heater core

[squirrel1]

hey guys i'm looking for a little guidance on this. its one of the few things i haven't done in all my dealings with these trucks. just put new carpet in the truck and noticed last night that there was a nice green puddle in the floor.

where do i begin to take care of this problem. i would appreciate any help.

thanx, squirrel1

[corbiesherrell]

to fix the prob temporaraly till u feel like 4 hours of wrk on ur back, open ur hood and look at the fire wall on the pasenger side ther are 2 hoses right next to eachother, one is an inlet the other an outlet. go 2 autozone and get the adapter for the diffrent size hoses just ask and they will know what you are talkn about its like 2 bucks. disconect the 2 hoses and put the ends 2gether. and replace it when u feel like it

[s10350racer]

i just did mine last weekend. i decided to take off the whole dash to make it easier. remove your trim pieces, light switch and heater controls. there are four bolts near the defrost vents and three 13 mm bolts on the underside that hold the dash in place. there are a few small other ones as well such as courtesy lights but theyre pretty straightforward and obvious. a few wires are tied to the back so i just snipped the clips off. after you get the dash out take off the cover that encloses the heater core. there are 4 bolts that hold down two straps and after you disconnect the heater hoses it will come right out. its not a bad job it took me about two hours and the heater core was less then $30.

[resevil]

HI. I have been having heat issues. Some times i'lll have heat other times i won't. I replaced the thremostat, and had the coolant flushed. What would cause this? :confused: Any ideas would help. Some one said I might have an air bubble. Thanks

Lee
1996 Blazer
4.3

[Jones]

What year are we talkin' ? I have not the 2nd gens yet, But the 1st gens I've done plenty. You don't have to pull the dash. What you can not reach from underneath can be accessed through the glove box. About 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. To Resevil. Did you do any service to the cooling system recently? I'd be willing to bet you are running Dexcool and your heater core is clogged. Temp fix - disconnect your hoses, flush it out with water/air. Permanent fix- flush the whole system, replace heater core

[resevil]

Woudn't flushing it out un-clog it? And anothing, would it be wise 2 switch to green anti freeze?


Lee

[bonecrushins10]

its a leak , you do the slushin the heater core when its croded in side

[steve]

Yes Jones is right you in no way have to take the dash out. You will certainly have to take off the access panel in the glove box the under dash trim and the radio bezel. All those things come out really easily with not tricks involved. I would also suggest taking out the passenger bucket or bench to give yourself more room to work. It will really save your back and take a lot of aggravation out of the job. You will need some extensions and some universals but no specialty tools to do it. It is a straightforward job. Also if you don't want to do it right away you don't have to buy some special adapter just cute a 3-inch piece or copper tubing and hose clamp both hosed to it. It will work just fine. Oh yea one more thing, buy the original GM replacement heater core. It will last a lot longer then an after market one. I know first hand about that one. I did my heater core twice in 3 years because I felt like saving 20 bucks.

[Jones]

Resevil, unless your'e losing coolant out the vents/on the floor I'd bet your clogged. Cleaning it out could last 5 days or years. It depends how clogged it is.
Changing to ethyl glychol would not be a bad idea, but you want to flush it 100 percent or you could hace problems. I flushed out my dexcool @ 49,000 mi. due to the fact that I was seeing too many problems with buildup on rad caps & in radiators (not to mention intake leaks). I went to the prestone long life and flush it yearly. I still have no problems or leaks (6 years later). I think the biggest problem with Dexcool is the fact that is says "no service for 150,000 miles". Bullshit. You let anything go without proper maintenence and you WILL have problems. I've already done intakes on 4.3's only to have them come back a week or two later with no heat. Blow out the heater core & wallaH! If you suspect corrosion, like I said, it would be a good idea to replace the heater core.

[squirrel1]

i appreciate the help guys. changed it saturday. took the dash loose but not out
and had it all back together in less than 2 hours. i've had the dash loose in these
trucks a few times so i knew pretty well how to get it loose. thanks again for all the advice and maybe i can help you guys sometime.