Hi recently bought a 2000 E-350 with a 7.3 Diesel. I'm going to build it out into a camper van. Right now its completely empty and did not have a rear heater installed. I'm living in the Pacific Northwest where it is cold damp and rainy and am considering installing a Ford factory rear heater. I have searched all over the forums and web and can find info on repairs but not on a new install. I’m not concerned with having rear AC. I have found a rear heater (with AC) out of a 99 passenger van with gas motor. I plan to have the heater just basically unducted because I don’t have the headliner with the controls or ducting. I realize that I need get the controls with the dual fan controls (front and rear) for the dash.
I have a couple question I was hoping to get some input on. <O
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First, if I remove the wiring harness out of the passenger van, where it runs back to the heater will it plug into my existing wiring harness? Meaning did my E350 come prewired to accommodate a rear heating unit. Basically plug and play?<O</O
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Second, how difficult are the antifreeze connections to make on a 7.3 diesel compared to a gas engine.<O</O
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Third, when looking at the passenger van I see that the existing antifreeze(and Freon lines) looked pretty rotted out. So Im wondering if I can just run rubber hose all the way from the rear heater to the engine. <O</O
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Hope to get some input on this before I learn the hard way. Thanks.<O</O
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Sam<O</O
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I have no idea about the wiring and such, but I do have experience with the tubing. My 1992 lines had bad areas and I replaced sections with heater hose with good luck. My 1999 had a lot more areas rust out, so I replaced the lines completely with radiator hose. Keeping the lines firmly attached to the frame rail keeps them fairly safe from damage.
Good luck,
Jack

 

The lines to the rear heater in my 95 rotted out and I replaced them with heater hose. I also covered them with foam pipe insulation. Not so much for heat loss, but for proection from road debris.Check the Ford schematics as there may be a shut off valve for the rear heater to keep from circulating hot water in the summer.

 

So I got the rear heater out of the 1999 passenger van and also took the wiring harness from where it plugs into the main wiring harness near the drivers side seat belt base. I also found a dual fan(front and read) AC/Heater controller on ebay because the van I took the rear heater out off was already gone.

I installed the AC/Heater controller switch in the dash and hook up the 1999 wire harness into my OEM harness. At first the fan did not work but then I determined that the blower fan was bad. After replacing it the fan now works at all three speeds. Becasue I used the 1999 harness I had to use that harnes for the taillights, and rear dome light. It was easy enough to replace all this. took about 30 min.

Now Im readly to deal with the antifreeze lines. I have downloaded every PSD manuel that I could find on here and on other sites but it seems that none have the section I need to locate where to tap the rear heater lines into the 7.3 antifreeze/coolent system.

In some of the junk yard Ive been to I have seen GAS passenger vans but am afriad that the systems are not comparable. Diesel passenger vans are hard to come by in the junk yards.

Can someone please provide the diagram I need or some pics of their system? Its cold up here! haha

 

AFAIK, all the dual heat systems came stock with the hose leaving the water pump, going to the front heater, then leaving the front heater into the rear heater, then returning from there to the port (usually on the head) where your existing heater hose returns to.

i built out my 87 diesel contractor van with rear heat using a universal aftermarket heater, it wasn't too bad of a job.
as for compatibility, you don't want to mix the coolant itself very much, but i would expect the systems to be identical. the body didn't change between gas and diesel, the heater would have no reason to change, etc.

when i did it on my 6.9, i hadn't yet known that they came stock with the 2 heaters plumbed in series (as i detailed above), so i ran mine from an available 1/2"NPT port on the water pump and an available port on the left head, choosing these points because they were convenient.

and where exactly are you located? there are a number of guys up here in the PNW, including myself, who would love to check out your van and be happy to help

and welcome to the board!

 

Aftermarket kit might be easiest for you, unless your harness already has provisions for rear heat.

Factory vans used steel lines from the front to the back, and are exposed in the drivers side rear wheel well. They are easily damaged by debris thrown from the rear tires and are a silent leak (nothing obvious) that will drain your cooling system in... about 15 seconds. Happened to me.

Use heater hose and protect it with something to keep it from rubbing through or being damaged.

 

i installed this one New 30 000 BTU Auxiliary Heater 12 Volt Dual Fans Louvers Truck Bus Van | eBay in my van, in the current weather of 45-50f, i can turn the factory heater off, this monster on low, and still have to have the window open 4 inches to be comfortable. i'm looking forward to the cold

but before i bought it, i had some universal unit i found in the back of a chevy van at the junkyard, and it might have put out half what this one does, though it was the same width and length, and a bit taller. i was comfortable with it on high and the windows closed in the current weather.

because mine is installed just behind the drivers seat, the concerns about lines being damaged by wheel debris don't apply to me.

 

Best way to protect new hoses under there is to stuff insulation and cover it by a sheet-metal trough, so to speak. Use self-tapping screws to mount it on the underbody and paint it with with undercoating. Maybe I did a bad job, but pipe insulation started to fall off on mine, got wet, droopy, etc. just started to disintegrate.