Heater Core

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:53 pm

I know its leaking, I don't like that its leaking, and I need to fix it. WHERE IS IT? I can't find the stupid thing, let alone how to access it. I want to try and solder it together, before I shell out another paycheck on new parts.
Any help?

waynehoc · Post by **waynehoc** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:12 pm

Hi Typrus, I bet its up under the dash somewhere and you're in for a lot of fun gettting at it and getting it out. I remember years ago, the heater core on my '76 Corolla 4-door started leaking, and man it was something else to get at it and get it out. More recently the heater blower motor resistor died on my current 87 5-spd fwd wagon, and a fair bit of disassembly of the dash area components and fishing around, and there it was. Good luck, and have fun - hope you're a bit of a contortionist!

tercelcalgary · Post by **tercelcalgary** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:25 pm

the heater core is located behind the firewall, where from under the hood you
can see a cooper pipe facing downwards (running through the wall) with a rubber hose attached to it, the hose has an "s" shape
so basicly just behind your glove box attached to the blower motor
just bend the nipples on your glovebox inwards and pull it out with the hinge still attached and you should be able to see it :ph34r:

tercelcalgary · Post by **tercelcalgary** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:30 pm

if you pull it out and you are taking the rubber hose under the hood off the pipe,
do not bend the pipe, use silicone spray and work it for a long time
my hose was leaking and i pulled it off with some pliers and after putting a new hose on it was still leaking
once bent the pipe is a bitch straighten out
i'm going to have to cut off the bent part and get another new hose and clamp
good luck

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:02 pm

Replacing a heater core is my least favorite job. I'd almost rather swap an engine than do a heater core. As said above, just look at your engine bay side of the fire wall, and look for the copper inlet and outlet pipes. Also, when you pull the coolant hoses off the heater core inlet and outlet, make sure that you don't pull too hard that you break the pipe right of ther heater core (like I did when I swapped an engine one time). I did solder repair mine and it worked well. Not sure about smaller leaks though.

To get at the heater core you have to first remove the glove box and the bar that it screws to to give more access space. You then have to systematically remove the ductwork under the dash until you can remove the heater core.

Have fun!!

Eatpants · Post by **Eatpants** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 6:57 am

i did the blower motor 2 years ago, not a fun job, very uncomfortable laying on your back there. took me like 2 hours + haha, i cant imagine doing the heater core

the crappy thing is i drove to the junkyard 45 mins away, and they gave me the wrong blower motor (pulled from a tercel? weird) so they gave me one pulled from a mazda or something, fit perfectly

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:58 pm

Yeah, I just whipped the glove, the side-ducting and the center column thing off in 50 min, pulled about 12 bolts off of the blower/evaporator/core setup and all the whole thing wants to do is wiggle around a bit. Its rather annoying. I'd love to pull my whole dash apart, but I have no alternative vehicle with which to get to work. Unless my mom will let me take the Passat, this may have to wait a few days... More dissassembled parts to throw in the back I guess lol.