[urq] Swapping out the heater core? Thoughts?

Sat Jun 19 08:14:42 PDT 2010

JP,

I did mine in January and it is indeed a long and painful job. The heater plenum have to come out to remove the heater core from it. The hardest part was the console with all the wires, cables, and stuff that you must disconnect to remove. 

About the core itself, mine was leaking at a seam and I too had a small whiff of prestone smell once in a while. Mine was the OEM core and I bought a same brand unit from Behr.

I had a little problem with air bubbles in the core, so be careful when you fill the system. My suggestion will be to fill the core to the brim with fresh water using the hoses in the engine compartment, hook all the hoses together, and complete with antifreeze at the expansion reservoir. You can even use a garden hose to fill the core with water pressure.

On the other hand, the bubbling I am experiencing may come from a tiny crack in the head or a bad head gasket... even if the engine was rebuilt in 2008. The fact that the car sits for long period makes me think that this is the case.

Anyway, back to the subject. Since you'll do the job in summer, it will be a lot warmer than when I did it... Take your time, bring some tape to identify the bits, take some pictures while doing it, and reassembly will go smooth.

Louis-Alain

-----Message d'origine-----
De : urq-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:urq-bounces at audifans.com] De la part de JP Chaplen
Envoyé : 18 juin 2010 18:16
À : Brandon Rogers
Cc : Urq at audifans.com
Objet : Re: [urq] Swapping out the heater core? Thoughts?

Yep i do have the AC still installed though it is not charged at the moment. The carpet is dry as far as i can tell, but VERY occasionally i will get a faint wiff of anti freeze... 

But not sure if the car is just running hot or the unit is leaking... 

but regardless sounds like a PITA!...crap. 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brandon Rogers" <brogers at terrix.com> 
To: "JP Chaplen" <quattrodude at comcast.net>, Urq at audifans.com 
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 3:01:18 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: RE: [urq] Swapping out the heater core? Thoughts? 

If you have A/C - or at least still have the condenser - it will be a PITA. 
If no A/C condenser - should be pretty easy - just remove the glove box, 
IIRC. If you have the A/C and/or condenser still - you get to remove all 
that stuff first - which would include evacuating the refrigerant.  AFAIK 
the heater core is either good or not - no in between.  If leaking you get 
wet/damp carpet and sweet smell of coolant in the cabin, and film on the 
windscreen. 

Brandon 
'84 ur 

-----Original Message----- 
From: urq-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:urq-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf 
Of JP Chaplen 
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 3:19 PM 
To: Urq at audifans.com 
Subject: [urq] Swapping out the heater core? Thoughts? 

Just wanted to see what experiences people have had swapping it out, as far 
as I can tell i think its fine, but i have never looked and never dug too 
deep into the console? I have been looking for some good instructions, but 
it looks like i have to yank out all the AC cooler/exchange to get to the 
heater core. I was just thinking since i have most of the coolant out 
swapping the Thermo stat and switch it might be a good time to do that too? 
But wondering if its a couple hour job or an all weekend pain the butt job. 

The core its self seems reasonable cheap at about $80 and I have both the 
replacement hoses already. Though I have to admit I'm not 100% sure i really 
feel like tearing the whole dash apart. But the core as far as I know has 
never been replaced - has anyone had any horror stories after the fact, or 
do they slowly start leaking or ever go bad? 

Since i know people love to give advice and opinions...would love to hear or 
if there are any tips or concerns on doing this job? Also was wondering, if 
i do tear it apart, am I going to have 1/2 a gallon or something of 
anti-freeze pour out when and if I undo the 2 hoses to the core even if the 
bottom of the radiator switch has been pulled and drained? 

And thanks all for the advice on the thermo switch and stat ( I ended up 
going with the 80 for the Stat and 75 on the radiator cooling swtich), the 
reason mine was running hotter i think was i could barely read but it was 92 
on and 87 off...which made having an 80 stat kinda worthless.... 

Thanks all in advance! 

JP 
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