Hey guys...New to the site and looking at buying a '96 850 GLT wagon with a bad heater core. Has anybody replaced one before? Do you need to remove the dash? I have decent mechanical skills and would like to save the $700 to have it done by the dealership. Thanx

 

No, all you have to do is take off the side panels on the side of the console. It doesn't take long to do at all, and it's pretty simple.

 

Thanks! I'll probably be going this weekend to take a look at it. From what I've read, this seems to be very common with these cars (I'm new to Volvo).

 

omce you take the sides you will see an off white sealed tub. You will see a screw near the bottom on both sides. Take the screws off and the bottom opens up exposing the core. Replace and just do everything backwards. Simple! I will advise on maybe having a plastic bag nearby for whatever coolant might come out so it doesn't make a mess.

 

How do the side panels come off? Do I need to pick up the carpet? Sorry for all the questions, new to Volvo.

 

ok, one last question. In searching for heater cores, I see the 2 main choices being Behr and Nissens. Nissens is about $20 cheaper. Is there any reason to go with Behr over Nissens?

 

Here is link with some pictures and directions and part numbers
http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/index...d-o-ring-kits/

 

Great write-up. Thanx!

 

I just did this on my wifes '95.
Here is something that I found makes it easier.
Once you can see the heater core on the bottom, drivers side are a supply and return coolant lines.
Do not unhook them from the firewall, unhook them from the heatre core.
There is 1 phillips head screw that hold a retaining clip in place.
Remove that screw, the retaing clip will come loose but will not come off, it slides toward you, then pry the heater core out of the way.
You will need to pull pretty hard to get the old one out.
Took me ~2 hrs start to finish.

 

I also changed out a heater core on a s70. The core was simple to remove and install. The mess from all the coolant under the carpet was a pain to deal with. the core had been leaks for a long time and it was soaked. Also when I removed hose connection to core a ton of coolant came out of the hose. Either reduce the level of coolant before you start the the removal or have a plan to deal with the flood. If you remove the two bolts in the seat glide you can remove the carpet for that section.

 

I just bought the car Saturday and ordered the heater core. Will be doing it this weekend so, wish me luck. Thanx for all the advice guys.

 

Success!!! Followed the directions from Blackbrick's link and it was quite easy. Thanks again

 

Cool, glad it all worked out!

 

Can a leaking core cause steam to be directed via the air tubes to the screen? When I set the heater controls to upwards and fully hot the screen mists up in seconds so that i can't see and therefore drive. Thanks for any help.

 

That sounds like a had heater core.
To answer the question yes it can.

 

In addition to what Tech said, it could also be a plugged evaporator drain. Does the steam have a sweet smell to it? if so, it's the core, if not, check the evaporator drain. The A/C always runs during defrost, so if the evaporator chamber is full of water, your car will turn into a rainforest. This actually happened with my fiancee's Jetta... I was using her car one very rainy day to drive to work, and the windows started fogging up. On the freeway, in rush- hour traffic. So I turned on the defroster and A/C... INSTANTLY the entire car filled with steam, and the windows all turned white as sheets. In rush- hour freeway traffic, at 65 MPH. Now THAT was some scary s**t. I opened the windows, grabbed the nearest thing I could find and cleaned the windshield, then, when I got to work, I cleared out the evap drain. Apparently, some insulation from the exhaust heat shield had gotten crammed in there. About 2 gallons of water came out.

 

I would go with heater core, exact same thing happened to me when mine went by by

 

I had a leaking heater core and ordered a new one. While getting the old one out, I disconnected the heater lines (metal ones) from the junction on the inner side (according to the Volvo picture, the screw for the bracket at bottom came in from the opposite side as it actually does). I then noticed that one of the plastic spacers crumbled on me, and ordered a kit with the four O-rings, two plastic spacers, and two plastic locking tab connectors. The connectors (as I see others have noted) will not fit into the junction (two ears instead of one) and I am wondering what everyone's opinion is on something -

Why can't I just eliminate the whole junction box AND four sets of O-rings (each hose and each side of the junction) and run regular heater hose from the metal lines -through the firewall (with some protective grommet around them naturally) - and to the connections on the block and water pipe? This would simplify all of the complicated parts down to just a clamped connection in the engine bay and a clamped connection on the metal lines inside (with only two O-rings involved where the metal lines go into the actual heater core). I know, I know, someone engineered it that way and they had "some" kind of reason, but I just see it as overkill and really think this would work.

What do you all think?

 

Not the "Proper" way to do it, but I have thought of doing the same thing. Those plastic clips on the firewall are going to fail at some point.

The major downside being that you now have long rubber hoses running through and into the engine bay which makes it harder when you inevetiably do need to work on things.

On the upside, you MAY be able to unplug the hoses in the engine bay, and then pull the core out without coolant comming out providing the hoses stay above the core (because we all know you will be replacing that core at some point again!)

You realise some of the purists will now hunt us both down for suggesting such blasphemy?

Cheers

 

Can you tell if it's leaking without taking any of the connections loose?