I just finished the last part of the heater core replacement job I began a few weeks back and only just now found time to finish. The good news is it didn’t take much time because all I had left to do was to reinstall the plastic box that holds the AC evaporator and also serves as the middle/in-bewteen piece of the plastic ductwork connecting the blower fan on the far right side of the passenger side footwell with the rest of the ductwork that holds the heater core.
You basically just push it all back into place. The AC evaporator’s aluminum lines – which protrude out of the box – go through two holes in the firewall and the condensation drip line goes through a hole in the floorboard. Line everything up and hook everything up and everything’s pretty much done.
You do still need to reinstall a couple of trim plates and the glovebox, which is just a matter of a few Phillips head screws – and then (the final thing) have the AC system recharged with refrigerant, which is the one part of this job I am not able to do myself because it is illegal for me (and probably you also) to do it yourself. It requires a government permission slip to service refrigeration systems nowadays and this would have been the most expensive part of this job were it not for the lucky happenstance that I have professional mechanic friends who have the necessary permission and do not charge me to plug my truck into their government-approved machinery to get a refrigerant refill.
That was one of the things I wanted to mention as I conclude this ride-along. The new heater core and a set of new plastic transfer tubes (these conduit the warm coolant from the engine to the heater core and then circulate it back to the engine) cost me a total of about $150. If I’d had to pay a “certified technician” to recharge the AC, the job would likely have cost another $150 on top of that.
Maybe more. I will have to ask.
But – even so – it was not a lot of money and not a lot of work to remove the old (and leaking) heater core and replace it with a new one. Work was involved. But it was not of the building pyramids with hand tools kind of work. More finely, it was not the kind of work that’s necessary to replace the heater core in vehicles that are not designed to be easy to work on because they are not designed to be simple.
My ’02 Nissan is easy to work on because it is simple. As I mentioned, the glovebox can be removed in about two minutes with a Phillips head screwdriver – by removing six screws that are all easy to get at. Once the glovebox is out, the guts of the HVAC system are “right there” before your eyes – and so are the screws and bolts that hold it all in place. If you ever need to replace the blower motor – which blows the warm or cold air through the system – it is a matter of five screws and one electrical connection.
Removing the AC evaporator box involved four 10 mm screws – and disconnecting the AC lines under the hood. The box then pulls out as an assembly – and you now can see (and reach) the heater core and the transfer tubes. The core is held in place by a small plastic lip you bend out of the way – and then out it comes, easy peasy (and literally) Japaneesy.
There are some gymnastics involved during re-assembly. The main one being screwing in the transfer tubes, which secure to bosses on the core that you cannot see once the core is installed. And you have to install the core first. Then attach the tubes. So you have to do this by feel and using wobble socket extenders and such. But it is not – as the saying goes – rocket science.
The long and short is I was able to replace the truck’s leaking heater core for about $150 plus my time and trouble, which does not entail me having to spend any money.
Even f I had to spend another $150 it would have been well worth the time and trouble because now my 23-year-old truck has heat (and AC) that works as well as a new truck’s and in my opinion even better because I do not have to tap/swipe a touchscreen to make it warmer or colder or increase/decrease the fan speed.
But – most of all – I have a truck that still runs like new (or at least, not very old) that does not parent my driving or mine my “data.”
I also think that one $150 payment beats Hell out of a $700 monthly payment every month for the next six years, too.
Especially given the fact that once paid-off, that new car no longer is and will shortly be requiring fixing, too.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here. We also accept crypto (see below).
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you like items like the Baaaaaa! baseball cap pictured below, you can find that and more at the EPautos store!
The bitcoin code is: 3GAfymoqSUbaFvY8ztpSoDKJWCPLrkzAmi if you’re unable to scan the QR code above!
Car maintenance and repair as a DIY is fading away for yet another reason: too many lads are being raised only by their MOTHERS; i.e., if they see their fathers at all, it’s as the “weekend” Dad. I had the advantage in that once my boys were 12 and 14, I got primary custody of them (their mother and I had been divorced for two years at the time), and, of course, they were already familiar with “hold the flashlight” or other simple task to assist when I worked on a car or other DIY project. Their sister would also work alongside me. The net effect was, years later, when they all were on their own, they not only could maintain their rides, but some of their imaginative ideas impressed me a lot! The “baby”, my now 24 y.o. daughter from my second marriage, recently had the front fender clip come loose on her Toyota Corolla, probably from it catching on a curb and popping a plastic rivet..the car is 12 years old. She was amazed when I looked up a fender rivet kit that had those common used on Toyotas, along with a hook tool, all for eight bucks. Took her ten minutes to fix it! Even a “girly girl” can learn that one doesn’t have to be at the mercy of a repair shop with high rents and insurance to pay.
*Gives this a standing ovation.”
Amen, Douglas –
A primary reason many kids are clueless is because they never got showed how. Hold the flashlight, as you say. If a kid has parents who are clueless, what will the kids grow up to be? Yup. Clueless.
It’s not that EVERYONE should be a “shade tree” mechanic or that all jobs can or should be tackled via DIY; the mechanics serve a useful function…er, SOMETIMES. It’s, aside from having that “Yang Worship Word” (“Free-Dum”) to twist wrenches on OUR rides at OUR domiciles (itself plenty for yours truly to get on the soap box), it’s the inherent benefits, taught to and learned as a “yute” (indeed, nothing like these YT and FB vids where some wee tyke is “helping” Daddy) of SELF-RELIANCE. Given my surname, I oughta know.
My kids tell me that their friends were always amazed when they found out they had parents that were still together. Unheard of!
My daughter is 19 and has a 1998 Dodge Ram. A couple of weekends ago, it was time for an oil change. I went out and took care of it. I came back in and she asked me what I was doing out there. I told her I changed her oil. I was expecting to get a big thank you but she was mad. She said “next time you come and get me so I can learn how to do it by myself!”.
Actually, the “I want to learn how to do it myself” is an extremely commendable attitude.
Better late than never. The time to start with acquainting her with working on cars was when she was in DIAPERS and barely able to toddle about. That’s when kids are the most open-minded and are learning a LOT…for bad OR good!
Hi Philo,
How does your daughter like her Dodge Ram? I have a seventeen old asking for one. We were going to help her purchase one between a 1995-2005. My daughter is a bit of a country girl so I expect her to eventually be towing horse trailers and such. Any issues or concerns with it?
My daughter is very much a country girl too. She saw the jacked up 4×4 and fell in love with it. The guy we bought it from took good care of it. It’s only issues are age related. Rust, flaking clear coat, front end could use new bushings. It has about 150,000 miles and it’s been a good 1st vehicle for her. She loves it, except for the poor gas mileage. It has the small 318 V8, but with the monster tires, it uses a lot of gas. She’s had it for probably 2 years now.
Haven’t experienced any real mechanical issues.
Thank you, I appreciate the feedback.
In Europe…legislation aimed at stopping you from repairing your classic car…..
For example…coming soon….if it needs welding…it is not allowed…
More freedom in Cuba…they repair old classic cars there…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd1HwqeZOH0
That’s because in Europe, they don’t have our 2nd Amendment. It’s also why immigrants are raping their children with impunity.
The 2nd amendment is a paper tiger.
I learned this during the “Hurricane Katriana” dry-run in New Orleans.
I’ll never forget watching the policy enforcers march door to door confiscating lawfully owned guns. While the cuckold population complied.
They should have been met with rifle fire, not obedience.
They even beat up an old woman on live TV for all to see because she dared own a pistol.
There should have been rioting in the streets. Not one of those cops should have survived the onslaught from the people. They should have been torn to shreds, while that old woman should have been carried through the streets on their shoulders.
2nd amendment. 2nd amendment my ass. How far we have fallen.
True. I remember seeing that, and couldn’t believe it. The controllers know that it is easier to push such operations during a crisis.
The rebels like us are always a minority in society, but sometimes that’s all it takes. I just can’t imagine myself ever willingly and compliantly going along with such an operation.
It was a test run to see if it was doable. Louisiana’s grade: F. Totally doable. Just like they did with city-wide lockdowns after the Boston Marathon bombing.
Recent history has shown, though, for those willing to stand on principle, even at great risk to their personal freedom and finances, they will likely be vindicated in the courts at a later time. Could even wind up being a very lucrative venture. Ask the Covid fired troops, and the shop owners who refused to lock up when told.
The entire engagement of the MA Colonial militia against the “Lobsterbacks”, or “Redcoats”, was precisely to stop the British Army from seizing the Colonial Armory at Lexington. Their on-site commanding officer was completely unprepared for the Minuteman and their CO, CAPT John Parker, Massachusetts Militia, who had experienced in the French and Indian War. Dying of “Consumption” (as Tuberculosis was called back then), Parker had nothing to lose himself by his bravery:
Don’t fire unless fired upon, boys, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin HERE.
No shortage of GUTS in the American male back then!
When men were men, and an order of “hand over your firearms and powder” was met with a spit of chaw in the eye and an extended middle finger.
Yesterday I searched parts for my 2000 Nissan Frontier on Ebay just to see what is available when I came across a brand new radiator for only $50.00 plus free shipping. Nice looking unit like the factory one. Although I do not need a radiator, at only fifty bucks I was impressed and put it in my ‘watch list’ just because.
Later the seller sent me a discounted offer for $44.00!
eBay item number:335582882196
Just cant beat it! 😀
Also remember seeing an alternator & AC compressor both at around $70.00 ea.
Not sure what you paid for your heater core but at these prices I am more than happy to replace items when needed! Plus I have always done all of my own automotive AC work. Flushes fills compressor swaps etc. Its easy.
I don’t need no stinking license..
I am a free American with the correct tools for the job. 😉
It’s always a good idea to have a shelf in the garage for spare parts such as these. You never know when you might need it and it’s not available anymore, or super rare and expensive.
Or the PTB see that too many “resto” folks are fixing up old rides, and they cut off the ability of them to order parts. Easiest way is to direct the banks to not honor credit card charges on parts suppliers for old rides, akin to the same practice WRT buying firearms and/or ammo at a gun dealer.
Working on your own old cars entails an entire way of life that is completely at odds with the contemporary American zeitgeist.
First of all, most people simply won’t do it because they can’t. Mechanical ability is partly innate, and some people could not do it if their lives depended on it. Particularly women. Tell your woman to pull your transmission out and put a new clutch in while you sit inside and have a beer and watch football and see if women are really “equal.”
That being said, we live in a disposable-commodity, debt-ridden culture and most people are content to keep running on the hamster wheel and making payments rather than do their own work. Of course you have to have a job that enables you to pay a $100-150 an hour mechanic bill to fix your cars, or pay a $700-800 per month payment on a new one. I never did, so I had to do my own work. Thankfully I had the ability.
In addition to that one needs the space. People who live in apartment complexes and crammed subdivisions do not have it. A garage or barn also makes a big difference. I have done a fair amount of auto work outdoors, including recently putting an engine in a pickup truck. Of course this is highly weather dependent and even if the weather is favorable it mostly sucks to work outdoors. The problem is that it does not make economic sense to put up a $50,000 or $60,000 (or more!) garage or shop to work on $2000 and $3000 vehicles.
I do ALL my own work on my vehicles except mounting and balancing tires. On the one hand I have saved a lot of money, but on the other hand I never really had the money to burn. My neighbor leases his cars, I’m certain he’s never even changed his own oil. He bitches about the payments but his retirement income at age 57 is in excess of $100,000. I will never have that income short of hitting the lottery or armed robbery.
In other words, working on your own cars is a way of life, it is a rejection of contemporary culture. It is for people who are independent and self-reliant and not part of “The System.” You do it because you do not fit into that culture and thus do not have an income enabling you to just simply “sign and drive” at the local dealer and pay whatever it costs.
Paradoxically, those of us who run and fix old cars are dependent on the portion of the population that is willing and able to cast off old vehicles as “junk” that we can pick up for cheap and fix.
Of course, it gets more difficult as one gets older, and as cars become more expensive and more complex, and as more and more Mexican immigrants are willing to buy anything with four wheels and drive it no matter how shitty it is or how many miles are on it.
The other thing is that an old car is a perpetual project and it is generally not something you take on a 4,000 mile road trip. I just put a motor in a 21-year old rust free truck with 190,000 on the body. I now have a running, rust-free 4×4 for about $3000, but it needs a water pump and an axle seal and a heater blower resistor and upholstery work and probably shocks and God knows what else.
It should be fine for local use but I will not be taking it cross-country.
Finally I would like to point out that it is literally impossible today to get aftermarket auto parts that are not made in China, and the quality and fitment is often sketchy or unknown. Even some of the OEM-branded stuff like AC Delco and Motorcraft is made in China. All the top supplier names — Bosch, Bendix, Raybestos, Hella, Delphi, Melling, etc. etc. make shit in China. ALL the big auto parts retailers sell 90+% Chinese stuff. The prestigious names like Delco USUALLY have good QC on the Chinese stuff. However there are formerly big-name parts suppliers that are now merely brands taken over by shell companies, and they don’t. It has gotten to the point where if you get parts made in Mexico or Korea you know they are the good ones.
Then there is the problem of counterfeit Chinese stuff on the Internet, right down to the packaging. You have to be careful who you are buying from.
It ain’t easy being a barnyard mechanic these days…
Hi X,
This is thoughtful and well-said. You’re right. I’m like you and others here in that I never bought into the Zeitgeist of disposability and consumption. In my entire life I have never financed a car, so of course I have never owned a new one. The most I ever spent on a (used) vehicle is the $7,500 I paid for my current pickup. After college, all my friends bought a new car. I just didn’t see the sense in it. Maybe because I did know how to fix cars and even enjoy doing it. And you’re absolutely right about the Chinesium parts. But even with all the obstacles, I’d rather live modestly than be in hock to debt – and a boss.
I am trying to get hip to more self-sufficient skills as I have time, which is the one thing I badly need more of!
I wasn’t able to buy cars brand new until I was in my forties and my kid graduated and went into the military, and only then heavily-discounted base models. I had been driving $400-500 stuff my entire life until then, so the plan was to keep doing that and keep the new stuff as pristine as I could, which has largely worked out.
I am now “that” old guy with a nice old truck, LOL.
Never had a payment in my life because I never had a decent enough job with enough income and security for the term of the loan. My toolbox was always guaranteed to be there, though.
And yes, I do enjoy it, mostly. It’s much better when you can plan vehicle work into your routine, and when you have a good-running back-up car. When I was younger, there were many times when I would have to drop whatever I was doing and fix the car NOW, day or night, any time, any weather because that’s all I had to drive and fixing it was Priority #1. I sort of didn’t mind that when I was younger, it was an existential fact of life, I just rolled with it, but don’t want to be in that situation now.
But it’s much more difficult to keep up with buying and fixing secondhand cars today than it was 20 or 30 years ago. The first “nice” truck I ever had was a ’99 Ranger, completely stripped base model. Bought it used in 2001 for $4200 and drove it for 13 years to over 200,000 miles and it still ran great when I sold it, but it was rotted.
You can’t buy a truck that simple today, and you can’t buy ANY three year old vehicle for $4200 today — or even for triple that amount.
You’d never get a 100% on your MACSW A/C test. You have to affirm the belief that Co2 is a greenhouse gas that is infact bad for the pwanet, in order to pass the test perfectly. And they print the test score on your cert card. I think mine says 97% because I wouldn’t affirm it’s bad to release Co2 into the atmosphere.
It sucks that you have to evacuate the A/C system to replace the heater core.
A guy traded me a modified 92′ Jeep YJ with 190K for doing the heater core on an 89′ Vette (Real PITA that model/gen).
Speaking of which,
Eric, did you get the extra-belated-christmas-card in a nilla envelope? I was hoping for a magnet in return, obviously no rush since you got a Christmas card in January.
If you didn’t send it yet, it’s for the YJ. Target diameter 5″ +/- 1″. I’d prefer a magnet, as long as it’s suitable for on factory paint pulling 1G. If they’re really really really weak and you don’t think it’s a good idea I could take a sticker, either way I’d be happy to rep epautos.
Just wondering if you got it snail mail or if the postman nabbed it since there was $20 in there, and if you got the joke.
I can see why Eric would want to tackle the job, it’s a challenge, but it can be done. Sometimes, it is best to go it alone on such a task.
Pulled a 454 with a bad piston and dropped in a 350. You pull the engine, block and tackle in the rafters, they’ll hold the weight. You dig in and get the job done.
The rear servo failed on my 1967 Ford 2-door hardtop, I dropped the pan, did what I had to do to make the fix, forgot to replace of small steel ball, couldn’t back it up. Wouldn’t go.
Tore it all apart again to place the steel ball that was maybe a tenth of a inch in diameter, did all of the work to re-install the transmission servo, do the pan thing, tighten the bolts, start the engine, it did go.
You save money, learn how to do it, you would rather have that then a bill from the mechanic.
You can do it yourself, it does count. Been there, done that.
… a small steel ball
… than a bill from the mechanic
We are all Cubans now: old, simple, basic vehicles must be kept running by any means necessary. Because you can’t buy a new, simple, basic vehicle for love nor money.
A couple of trail buddies were admiring my 1998 5-speed manual Fronty this morning — manuals having nearly disappeared.
One of them told me about owning a 1968 Saab which had a four-speed column shift. Never heard of such a thing before! But Europeans were known to be sophisticated and innovative two generations ago, before socialism cut off their balls and deadened their intellects.
Bought a battery for my 26-year-old truck today at AutoZone. After the sticker shock wore off, the older lady installed it. At first I felt bad about an older lady installing it, after quite a few fumbles I got annoyed, and eventually I felt bad again. She took a 5-minute remove & replace and turned it into a 40-minute ordeal. I went home and undid the damage & fixed it right (including replacing the bolt she rounded the head on). Very frustrating experience.
Wally always has better deals on batteries, and they’re decent ones, too. Just bought one there (for half the price of an auto parts store battery) brought it home and installed it myself.
I worked (briefly) at one of the big chain auto parts stores, and it sucked. Overpriced Chinese shit and the people they hired were the lowest scum they could get for minimum wage.
I always thought it was absurd how they expected us to install batteries and wipers in the fucking parking lot. Sure… MOST of those jobs are easy. But not all. They never took into consideration stuff like stripped or dropped fasteners, or batteries that required a fair amount of removal of other shit.
It’s not as if every battery installation is as easy as a 1970 Chevy C-10 where you have two cables and just drop it into a cavernous engine bay with nothing in your way.
Johnson Controls manufactures Interstate batteries, Motorcraft and Duralast.
Maybe some Everstart, which have been recommended for northern climes, if I read it right.
Delphi makes some Everstart and ACDelco.
I buy Duralast, seems to last.
1005 pound bluefin tuna caught of the coast of North Carolina.
You gotta know how to fish and fish them in, you fish.
Happened back in 2015.
A trip down memory lane today.
… caught off the coast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycX7pvKRMos
Column shift was before my time, unicorn status. Would be so fun.
It was possible, quite a few of the “larger” European and Japanese vehicles still more often came with standard shift, simply because they didn’t have the ability nor market to build automatic transmissions in the 1950s and 1960s, but rather, had to license them, usually from Borg-Warner or Chrysler. Ergo, save on very expensive, large luxury vehicles, like the Soviet Zhughli limousine, or a Rolls Royce (the majority, fine as they were/are, still had manuals because most of the time they were chauffeur-driven), it was a “stick”, and to facilitate three-abreast seating, the shift had to go “on the tree”. Once automatics became more prevalent abroad and their prices dropped, the “four or five on the tree’ disappeared, as those gearboxes were for sports models or the small econoboxes.
There were kits if you had a full-size car or a truck, and wanted a four-speed, to keep the “tree” and put an auxiliary shift level, usually mounted under the dash, that you pulled out like a parking brake to engage the reverse; it had a “lockout” so it couldn’t be engaged with the car in any of the four forward gears; and a spring-load so that it retracted and disengaged the reserve gear once you touched the brake in the most usual manner of reversing the vehicle. Not a bad improvisation, but it was never offered, AFAIK, with any four-speed that Detroit put out, it was only aftermarket if you replaced the original 3-speed gearbox.
The only good thing about heater core replacement is that you seldom need a hoist to do it. The one and only time I ever replaced one was almost 40 years ago on my Monte Carlo and I also changed out the dash at the same time.
Good work Eric! I knew you would triumph. This is always amazing to me (being a 125 lb yoga pretzel) when a tall person accomplishes things designed by and for typical asian sized mechanics.
Like adding another solid cornerstone to this blogs foundation. Why we hang here.
After replacing a couple dozen entire instrument panels, autopilot systems and avionics in small airplanes, “nightmare” vehicle repairs are only annoying if I scratch my hand or uncover engineering stupidity.
Thanks, Rain!
I’m stubborn as a donkey – and about as flexible!
Tetelestai!
Such “minor” repairs can easily be hired out for the price of a car payment.
Congrats Eric. These kind of stories make me want to do more repair and maintenance on my own. I have the time, it is patience I lack. Glad this one worked out so well.
Yep! You can buy lots of parts for even one modern car payment. Sans rust, I see no reason to replace my 1991 or 2003 rigs. The 1991 truck could use front end work as it rides on the original ball joints, a-arm bushings, and tie rod ends. Not dangerous just a bit floaty.
A flashback to my early ‘70s high school days, sing it Commander!
https://youtu.be/MBUfNxfc2w4?feature=shared
Good to hear you got it finished.
Heater cores are a pain. I’ve done both the one in my 04 Dodge 2500 pickup and the 02 Expedition my wife drives; both required loosening and pulling back the whole dash assembly. At least I didn’t have to disconnect the a/c lines though.
Did one of these in a 2001 Ram 2500.
Actually thought it was pretty easy. Pulling the dash wasn’t as bad as many fear.
All done in a day.
When all is said and done, pulling the dash probably eliminates the time spent learning how to be a contortionist needed to not remove it.
I agree it could be worse. I think it took me maybe 5 or 6 hours.
But I still say it’s a pita.