. I think the car interior was taken apart to get at it. Glove box, top of dash, and again a bunch of cursing by that guy doing it!

 

[Opie Knievel]

A few years ago one of my dad's friends asked me to change the heater core in his Ford Ranger. It was the round body style, somewhere around a '96 or '97 model. The square body Rangers were easy to change as a couple of you guys have already mentioned but the round body style trucks are a b*tch. You have to pull the dash out of the way. I priced the job for $100 knowing it would take a few hours. The guy agreed to it but I could tell that he thought I was asking for too much money.

About half way through the job, with the dash unbolted and laying in the seat, the guy came out to the truck to see how things were going. Once he saw how much stuff had to be removed to get to the heater core he told me that he understood why I priced the job for as much as I did. He knew how the old body style Rangers had the access hole under the dash and he thought that this truck would as well. Once he saw how big of a job it was he was glad that he hired me to do it instead of trying it himself.

When I worked at the salvage yard I took out several heater boxes. Some were a nightmare and some were surprisingly simple. I got pretty good at removing dashes. I never understood why the engineers didn't design an access for the heater core on all vehicles. I guess that just makes too much sense.

Another part that's really easy to get to on a G body but can be near impossible to access on some cars is the heater blower motor. I've took out some blower motors that were ridiculously hard to get out.