Heater Core
. What would be the easy way to get it out. Thanks!
Heater Core
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 200
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pull the glove box. then there are like 6 screws holding the the cove r on the core take them out. disconnect the hose on engine side of firewall. and just pull it out. it is one of the easiest heater cores to replace. it only takes about 20 minutes working slow.
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 225
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It's been a while since I've done this, but I think you just open it, then gently pry the part that stops it from opening all the way (a chunk of plastic with a rubber boot on the drivers side) away from the frame of the compartment, and then remove the little cord that also helps prevent it from opening, and it should come right off.
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Junior User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 82
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From: Duluth, MN
It is one of the easiest cores to replace. I put up with no heat in my truck for two years until one subzero michigan day my girlfriend and I took a ride. I swear it never got above freezing in the cab.
The next summer I looked further into it and discovered how easy it was to get at the heater core. Turned out that some mice had been packing insulation from beneath my seat into the heater core creating an air damn. Easy fix.
The next summer I looked further into it and discovered how easy it was to get at the heater core. Turned out that some mice had been packing insulation from beneath my seat into the heater core creating an air damn. Easy fix.
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 225
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Mice?? How long had your truck been sitting? 
I helped a friend restore a 1968 Jeepster Commando, with true dual exhaust which had been packed with peach cores all the way to the headers, which we found when we fired it up and my garage filled up like popcorn! It had been sitting for 20 years in his orchard. Go figure. The engine fired right up after an oil change and a make shift fuel can, and a little oil in each cylinder...Okay, enough rambling.
I helped a friend restore a 1968 Jeepster Commando, with true dual exhaust which had been packed with peach cores all the way to the headers, which we found when we fired it up and my garage filled up like popcorn! It had been sitting for 20 years in his orchard. Go figure. The engine fired right up after an oil change and a make shift fuel can, and a little oil in each cylinder...Okay, enough rambling.
Junior User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 82
Likes: 1
From: Duluth, MN
[/QUOTE]Mice?? How long had your truck been sitting? [QUOTE]
It never sat for more than a few days at a time but we had a pile of firewood in our carpart and they must have made a daily routine out of packing up my heating ducts one summer.
It never sat for more than a few days at a time but we had a pile of firewood in our carpart and they must have made a daily routine out of packing up my heating ducts one summer.
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,420
Likes: 3
From: Langhorne, PA
Basically I have read accurate and correct instructions on pulling the core out.
The only problem..the bloody knuckle factor! Wear some mechanics gloves!the sheet metal and plastic edges in that area have been known to collect some fine-looking samples of knuckle skin.
If the heater hose has been on the core tubes a long time, it may not come off without a fight. Also, Ford placed a rubbery foam seal around the stock core, and If I recall correctly, they used some black RTV in a spot or two.
Long story short..be careful pulling the original core out from the dash, it will probably be stuck in the housing as well, I had to re-use the foam seal to install my new core, NAPA sold me a bare core with no foam.
Warning..there are vacuum lines running thru that area also, they aren't electrical lines, and if you bust a vac line you will be spending 25 minutes repairing the core as opposed to 20 minutes.
The only problem..the bloody knuckle factor! Wear some mechanics gloves!the sheet metal and plastic edges in that area have been known to collect some fine-looking samples of knuckle skin.
If the heater hose has been on the core tubes a long time, it may not come off without a fight. Also, Ford placed a rubbery foam seal around the stock core, and If I recall correctly, they used some black RTV in a spot or two.
Long story short..be careful pulling the original core out from the dash, it will probably be stuck in the housing as well, I had to re-use the foam seal to install my new core, NAPA sold me a bare core with no foam.
Warning..there are vacuum lines running thru that area also, they aren't electrical lines, and if you bust a vac line you will be spending 25 minutes repairing the core as opposed to 20 minutes.
