leaky heatercore havent had heat in over a year, finnaly bought a replacement and i want to change it out. these winters are getting alittle to cold for gloves and the window down . ive read the hanes manuals and etc and i didnt think it was that much of a process. do i really have to rip the entire interior out to get to it? or can i just take out the bottom passanger panel and see what i can do?

i just want the easiest way if anyone knows a better way? bc its quite a process to be doing this now that the weather has gotten to 30 degrees and a school schedual.

too late did it yesterday took a total of 7 hrs to complete with fuid check in 30 degree weather . i hate it i hate heater cores i hate the setup for the heater core. actually changing the heater core only took 5 min to put the new one in but to take the old one out was ! i had to rip the entire dash area off and move it forward etc. sooo not worth it, i hope no one has to do this everrrrrr!

im running hypertech 160 thermostat and a 177on 166 off hypertech fan switch which i have rigged the fans together off of one relay to turn on at the same time. my question is am i gona have good heat, in the summer it never really gets above 170 and in the winter its pegged at 160 am i gona get good heat inside the car? i really dont want to change out the switch and thermosat and go back to my JET 180 thermosat and 195-185 fan switch.

WOW, what all did you remove and did you read a shop manual? reason i ask is i can do it in 45 mins and thats putting the top screw back in the square cover thats infront of the core itself and thats considerd by most the hardest part. 2 yrs ago i hadta make a run to pick up a rear end in nashville and i KNEW i had better swap cores before i heded out as i could smell the coolant seeping but not yet dripping so i did so and an hr and ½ (shower included) i was rollin.
give me some details and i can tell ya how to short cut this next time. i had a friend work on his for a long period and then he called me. he had the dash pad yanked, HVAC ducting pulled and stuff on the dr side yanked. i tiold him he did a BUNCH of unnecessary parts removal.

45 min wow... first i had to remove all underside paneling on the passenger side and driver...i then had to remove the dash board completely out of the car(this is annoying bc of my Apiller etc) removed it from the car and then took out all mouting screws that held the endire dash section as a whole...once i could get it to move all together as one piece i had to then remove the mouting bolts to the center console where the heater controls and radio are and swing that out of the way....then i had to drop the stearing column to get the dash to move out alil more...removed the computer and set that aside...removing the bolts wasnt to bad and it only took like 7 min to get the heater out...removed all the hardware and got the new one ready....took another 7 min to get the new one in and then preceeded to get it all back gether....it wouldnt have taken that long its just the first time ive ever done this and i ran into lil problems like trying to figure out where bolts where and why things wouldnt come out etc... i didnt remove any of the ducting and just pulled it all out as a peice i would have to say total just on the heater was prob like 4 hrs...3 hrs on others like checking the speakers, fluids, relays, etc... i could prob do it in 45min to 1 hr now that i know wat to do and how everything comes apart lol

do you get good eat... i dont think i will wit 160 temp fluid? and wat temp thermosat and fan switch u running?

Hahaha! I'm sorry, I'm rolling on the floor right now. Your story is hilarious and brings back fond memories. As an ASE-certified Master Mechanic in my youth, I'll admit changing a heater core is the one job I'd happily pay someone else to do, no matter the vehicle. (The story goes: car manufacturers start with a heater core and then build a car around it! Or even...Heater cores aren't meant to be replaced.) LOL

Hey...wouldn't it suck if you bought a crap heater core from Auto Zone, instead of a new one from GM, and it started leaking already?

Fixed it for ya, '79 4.9L Formula

lol im glad my misery is amussing lol haha i laughed too but more in a way to vent angry and not to beat my car with a huge rock! i was pretty fed up lol but i actually havent tested it to even see if it works lol, i cant find the vacume coolant switch inorder to connect all the coolant lines to the heater core

i hope to god that they did a good job and yes it did cross my mind but GM is ridiculously exspensive compared to aftermarket so i didnt even bother to check the prices lol if it leaks i might kill someone or just punch the guy in the face at autozone. or just rip it out and beat him with it