Alpo Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Another board, the guy says they're driving down the road and heater core let's go. "I did not want to have to replace a heater core in the middle of a highway." So I asked why he would have had to replace it. Why not just reroute the hoses? Then I described how I had done it, on three different vehicles, over my 45 years of driving. Someone responded to me saying, "You bypassed the heater core". Well, yeah. That's what I described. Rerouted the hoses to bypass the leaking heater core. Then there was another response that said he had to replace the heater core, otherwise he would have had no heater. Again, well yeah. But he could have got home. If your distributor goes out, you have to replace the distributor, or you're not going anywhere. If your fuel pump goes out, you have to replace the fuel pump, or you're not going anywhere. If the heater core goes out? Bypass that sucker, get on to the house. Replace it when you're at home, in the garage, with lights and heat, and your big tool box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Well, yeah. Done it myself. Cold ride home but cheaper than a tow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Unfortunately you have to completely gut the entire dash to get to the heater cores on most new vehicles these days. It ain't like the old days when there was an access panel. You definitely won't be replacing one in the middle of a highway, that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I have had to do this on 2 of my vehicles. My old 73 Plymouth station wagon and my 68 Mustang. Pretty basic stuff that baffles people today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Eye Jim Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I had the heater core go out in a 1980 Chevy Citation X-11 in the middle of January in like 1989 or 90. Took me 4 hours to figure out how to by-pass the damn thing so I could get it home, and the cabin smelled like antifreeze for a year afterwards... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 15 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: I have had to do this on 2 of my vehicles. My old 73 Plymouth station wagon and my 68 Mustang. Pretty basic stuff that baffles people today. If only vehicles were as simple as a '68 Mustang still! I replaced the heater core in a '67 'stang many years ago. Took me all of a couple hours. By contrast the heater core started leaking in a 1990s Dodge Neon I had, and the manual warned against a DIY-er doing it as the airbags had to be disabled, the steering column dropped, the instrument panel removed, and the entire dash assembly unbolted and removed from the vehicle just to get at the heater box. So I checked with a shop, and they wanted $1500 for the repair due to the time involved. That was literally more than the car was worth so it ended up getting donated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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