1997 Buick Skylark Custom: heater core replacement.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "1997 Buick Skylark Custom: heater core replacement."

Gwen Norris
6 years ago
Views:

1997 Buick Skylark Custom: heater core replacement. I couldn t find a whole lot of info on replacing the heater core in my 1997 Buick Skylark. So, I just got the jack and tools and went at it.

You have to work under the dashboard so be prepared to contort your body in ways you could never imagine.

1 1997 Buick Skylark Custom: heater core replacement. I couldn t find a whole lot of info on replacing the heater core in my 1997 Buick Skylark. So, I just got the jack and tools and went at it. Here is what I have to share. Before reading beyond this first paragraph you have to realize that this will probably rank up there with one of the most frustrating projects you will ever tackle. You have to work under the dashboard so be prepared to contort your body in ways you could never imagine. If you are willing to use language not fit for children then read on or take the damn car to a mechanic you hate. I am 67 years old and a cheap Scotsman so if I can do it, so can you. If you can get some help to re-assemble the under dash part, it will reduce your frustration level. If you decide to do this project, print out these instructions in color because the tools required along with any supplies are highlighted in blue. The diagrams also have colored highlights to simplify your install. Take the time to read all the instructions to familiarize yourself with the project. Note: You do not have to remove the dashboard or glove box. The core is located under the dash above the transmission hump in the center of the car.

Note: If your heater core is leaking onto the floor inside the car, you can do a temporary heater bypass. This will allow you to drive your car without losing any more coolant.

2 Note: If your heater core is leaking onto the floor inside the car, you can do a temporary heater bypass. This will allow you to drive your car without losing any more coolant. It will also give you time to pick up a new core and find the time to do the job. This is not so handy during the winter because you will have no interior heat or defrost. Follow steps 3 and 4 to do a bypass to keep your car on the road. This Spectra Premium replacement heater core I purchased for $50.03 CDN. including taxes. It is a good quality all aluminum replacement. Do not purchase a core with plastic coolant tubes. This is what the factory installed and why the core failed. You will also need a couple gallons of antifreeze (either premix or cut the straight antifreeze with distilled water 50/50). I also suggest changing the factory installed spring hose clamps with 2 good quality stainless steel screw type clamps. The clamps are in a very restricted area and the screw clamps are just easier to install. My Car: The coolant was pouring out from under the car near the transmission so I realized the radiator and front hoses were ok. It was impossible to see anything from under the hood. After jacking up the car I could see the two heater core hoses attached to the heater core pipes coming through the firewall into the

Sometimes when you squeeze, flex or push a hose under pressure you can see a split or pinhole. I was laying on my back under the car with coolant dripping on my coveralls.

3 engine compartment. It was hard to see so I assumed that one of the hoses had a split in it. After running the engine to get the thermostat to open and supply coolant to the core, I still couldn t see the leak. Sometimes when you squeeze, flex or push a hose under pressure you can see a split or pinhole. I was laying on my back under the car with coolant dripping on my coveralls. I gently pushed up on the inlet hose, the one on the passenger side of the car, when it snapped off. This was not a good situation. I hadn t drained the coolant yet because I had not determined where the leak was. Luckily the antifreeze was just hot and not scalding because I had the contents of the heater core and half the engine block drain instantly onto my face and chest. You can t move very fast laying on the driveway so I had a shower, eyewash, and mouthful before I had time to think about it. This was when the language became very explicit. Here is a picture of my core and why it failed. The heater core can leak because the core splits and fails (black arrow). This can be determined if the carpet on the transmission hump is wet. In my case the tube coming from the core through the firewall split (orange and blue arrows). The factory core is a piece of s#&t designed to fail. The rigid tubes that hook up to the hoses are plastic (blue arrows) and after years of heating and cooling, mine just said that s enough I m done, and split. The heater hose connects over the plastic tube (yellow arrow). Inside the plastic tube is a metal sleeve (white arrow) which

4 keeps you from crushing the plastic hose. Hello #%^ hole engineers, the new core I bought has all metal tubing which will not split. What did Buick save using this plastic crap, 50 cents? In the picture you can see the carnage to the plastic tubes. It was so brittle, it would compare to pushing on a piece of uncooked pasta until it broke. In fact I had trouble getting the hose clamp off the second hose so I just pushed on the hose gently and the second tube shattered. Follow along with how my replacement went. OK, let s get her done These are my steps in order: for the best results and prevent damage to your system, follow the steps in order. Under the Car 1. Put wheel chocks under the back wheels to keep from rolling back. 2. I jacked up each side of the car at the front end as high as I could get it, and then placed safety jack stands under the frame on both sides next to the front wheels. 3. Drain the coolant using the drain at the bottom of the radiator. 4. Disconnect heater hoses: The two coolant tubes come from the heater core through the center of the firewall at the back of the engine block. You can only reach these from under the car at the back center area of the engine. My clamps were the spring loaded type and were very difficult to remove. This is a very tight area to work in so prepare for off colored language again. As I said earlier my plastic core tubes broke right off and it was still difficult to get the clamps off the hoses. If you can t get them off, do what I did and push on the hose gently until the plastic tube breaks. Be careful and not disconnect the heater hoses from the engine block. These are almost impossible to see or get at. 5. One caution here; if your heater core tubes are plastic and break like mine did, do a visual inspection with a flashlight and a finger to make sure there are no broken plastic pieces left in the hose. This is what happened in my case. Heater bypass if required: perform steps 3 & 4. Now source a ½ x 3 plastic coupler. These are used for irrigation pipe and are knurled to hold

5 fast. Join both heater hoses with this coupler and clamps. Now the cooling system has been isolated from the heater core and the coolant will just circulate back to the engine block. Make sure to top up the coolant you previously drained to perform the bypass. Inside the Car: 6. Remove the 4 bolts holding the passenger seat to the floor and find a nice place in the corner of the shop to park it. It is almost impossible to work with the seat in the way. Plus it gives you a chance to clean and pick up the loose change under the seat.

6 The diagram I got off the net was lacking some information so I added in the colored lines to help. I will explain them in order. Caution: Before crawling around on the lower consol, you may want to protect it with a small solid piece of plywood. I protected mine with a thick blanket

7 and when I was finished, I had broken the coin dispensing tray right out of the upholstery. **&%#%^^^%^%^&*^% I was mad. Why would engineers design such an un-supported assembly and then make it out of a fragile piece of plastic. Oh well you have been forewarned. 7. Now with the seat out you can get under the dash board. There are 2 sound panels on either side under the dash. Remove the passenger panel (no tools required) by releasing the two twist lock fasteners at the edge of the dash closest to you. The back of the panel just slips over metal hangers attached to the firewall. The panel is still held in place by a wiring harness. Use needle nose pliers and a flat screwdriver to pry this off. It is difficult, more %$%^&^&^** words here will help. Damned if I can understand why a simple wiring harness has to be so difficult to remove. On the inside of the panel twist the foot well light socket and remove the bulb. Set the panel aside. 8. Remove the panel on the driver s side the same way as above, except you will find the panel is held to the firewall with two press-on nuts. Same *&&^*&^&%& words needed for the wiring harness on this side. 9. I also removed the ashtray because it blocks your vision. Open the ashtray and depress the spring clip holding the tray in. Disconnect the lighter wire after removing the tray. 10. Now it s time to remove the screws holding the heater core shroud. There are 2 different size screws (#4 on the diagram). You will need a ¼ drive ratchet, small extension, 7/32 & ¼ sockets. More &&%$$* why would they use 2 different sizes. I used a ¼ air ratchet which made removal much easier. The diagram shows the outer shroud in blue, this was left off the diagram. Now some of the screws are impossible to locate. Kindly go and ask the little woman if you can borrow the biggest hand mirror she has. I found this to be invaluable to see under the dash in combination with a good

8 flashlight. The way to remove the screws is to work on one side at a time and remove every screw you can see going through the plastic shroud, use the mirror to locate them all. There is also a wiring harness mounted above the passenger side foot well. There are 2 ¼ screws holding it to the shroud. Once you have all the screws out and it still won t come off, more %*&$#&&% here, calm down and follow these instructions. There are some more screws. There is a 7/32 screw hidden behind the accelerator pedal that you can t see and there is a ¼ screw hidden in the middle of the shroud next to the firewall (diagram circled #4 blue). It is in a recessed tunnel that you can t see so you have to reach and feel for the recessed tunnel. Appropriate time for some more $%^$^&**&. Once all the screws are out, you still can t remove the shroud. 11. The shroud has 2 plastic ducts near the firewall that feed the heat under the carpet to the back seat. It is also caught under the lip of the dashboard at the back of the ashtray. Look at the blue dotted line on the diagram. The shroud folds in like a clamshell at this point thus reducing the length and clearing the front of the dash as well as allowing you to remove the ducts in the carpet. If it does not flex down and come out fairly easily, there is still a screw holding it in. I m sorry; I m doing this from memory and can t remember how many screws there actually were. My best guess is 6 silver plated 1/4 and 4 brass plated 7/32 screws. 12. When the shroud comes out, be careful because the heater core is attached to another plastic shroud but the whole assembly is loose and will fall down. You want to remove this assembly carefully. There are 3 tubes going through the firewall. Two attached to the heater core and one plastic tube which is the drain from the AC. It is plastic and delicate (diagram green arrow). Rotate the assembly very slowly in a small circle while pulling on it gently. It should slowly pull out of the firewall.

9 13. Take the assembly to the work bench and remove the single strap (diagram #11) holding the old core in place. Now it s the time to clean the plastic assembly of dust and scum at the AC duct. This will clean up the air in the car if it is especially dirty. 14. Install the new core: If the new core has aluminum water tubes, you will notice that you can carefully rotate them into the correct plane to go through the holes in the firewall. In order to get them correct, lay the core in the plastic assembly and rotate the tubes until they fit the plastic notches and are parallel to each other. Re-fasten with the strap. 15. Back under the dash: Carefully thread the three tubes back into the firewall being careful with the plastic drain tube. This is where some help is nice. An extra pair of hands to hold the core assembly in place lessens the risk of breaking the AC tube. The core assembly is not fastened to the car, it is held in place with the shroud. 16. Install the outer shroud by folding it to re-install the carpet ducts and slip it under the lip of the dash at the ashtray. Install all the screws, there will certainly be it is just ugly getting them back in. 17. Install the under dash sound shields, replace any burnt out bulbs, the ashtray, and finally the seat. 18. Back under the car: Connect the heater hoses. They are different sizes so you can t mix them up. I replaced the factory spring clamps with stainless screw clamps, it was just too cramped to work in this area and install the original clamps. 19. Under the hood: With the hoses now connected, it s time to replace the coolant to operating specs. Add the proper diluted coolant to the full mark in the recovery tank. Start the engine and let it warm up to operating

10 temperature. This will make the thermostat open and supply hot coolant to the heater core. 20. If you get heat: recheck the coolant in the recovery tank. Usually it will require a bit more to bring it up to the full mark because the heater core has filled up. Congratulations your project is complete. 21. If you don t get heat: which was my case. Even after a road test, the heater was blowing cold air. There was an air lock in the cooling system. This is an easy fix. Look along the front of the engine above the spark plugs and you will see a 3/8 black tube running horizontally along the front of the engine. Above the alternator on the corner of this tube there is a small bleeder screw. Shut the engine off and slowly remove this screw (be careful, cover it with a rag while you do this to keep from getting sprayed with hot coolant). What you are doing here is releasing the trapped air in the heater core return tube. I had to start and stop and release the pressure several times. Once you feel any heat at all coming from the interior vents, you should be good to go. Take the car for a half mile road test or until all the air is purged and you have maximum heat. Recheck the coolant level in the recovery tank and top up. Congratulations your project is complete. After you are finished this replacement, the consolation for all this hard work is; you will have between $400 & $700 still in your pocket and not a mechanic s. 22. Now it s BEER O CLOCK you earned it!

Traditional method Oil Change Instructions For VW 1.9 TDI

Traditional method Oil Change Instructions For VW 1.9 TDI Created by DeafBug This document provides instructions on changing the oil and filter on a VW 1.9 TDI engines. All the pictures here are taken