Heater Core Removal?

Anyone removed the heatercore from a 95 or similar XJ? The FSM tells you remove the side cover, remove two retaining screws and you slide it out (After you drain the radiator and remove the hoses) I know it can't be that easy? Anyone with some hints or experience on this?


Thanks,

Alex

Seen it done but never did it. It is going to take several hours to GET AT that heater core, it is behind the dashboard and quite a bit has to come out to access it. Becareful of the airbags, pull those fuses and let it sit for a while.

It all depends on if you have factory AC or not. WITH THE AC, you must basically disassemble the dashboard to get the heater/AC plenum assembly out of the vehicle. Then, the plenum halves are separated to remove the heater core.

To remove the plenum, the dash must be tipped 'rearward' on it's lower mounts, and then the plenum must be unbolted from the firewall (after draining cooling system and discharging AC system.)

It's NOT a fun job!

It's actually not that bad if you take out your front passenger seat first (just 4 bolts). If you have AC that will need to be captured before you start. I strongly suggest you do this instead of just venting it into the air because in most cases, your AC shop that captures it will not charge you for the refrigerant that you will need to re-charge it since you gave it to him. It will still need a vacuum pulled before you recharge and you will be charged for that.
It took me about 4 hours from beginning to end to remove the plenum, get to the core and replace everything back to original the first time I did it. Getting the plenum out actually isn't that tough on our XJ's. Frankly, I did pretty much what your FSM said and undid the bolts on each end of the dash and tilted the whole dash up. Removed the nuts on the engine side of the firewall securing the plenum and wiggled the plenum out.
If you do plan on tackling this, go ahead and set aside a whole day just in case you run into some problems. Preferably a week day in case you need dealer only parts. eace:

Thanks everyone. It seemed to me that the dash came into play here, just by looking at where the core was located. Would it be worth it to let a shop do this work? Seems that if they do it they can deal with the A/C issue. Just wondering from you guys that have done this if it would be worth the extra $$$ to just have a shop do it?


Thanks,

Alex

It would depend on the immeadiate condition of my wallet and how much I trust the shop doing the work. Removing or moving that dashboard leaves alot of room for a shop to screw something else up in the process. In an older jeep that could include brittle wiring insulation that will not take kindly to being moved after 15 years.... plus here we just got 5 inches of snow yesterday, and it's still snowing, I'm NOT going to sit out in the driveway and freeze my butt off for 5 hours. You being down in the warm on the other hand have that option...