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god910

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Well, I blew out my heater core in the 92 Cutty. Anyone have tips/tricks/shortcuts/whatnottodo's? Any help is appreciated. *thinks* I really should get the shop manual for this car. I was driving down the highway, and fogged the windshield in fantastic fashion. I've had a leak for some time, but couldn't find it. Yesterday when I left work I smelt a/f and knew it was just a matter of time. Hope I didn't blow a head gasket. The light was on for a minute before I could get stopped.

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Rotate the engine, scrape the hell out of your hands and arms trying to pull the hoses off, then contort yourself into all kinds of uncomfortable positions underneath your dash to pull that fucker outta there.

 

I did mine last year, it was a bit of a pain, but not the worst imagineable.

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well if it was as fun as the 92 grand am we did for my friend last fall you are in for a treat.

 

first off i hope you have a person to help you out.

second i hope you are a contortionist.

third i hope you have patience

 

in the manual for that 92 grand am it showed the heater core behind the steering wheel. so we thought it would be a breeze. well it was not. it was behind the center console. so out came alot of pieces. especially since we noticed wetness when we moved the carpet. so basically we gutted the car to get it dry before reassembly.

 

basic tools will work just fine

except for one

i would highly recommend the specialty tool to remove the hater hose clamps used widely nowadays. you know the ones you have to compress before you move them. not the typical screw hose clamps. so they are a pain to work with in the tight space we had to work with in his grand am. did i mention he has the 3300 v-6. so about as much room as what we have in our w-bodies to work with.

 

they can be opened with pliers but the specialty tool allows for locking the clamp open so you do not have to hold it and maneauver it. as well as recesses for holding the clamp in place on the tool.

 

oh it would also be a good idea to have many containers available to put parts into so you do not lose any. and if possible remember how you took it apart to put it back together right.

this is where a digicam would come in handy.

snap pics as you tear it down. then if you have questions refer to the pics on the reassembly process.

 

good luck

 

took us a weekend to do the heater core along with some other smaller projects that needed to be done to his grand am.

 

Monty

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Yeah.. I've always used pliers for the spring clamps.... and it's certainly tough, but not impossible.

 

I would say this is one of those jobs where you may want to consider having it done professionally... Not because it's difficult... just because it's a pain in the ass... :roll:

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well the reason we tackled it ourselves is that they quoted us 600 USD to do this. the part cost 40 USD.

so we figured we would handle it for that kind of cash.

yes it took us longer than planned.

but we felt it worth it since he did not have the cash to have them do it.

that was at a chevy dealer.

 

Monty

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it might be less from a small shop, but when the chevy dealer quoted us that. we were like nope.

we will tackle it ourselves. even for the time it took it was worth it as we got several things done. learned a few things about his car. and well had cash for another day.

 

Monty

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What happens when the heater core goes out? I'm just curious as I'm sure i'm due. Does it spread coolant all over the inside of the car? I remember on my dads old firebird that happend and it wasn't fun.

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Basically it just develops a leak. I knew mine was toast when I started to smell a bit of coolant, and could hear a hissing sound when I shut the car down.

 

It can be really messy / destructive, leaks coolant underneath your carpet, etc. and when you've got the fan going, it can get it all through your ducts, all over your windshield.

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Yea i did it on my 89 grand am 2.5L. What a bitch that was. The sign it went out, small leak. Started small until one day on the freeway my engine started to overheat so i pulled over and through in a bottle of water and half thing of antifreeze. Started the car to get some circulation and SPLASH it all came pouring out of the drain on the heater core thing. Im sure that if it didnt have the drain there, it would have been all over the inside of the car.

 

As far as patience, that is a must because taking off the interior panels and being in some wierd ass positions will piss you off very quickly. Or it did to me. I ended up snapping the plastic into 6 pieces that covered the heatercore and then botling each piece back on and duct taping it all back together! took about 3 days to do, with about 1-1.5hrs each day.

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thats what 3-5hrs? i dont think thats too long considering alot of that time was gettin tools out and puttin away and shit i guess cuz i had limited time to work on the car anyway. I will admit it took longer than normal but oh well i dont care it was a damn bitch.

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