I have had a leak in the cooling system for a short while and have now tracked it down to the heater core. Carpet is soaked!

How easy/difficult is it to get to the heater core to replace. Is this a job I can take on myself, I am a fair mechanic, or should I take in to the shop.

If anyone could explain whats involved, special tools etc I would much appreciate it.

Thanks,

Phill

 

There are lots of post around and it's pretty easy to do as long as the coolant isn't 200°. You can do it with two or three torque bits, T15, T25 and T20 I think.

IPd has a video on their site, if you look up the part there you'll see the video. I usually pull the lower dash panels, pull the plastic skirts that hide the center lower dash area, pull the T15 screw from the drivers side, pull the 2 T20 screws on each side, loosen the drain line from under the core housing, put a trash bag under the core housing to catch coolant, pull the T25 screw from the bottom of the core (where the tubes go into the bottom), and work the core out of the area by pulling the bottom towards the back of the car and working it out the passenger side.

Lately people have been getting them from an eBay supplier for $39, has a new design that may be better. I believe the Nessis core is made the same way.

If you need to drive the car in the mean time you may want to bypass the lines in the engine compartment.

 

Thanks for your feedback and the info on how to replace the core. After watching and I am confident i can take care of this myself. I also just ordered the core from Ebaythat a few posts have recommended.

Thanks

Phill

 

Thanks for your feedback and the info on how to replace the core. After watching and I am confident i can take care of this myself. I also just ordered the core from Ebay that a few posts have recommended.



Thanks for the info,

Phill