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Heater Core Replacement / Dash Removal

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Around this time last year I noticed a problem with my heater. I was driving home from work at 6:00am and noticed by the time I got home there was still no heat coming out of the vents. So, I pulled off the hoses to the core under the hood at the firewall and hooked a garden hose up to one of them and tried to unplug the system. All I got was a little dribble and some crappy looking coolant out of the core. Although it was enough to get me through the winter without totally freezing my ass off. I had resigned to the fact that the core was plugged up with crap and needed to be replaced.

Well, we get around to this year and our first frost for the year. Guess what? I had forgotten all about the damn heater core being bad. Of course, there was no heat that morning.

If you all don't know, to replace the heater core you MUST pull the dash out. This is what this VFAQ is all about, how to pull the dash in order to replace the heater core.

Approximate time: 3-6 hours

First here is a look at the dash before messing with anything:

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Next, you must take the center console around the shifter off in order to take the HVAC panel off.

The middle three screws need to come out:

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Under the ash tray there is one more screw that needs to be removed.

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Remove the shift knob. and remove the top of the center console.

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You now need to remove the two screws at the bottom of the HVAC panel.

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There are two screws between the HVAC panel and the gauge cluster panel that need to be removed also. Before you can remove the HVAC panel you must remove the gauge cluster panel since it overlays the mounting points of the HVAC panel.

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Remove the gauge cluster panel with these 4 screws.

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After removing the screws pull the gauge cluster panel out and reach behind to disconnect the buttons on the driver's side. You can then remove the gauge cluster panel from the dash.

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Remove the knobs on the HVAC controls. The fan speed knob can stay attached, but the others have got to go. If you have the stock vent piece still in place where my gauges are, there are two screws that need to be removed in the spots where the little slits are on the gauge pod in this next picture. Remove the screws, the radio trim ring, reach behind and remove the electrical plugs from the buttons and you can then remove the HVAC panel.

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Now to remove the gauge cluster you need to remove 4 screws two on each side as seen in the next two pictures.

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Once the gauge cluster is removed you'll see two 10mm bolts that need to be removed. They are the ones that are already removed in my picture below. Also, you'll need to push in on the two clips that hold the speedometer cable to the dash and remove the retaining clip so you will be able to slide the dash out.

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Under the steering wheel there is a panel with the hood latch popper attached to it. You need to remove 4 screws to remove this panel two on each side and the top two are covered with plastic plugs. Pop the plugs off and remove the screws. The picture below is bad but it does show you one location of one of the screws.

(OPTIONAL) You can remove the panel completely by removing the 2 screws from under the hood latch popper and removing the cable from it. Or you can just let the panel hang there by the cable.

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Under that panel there will be one more screw you need to remove on the driver's side of the steering wheel.

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Unfortunately I thought I would be able to do this without removing the stereo. You can't... So remove the 4 screws that hold the stereo in and remove it. Also, the four screws that hold the HVAC controls to the center console remove those now too.

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Also, in the picture above, below the radio there is a metal plate that connects the HVAC panel to the center console. You need to remove it. It attached with 2 screws, remove them. Once you remove the screws in order to get the metal plat out you have to slide the center console back in order to lift up on the plate. To slide the console back there are 4 screws. Lift up in the storage area, under the cup holder there is a piece of carpet. Pull up on the carpet and you'll see two screws, remove them. Also in the smaller compartment under its piece of carpet there are two more screws, remove them also. You'll have to remove the side carpeted panels from the center console in order to slide it back. After those are removed you can slide the console back to remove the metal plate under the radio.


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Next, drop the glovebox down you'll see the latch that holds it up. There are three screws here. You want to remove only the middle one. It attaches directly to a bracket that holds the dash in place.

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Now, on each side of the glove box there will be a (2) screws that hold the dash to a bracket that is connected to the chassis. On the each side of the glove box there are two screws one up high (the one in the picture below that is removed) and one close to where the glovebox hinge is (the black one in the picture below). Remove those screws on each side now.

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Now, down closer to the kick panel on the passenger's side there is one more screw to take out. Remove it now. It's close to where the footwell light is.

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Now for the speaker covers. There is one 10mm bolt on each side of the car under the dash speaker covers that need to be removed in order to get the dash out. Remove the screw holding the speaker cover on and gently slide the cover toward you. It's kinda tough to get these suckers off sometimes so be careful not to break it when it suddenly comes loose. They are brittle after sitting in the sun for almost 20 years!! Then you can remove the 2 - 10mm bolts.

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Before you officially remove the dash there are just a couple more things you need to do. First off, the steering wheel sits too high for you to be able to pull the dash out far enough to remove it. So you need to drop the steering column down enough to get the dash out. To do this there is a 2 piece cover that surrounds the column from the top and from the bottom. It is held on with 4 screws and they are put on from underneath the steering column. So, crawl down in the pedal area and take your phillips head screw driver to town on those screws. Once you get them out and remove the cover you'll see 4 12mm bolt heads holding the column to the chassis. These will more than likely have a head that's painted red. Remove these and lower the column down. If your foot vents are still in place below the column it will support it while letting it drop down enough to get the dash out.

The next thing to worry about is the wiring. All of the wiring that runs through the dash stays connected to the dash. There are, I believe (4), electrical plugs that connect on the driver's side into the front of the fuse box. They need to be removed next.

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With the column down, all the wiring disconnected at the fuse box, and all the prior screws mentioned removed, you can now attempt to pull the dash away from the firewall. Start a little bit on the passenger's side, then pull it away from the firewall on the driver's side. Do this slowly as it should come out rather easily, if you have to tug on it too hard you missed a screw and need to remove it otherwise you might break the mounting tab. With the dash now away from the firewall you should now be able to pick it up and pull it out through the passenger's side.

Congratulations!!! Step 1 is now complete. Your car should now look like this...

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Now that you have the dash out, you will be able to see a full view of the HVAC unit. The unit is divided up into three sections. From right to left they are the Blower Motor, AC Evaporator Coil, and the Heater Core sections. You'll want to remove the HVAC controls from the units in order to remove them. To do this all you have to do is pull off the cable from the actuator it controls and pop it out of it's holder clip attached to the unit.

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The center A/C unit comes out first. You'll have to disconnect the lines under the hood in order to get this thing out. And if your A/C still functions, you'll have to get it recharged after you get it put back together. Anyways, there are two 12mm bolts that hold it to the firewall on top and 1 on the bottom. Remove those bolts and pull the unit away from the firewall and then slide it down and out.

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After this you can remove the heater core unit. You'll have to remove the two screws that holds the floor duct work to the bottom of the heater unit and pull the duct down and off. Then on the top of the unit you'll have to pull off the vent distributor. It just pulls off the top of the unit. Then there are two bolts on the top of the heater that hold it to the firewall and 2 below the unit. Remove those and the two heater hoses under the hood and the unit will slide out.

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(OPTIONAL) You have the choice to remove the Blower Motor unit from the car. There is really no need to do this other than to clean the debris that is stuck in it out. So, I removed it and blew it out with my compressor.

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And here is what we've been after the whole time. The core is held into the housing with 3 brackets utilizing 5 screws. Remove the screws and the brackets and then the core will just slide out of the housing. When putting the new core in, the core I bought from O'Reilly's included some new foam to go around the sides of the core for insulation. Put that on and slide the core back in and reinstall the brackets and screws.

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Another thing I did while I was in there was to remove the A/C evaporator coil. A couple reasons for me doing this was because 1) all of the other A/C equipment was already removed. 2) Saved 5lbs of weight 3) More flow from blower through heater unit. I also damaged the unit while attempting to drill a hole through my firewall. I accidentally drilled a 1 1/4" hole into the core. :facepalm:

Anyways you can separate the casing the coil is in by removing 3 screws and 4 clips. To not damage the clips when you remove them put a flatblade screwdriver in the flat edge of the clip and pry back enough to get the clip off. They come off easily that way.

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Once the casing is separated you can remove the coil.

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Put the casing back together without the coil and you can put the plastic unit back in the way it came out.

Now everthing else gets installed in the reverse order it was removed in.


Thanks for looking!!
Andrew
 
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