When it rains...

[jdurham]

... it pours! I have had to work on my truck for three straight weekends. First, turbo and exhaust manifold gasket, next broke a flex plate, last weekend, lost a heater core. For those of you who haven't had the privilege, let me tell you, it ain't fun. It is hard to get out from under the dash! Anyway, I thought I'd let you guys know a couple of things that might help you should you run into this problem. First, had to get the core at AutoZone because they were open and they had one. The core was about $40, no big deal. There is nothing special to know about replacing it, except you should rempve the fan from the exterior and remove the bolts that hold the dash in at the bottom. What I found that may help someone else was inside the box that hold the A/C and heater cores. I had trouble with the a/c, and had replaced the H block, the compressor, dryer, and converted it to 134A, yet it would cycle and not blow really cold air. When I pulled the lid off of the bow, the entire a/c core area was packed full of leaves, leaving only 1/3 of the core open for air flow:--) There is NO WAY that I can see to clean this area out without removing the heater box, so I suggest you take off your louvered intake at the base of the windshield and install some fine mesh screen, or you'll end up with the same problem. Now I have a lot more airflow through my vents. The second thing I noticed was periodically, little pieces of foam would shoot out of my vents, always wondered where it was coming from It was coming off of the foam lining that was attached to the lid itself. If I was to do this job again, I'd buy the foam for the inside of the lid, and the foam gasket that goes between the box and the firewall. I don't know where to get them, since I was out of town and did it without them. Maybe this wasn't of interest, but hopefully it will help someone...



Jim

 

[Philip]

I hope this streak of bad luck goes by fast. You have had enough sounds like.

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

Actually, all of us should make note of this post JD.

It should be condensed and put in "tips" thread too.

With the trucks getting on in years they will likely need your advise/experience on just these sorts of things... thanks for taking the time.

BTW the Napa part number would be good to include along with anything that you needed, but was not included.



Bob.

 

[Wayno]

There is another way you can keep those leaves out of the A/C unit . There is a door on the A/C unit that lets fresh air come inside the truck . It is on the passenger side kick panel. There is a vacuum pod on the top of the A/C unit behind the glove box that has a rod on it that pulls the door open for outside (fresh)air or closed for recycle(inside cab) air . If you take the pull open vacuum hose off(leave the pull closed hose on the pod) and plug it off and then take a piece of good stiff wire and tie the door closed so it wont open you will not suck any more leaves into the A/C box . What this will do is it will keep your A/C in the max setting all the time . Every time you change your A/C from max to heat to vent to defrost the door opens and lets the unit pull leaves from the outside(cowl area)vent . I done this on my 83 after I replace the evaporator because of the leave problem . I have done this on my 92 and I also every year take a water hose and wash the dust build up off the evaporator cause that also plugs up the evaporator too but you must put lots of towels on the floor to soak up any water that might overflow out of the A/C box onto the floor board .

 

[jdurham]

Philip, I sure hope this takes care of it for a while, maybe THIS weekend I can actually work on the race car I've been traveling every weekend for.



The AutoZOne part number for the heater core is 399132 and it is $39. 99, and Bushwhacker, just for you, the part number on the antifreeze is 550162 and is $6. 49



Wayno, good idea, but I like the outside air, so I will try the mesh.



Jim