Changing the heater core
 

Friend of mine has a 99 Ford F150 with the 5.4L. He thinks the heater core has gone on it as it blows a mist through the top vents when he turns the heater on. He can also smell antifreeze. Up here in Canada, its, well quite cold, nuff said about that. He has had estimates of anywhre from $800-$1000 to change it whereas the cost of the core is below $100. Is there anywhere that he can get a diagram.... of how to change it, all he knows was that he was told to remove the entire dash to gat at it.. Is that true ??? Thanks , Ken

Just comleted the job my a 97 F150 4.6
Jobs all done, What would I do different, what worked well:
Shopping list from FORD dealer, ($15.00 for 2 sets of heater hose o-rings and snap clip, $40.00 for the heatercore, insulated tape to wrap new core with - freebee, gallon of anti freeze).
1. Tying off the antenna to a old shoelace was a great little trick that made the reassembly a snap, allowed pulling antenna cable back out of the hole real easy. I used elect tape too, didnt want "ANY" surprises later!
2. Try to get the heater hose tool from a mechanic willing to loan it out to you. I was pleasantly surprised at the helping hand the dealer mechs were. The tool took a few minutes to figure out. Took a second trip back to the Ford dealer for replacement o-rings and clips. save time buy these first cause you'll break the originals, if you dont, change em anyway, your in this deep!!
3. Leaving all the steering column elect plugs attached was fine and not unhooking the 3 big plugs under the hood would save some time too. I unhooked these before the mech advised me not to mess with them.
4. Try to follow in reverse the "dash removal instructions" so you dont have any "do overs" when you cant get a screw to line up properly.
5. I'm not much at housekeeping, I would get a large box for all the trim parts.
6. Leave screws in their holes, in just a few threads to keepem straight, (E brake and hood, grab handle, ground screws). Just a few less to figure out where they go when your putting it back together a week later like I had to. I wish I had bagged a few of the spares and labled them where they went. had 3 left over, no rattles.
7. I removed the big elect housing right over the heatr core houseing to aide in getting the cover reinstalled, 2 screws, no big deal.
WARNING-if you cant reach the spot to start a screw by hand, either a magnet screw tip or a piece of tape/sticky foam will do the trick when reaching those backdside screws on the heater cowling cover, this is not the time to tear the dash back out to get a &^%$ little screw that dropped off the screwdriver or out of the socket.
Tools I used, priceless -
Battery op drill w/ socket adapters/extensions,
5/16, 7mm, 8mm, 10mm for dash screws, 13mm for the steering col nuts,
Flashlight, a must for searching for black screw heads under the dash.
Screwdriver w/ changeable heads for sockets and screws.
A magnet tool for retrieving that socket you cant reach.
Short rubber hose to attach to radiator drain plug.
THE BIGGEY - Printed word doc, step by step instructions w/ pics, ask me, I'll email it to you.
GOOD LUCK,
Don
I'll do yours for 600.00, parts included
(not really) send me an email, I'll send it.
dfkelly42
hotmail.com

Hmm, good info. I just started smelling the "coolant smell" last week. Truck's a '98 4wd F150 ext cab longbed, with the 4.6L at almost 88k miles. I have an extended warranty that will cover the heater core replacement (I hope, planning on calling them today to verify), so it'll cost me $125 deductible.
I haven't noticed a "film" on my window yet, but haven't really "LOOKED" at it, I just figured it was dirty. It started as a very slight smell, and has gotten worse over the past week. Good thing is that I am in Florida and it's, well, it's in the 80's this week, 'nuff said. My ext. warranty runs out at 88,094 and I am actually at 87,600+ right now. Calling my warranty people today, and afterwards (assuming it's covered) calling Ford. I gotta watch how much I drive as I am a runner for my mom's company, but will be out of town on a cruise Thurs.-Sun., so as long as I can make it to Wed. afternoon without going over my mileage I am good. Only two days, should be possible.

I finally got around to mine this past weekend. Took 10.5 hrs w/o directions. I just started taking the dash apart and pulled out whatever got in the way. I could have saved a couple of hrs easily if I had directions. Then again, I didn't have to pull the antenna and the only elec connections I undid were the headlight switch, gauge cluster, CD, a/c panel and air bag.
I also did not need a tool for the heater hoses so I'm wondering if my early production '97 has a few other oddities than the couple I already knew about.

Well, looks like I will be tackling this one today and tomorrow. My symptoms went from just smelling coolant when the heater was on to smelling coolant ALL the time. I have an extended warranty I got when I bought it, so I took it to Ford. Well, the warranty doesn't cover the heater core, so... Looks like I'll be doing it now.
I already have the instructions from 97FordF150, so thank you for those. I started last night by reading the instructions and removing some of the trim pieces, I figured any kind of a head start would be good. When removing the kick panel on the drivers' side I found a LARGE puddle of coolant in the trough that goes along the scuff plate. Sucked that dry with the shop vac, but not sure how in the he!! it got down there. Heater core IS on the other side, right?
Well, after removing the trim pieces and sucking up the coolant, I looked around under there to get an idea of what I was in for. Compared with the instructions it looks like it won't be that hard, just tedious. I bought new heater hoses with clips from Ford, I don't want a heater hose goin out on me after I'm done and then have to pull it all apart again.
And to top all this off, I get in my truck this morning and no start, just click-click-click... So great, now the battery is dying on me too. It is 6 years old with 88k miles though, so I guess it served me well.
So, what kind of heater core did everyone else use that has done this? I haven't bought one yet b/c I think the ones from auto parts stores will have a lifetime warranty, just not sure of the quality of them (don't care about the warranty if I gotta do this again in a month b/c the quality sucks). Someone mentioned four seasons, where did you get it from? And how much?
Thanks for any input.

Wow, I thought I got away from a car that required massive surgery for heater core replacement after I did the job on my Mercedes.

I put a heater core in my wifes Bronco II many years ago and it was a 10 minute job. The Bronco II engineer probably got fired for that one.

I will buy antifreeze and flush today and take care of it. I'm not interested in seeing the heater core fail on this truck.

For you guys who have replaced them, did you still have the original anti freeze or had you changed it along the way?

Have a great day,
Doc

I got mine from the dealership for about $40. I believe Advance and Auto Zone both carry Four Seasons brand.

I also got my new core from the Dealer, 40.00.
One item thats easy to forget is the foam tape that wraps around the core that keeps it snug inside the plenum. Get some from the dealer, they just gave me a piece off a large roll, enough to get the new core wrapped.

My fluid needed changing so I drained the radiator. If your fluid is in good shape, and your system doesnt need flushed, just skip it. This doesnt get it all out of the block unless you pull a freeze plug, but I flushed it out well enough before adding new coolant.

Don

Full step by step Heater core instructions available upon email request only.

You don't remove freeze plugs to drain the coolant from the block. There is a drain plug on each side of the engine, just above the pan rail.

Have a great day,
Doc

Correct, Thanks, brainfarted here,
Don

Instructions still available. Send me an email or do a google search for "dfkelly42 ford"

Please, if anyone could help with some kind of instructions for replacing the heater core in a 1999 F 150, it would be appreciated. I think my better half and his brother have already lost half the screws in the leaves on the ground and are actually beginning to enjoy destroying everything in their path in an effort to change this part out.

I replaced mine a little over a year ago. Yes, the job is a major pain in the ass! Took me 2 days to do it.

Oh yeah....be very careful when unplugging the vaccum lines! If you look just above and to the right of the gas pedal, you will see the multi-colored lines running into a clip. My hand accidentally slipped off the clip, and I pulled out the vaccum lines from the clip (instead of unplugging the clip). I still haven't gotten around to sealing that up, so it only blows out of the defrost vents (which is the default setting when it doesn't sense any vaccum pressure)


Good luck! You WILL need it! :-X22