Changing heater core on 97

[fatcougar]

My first post here... Woohoooo, anyways...
I need to change the heater core on my 97 with the 4.0 ohv and air conditioning. This was a 2 hour job on my 93 F-350, but it looks a little more "Interesting" on the X.
Has anyone here done one of these themselves or Should I pay the $440 in labor the dealership wants to do this job. According to the service manager they have to break into the A/C system to get the parts out of the way to get at the core. Does this sound right for a 97? I know the earlier X's were like my 93 truck... fairly easy, which makes you wonder who had the bright idea to make the newer ones harder to get to.
PS- great site, Thanks - Fatcougar.

 

[Glacier991]

Jesus. I remember way back when I once had to replace a heater core on an early 80's Cougar and had to remove the instrument panel, what a *****. Then on the 92 Ex, a couple screws, pop open the clamshell housing, undo the hoses and pop in the new heater core. 30 mins tops. I was amazed how smart they had gotten. I read your post and looked at the 97 manual. Holy crap. HUGE job. Even have to remove the computer! A giant step backwards in engineering in only 5 years. <sigh>

Sorry for the bad news, but it's a big and unfun job. And your dealer is telling you straight. Remove instrument panel, remove ac evap, remove pcm, remove etc, remove and replace core, and then reassemble everything else. I'm also assuming you will have to recover and recharge your AC too. UGLY!!!

Happy (and better engineered) Exploring

Chris

 

[BradE.]

Chris is right, 97 heater cores are a major *****. You have to pull the whole friggin dash.

If your not really, and I mean really, comfortable doing major work I'd let someone else handle it. It's a lot of work.

 

[wpurple]

My old 91 Ranger took about 1

 

[wpurple]

My old 91 Ranger took about 10 minutes....It would take longer to run to the parts store to pick up a new one.
I hope the one in my 97 lasts forever

 

[BradE.]

Word to the wise, check the condition of your blend door if you replace the heater core yourself. If it looks like it's on it's last legs, replace it now!! Otherwise, you'll have to pull the damn dash again to replace it later.

 

[Zulu95]

Heater Core.

This is why I had my 6 year old core replaced at the same time my blend door was repaired. $89 to do when the dash is already out!

 

[Glacier991]

Excellent suggestion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris

 

[fatcougar]

Hey, thanks alot guys, I really appreciate the info. At least I don't feel like the Dealership guy is screwing with me. Yikes, it makes you wonder what the engineers were thinking when they designed the newer setup. The guy at the dealership said that some of the 97 pickups are way worse even, something like 14-15 hours shop time to change the core out!!! I think I'd put stop leak in and sell the truck if that happened to me.
Anyways, sorry I took so long to post back, I'm on night shift right now. Thanks again for the advice
Fatcougar

 

[williecume]

do the the really cheap way, bypass the heater core.

 

[Zulu95]

The engineers knew exactly what they were doing. Making money for the company. If everything is easy for the shade tree guy to fix then FORD loses the big bucks they can charge. Hence $3 parts fail and it cost $600 to fix the problem. Or they don't put $5 parts in and it costs you $100 so you can adjust your camber. Once you bought it they have you hooked!

 

[fatcougar]

Yup, there must be something to that theory. I just hate poor engineering. I work in a Refinery and see it all the time. With just a little more forethought they can make maintaining things so much easier sometimes and for little or no more expense. Sorry, not trying to hammer engineers here, there are a lot of good ones out there.
Oh yeah, I did do the quicky bypass trick to get by for a few days, but the Boss (Wife) is going to want her heat back pretty soon.....

:redexp: