Heater Core Write Up

[Brown_Muscle]

very nice write up john...

may i suggest rather than having it suck out off the reservoir to "burp" the system by putting a funnel in the radiator fill hole, filling it with coolant. turning the heat all the way on, then running the car to operating temperature and wait until bubbles stop coming out of the funnel

both methods work, however i tend to like this better, also certain contaminants can float to the surface of the funnel and then be removed with this method if there are any.

[86VickyLX]

IDK but that is the way a Ford certified technician does it.

it's called flat rate, look it up sometime.
Technicians cut corners to make stuff go faster. So they can get paid for a job that supposed to take 4 hours into something closer to 2.5 hours.

[87gtVIC]

My dad charges me flat rate.

[rick99601]

My dad charges me flat rate.

i wish my dad was a ford tech.

[87gtVIC]

It sure comes in handy I tell ya'. If he wasn't into cars I most definitely would not be here right now.

[rick99601]

It sure comes in handy I tell ya'. If he wasn't into cars I most definitely would not be here right now.

those car shows as kids sure paid off for us, huh? hah

[86VickyLX]

My dad charges me flat rate.

[sly]

Pics and more pics

Here's some necessary pics to find those nuts and bolts that hare hard to find/get to for removing the plenum and some tricks to keep from losing stuff.

Trick #1: Dash Pad screws. Magnetic grabber on the ends while unscrewing.


Trick #2: Cellphone torx driver (T-6) for the set screw if you have one of the non-clip on headlight knobs.


Trick #3: This may be a requirement depending on your tool-set. Right angle screwdriver. (There's 5 screws along the edge of the dash here that attach the dash to the car)


Bolts:
Driver side and passenger side behind kick panels. (one also tucked behind the driver side of the ash tray)


Behind the instrument cluster (accessible from below... directly above the steering shaft)


Close up - Nut on bottom.


Engine bay side:
Top just to the right of the heater core pipes


Below the plenum... straight down from the top one

There are two nuts on the interior side of this nut.

Once the dash is loose and the 4 nuts are off of the plenum... it should come off. Mine needed a panel remover (re: small crow bar) persuasion to come off of the two bottom studs though.

The rest is very easy to see. Two screws to take the blend door actuator out of the way... and the speed nut off the blend door rod to release the actuator. Then the 4 screws over the heater core... and out it comes. Reverse to install of course.

I'll post a pic of the center lower mount bolt and the actuator screws later since I forgot to take those pictures this time around.

[sly]

ok... here's the missing pics.

Lower mount bolt near ash tray:


up close:


Blend door actuator removal:
Two screws in the bracket on either side:


Then remove the speed nut:


Then remove the 4 screws that hold down the core:


This pic was after everything was back in and the lower part of the plenup was resting on the bolts. I was about to bolt it all back in and then remembered to take pictures. New core is aluminum. Old core is on a shelf and repairable. It leaked around the pipe where it goes into the core housing. A good clean and re-slobber (re: solder) and it should be fine. To bolt the plenum back up... I just stuck two fingers into the core pipes and pulled enough to get the bolt out of the firewall and put the nut on it with my other hand. Wasn't that difficult. Now if you don't have regular fingers like I do (ie: you got some really big hands/fat fingers)... use the best way: get someone hold the plenum against the firewall.

Now we just need an admin/mod to merge all these pics with the first post and make a sticky

[1990LTD]

jesus christ, I do not look forward to this.

[sly]

other than my back being really sore and a few scrapes on my hands from cleaning the windshield afterwards (scratched up my hands with the broken to hell speaker holes... damn sharp plastic edges)... it's mainly just time consuming. You will want the engine to be cold though. That lower nut is so close to so much exhaust, it's not funny.

[marquisman]

so how long(start-finnish) did this heater core swap take you?

[sly]

started around 8:30am... finished about 4pm. had to wait 1.5 hours to get the heater core and re-greasing the speedo cable took about 10 minutes... so actual work time was about 6 hours.

This is also the first time I've ever done this on a panther, but I'm very mechanically inclined and also very meticulous... so the last two may cancel each other out. :p

at any rate, it's done and the car is happy.

[86VickyLX]

Interesting, that bolt under the center of the dash must be an ATC only thing, since the 88 Grand Marquis and my 86 Crown Vic did not have that bolt.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Jesus! Is it that bad? I even need to unbolt the steering column (however that bolts on)??
I'm wondering if I might finally do mine tomorrow... 6 hrs, truly?