Heater Core Finally

I think it is pretty hard to do with the motor in the car. Even with while doing the headgasket it would be tricky. But I have everything out of mine right now, the firewall has nothing on it but the brake booster and m/c. So no better time for me. Here is one link that I found. There are easier ways that do not require removing the dash just opening it up a little and not un-hooking the a/c.

Don't like the looks of this one
http://users2.ev1.net/~calley/Sally/heater_core/

I did mine with the engine in the car, not hard at all. Just like the article says is how I did it.

removed center console, lowered steering wheel, unhooked and removed the dash cover, unbolted the dash frame from the passenger side a-pillar and lowered it, then pulled out the core box.

only 3 bolts on the firewall side and they're not that hard to get to.

the pain is that it takes about 3 hours of just straight unbolting to get everything out. and then another 3 hours of just straight bolting to get everything back in.

one thing I DID do while I had the core out was I pulled the ecu and wiring harness up and out and relocated from the kickpanel area to ON the heater box using some long screws and hose as spacers.

I did this in anticipation of future eec tuner easy access, etc so that now all I have to do is remove the glove box and the eec is looking me in the face.

stackz, I like that idea. Then I would have room for some nicely placed speakers. I plan on pulling out the interior of the 2.3t to paint it black.

kiddiccarus said:

Well I have choose this Sunday to do the heater core replacement. I dont know if this is a good idea or not but Well I put it off since well January and I think winter is going to come this year too since it has not failed to come yet. Wish me luck in this because I guarantee there will be cussing and sluring while I am working on the car.

BTW If someone needs the link to the directions.

Heater Core Swap

If you have better directions well make sure I know before Sunday.

Thanks

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Those are the same directions that I followed when I did mine this summer. I took the dash out instead of just pulling it to one side. It made access to the core much easier. I agree that there will be many bad words coming from the garage when you do the swap, it takes a long time to get everything unbolted which can be tedious. But I wish you luck and be sure to label your bolts and stuff that way you don’t loose them. Take a look at page 5 on my site if you want to see some pics from when I did the swap.

Dan