heater core

I believe that I have a heater core issue. This morning there was a smell of coolant and the front windshield seems to have a film on it. (yah!) How much of a job am I looking at here. I haven't done one in a VW (plenty in Fords over the years - I worked at a Ford dealer for 12 years). Just wondered how much of bugger it is going to be to pull dash.

Dave

I think a member down here did one a couple years ago and said he'd burn the car before doing it again... I know from doing one on my old jetta that it wasn't a fun job, complete dash removal etc...

thats one job that i wont hesitate to pay a shop to do for me - for some, its more time consuming then a timing belt job!

its not hard to do its just very awkward cause of the confined space and trying to make sure not to break anything

thanks for the replies. I am not looking forward to doing it either.

It's not as hard as everyone claims... I followed the directions on the vortex.. just a few key things to be wary of..
One thing to note... there are particular years where refrigerant evacuation is unavoidable but in my 2000 tdi, the main "box" came out without needing A/C work done.

you have to umount the box from the firewall behind the insulation so, hopefully the thread aren't stripped. just get an electric screwdriver with a magnetic headed torx bit and you'll be fine... I took my time and did it over about 4-6 hr increments over two days..

OmegaRenegade said:

thats one job that i wont hesitate to pay a shop to do for me - for some, its more time consuming then a timing belt job!

its not hard to do its just very awkward cause of the confined space and trying to make sure not to break anything

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It's not as bad as some ppl think. I had my whole dash out of my car in 2.5hrs when i swapped my dash. And that was my first time doing a mk4 dash. Very simple actually, all the bolts are one size torx bit hardest part is getting the steering wheel airbag off. The clips can be a pain

And once you take the dash out the heater core is very easy to get out

Vw NewF said:

It's not as bad as some ppl think. I had my whole dash out of my car in 2.5hrs when i swapped my dash. And that was my first time doing a mk4 dash. Very simple actually, all the bolts are one size torx bit hardest part is getting the steering wheel airbag off. The clips can be a pain

And once you take the dash out the heater core is very easy to get out

Click to expand...

your the first person i call if/when mine goes

Taking a dash out and putting it back in isn't hard.

Taking a dash out and putting it back in without ANY rattles is.

Every car I've owned where someone else has taken the dash out/apart has had rattles. Take your time, don't break anything and route all the wires as original.

OmegaRenegade said:

your the first person i call if/when mine goes

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Sign me up!

Uberhare said:

Taking a dash out and putting it back in isn't hard.

Taking a dash out and putting it back in without ANY rattles is.

Every car I've owned where someone else has taken the dash out/apart has had rattles. Take your time, don't break anything and route all the wires as original.

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I took my time purring in the new dash. Since I was wiring in my lite dash vents and cleaned up all my gauge, oem navi wiring and fis wiring

Silver Tdi was there when I was doing it and I was anal about fitment and squeaks lol. Took longer to test fit then it did to remove it

Uberhare said:

Taking a dash out and putting it back in without ANY rattles is.

Click to expand...

This is the main reason why I will burn the car on the next heater core.

If you're going to do it, make sure you buy an oem one from VW, they're like $25 more than aftermarket. And get yourself one of these will make this job so much faster and less frustrating.
Buy some foam tape weatherstrip to reseal the defroster vent if the original weatherstripping is deteriorated.
GL

I have a complete heaterbox with both cores, if you're interested. $100.
I thought I had a problem with my 99.5 so I bought the part, as I could smell hot antifreeze inside the car. Turns out the leak was under the hood instead.

I thank you all for your input. I purchased an aftermarket core for $75 from Industrial rad in North Bay ( the dealer was $250)
Started at 9:30 am stopped for some lunch for 15 or 20 min and was road testing around 5:45 pm. Wasn't too bad but no where near as easy as Windstar or Explorer. At least Ford has the dash as a unit support brace and all. you just undo a few balkhead connectors at firewall, lower steering column some trim pieces and remove 6 bolts and entire dash is out of vehicle. I can have a dash out of a Windstar in 20 min.

I didn't like the aftermarket heater core much (except for price) as it is less dense in fins and doesn't have the same heat output of the OEM core. Old core was leaking around the seal for the plastic tank.

Thanks again.