Getting close to time to replace my heater core on my old 'bird. I isn't leaking, but in very cold weather it just doesn't kick out any hot air. Down to around 40 degrees it is wonderful , but at and below freezing is just a PIA!!
Checked the locals. Autozone, Advance Auto, and Napa here on the Internet. All 3 seem to stock a core - Only - for the non-A/C equipped models. Was wondering if anyone had any information as to there being any differences between A/C and non A/C heater cores.
Come to think of it, most examples I've had or seen had A/C - although as to it working was a very low percentage...LoL
I may have no choice , but to simply get what I can get, and hope it fits up in the end.
Now comes the time I'd wished I'd went ahead and took care of this back when yours truly was swapping out the rack n' pinion. Sure was a good time back then - I could see right down there to it, no interference whatsoever!!
Any info and horror stories welcome!! I do remember changing the one on my old '86 Wagon. If memory serves....it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences.
Thanks!! :-)
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Hi Orlen-
While the head is off of mine, I am looking at swapping out the hoses. Are you doing those too? I am not having much luck sourcing the correct molded rubber hoses. My heater core is original so I don't have any tips for ya - sorry.
No Paul, hadn't checked into those hoses either. I did notice when I was looking around under the hood today, that the one connecting to the lower radiator - and plumbing going over the starter seemed almost easy to replace with standard heater hose. Didn't look too close at the on going to the engine block.
Here is a some photos of how ripe that core was for replacing when I changed out that bad Rack. I had the Master Cylinder pried out of the way, booster removed and the rack out... So sad.
J
J
J
J
Yep, it would have been easy then, but it always adds to the time and expense involved. You could spend hundreds doing the stuff you should do "while you are in there". But hey, now you have a whole new adventure to start...
That's a wonderful train of thought, Paul!! Sometimes it's so good to have a fellow J-Body owner give some words of encouragement!!
Sure does shine a better light on the subject, I may say!!
J
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php Ok orlen go to this autoparts site.Next enter your cars specs brand,yr,model,eng and go to heating/ac stuff and it has 3 listings for heater cores.The one you want is the PRO PART 9010335 for 59.79 and is for your yr,model,eng and they ONLY have 1 left!!!! So buy a new heater core with cars that have AC from these peeps.I have bought from them and spot on service and pretty good parts.I have a nose for finding things even when tired.OK I did the easy work,now buy it ,install it and have some heat buddy.
Thanks Ron!!
YOU ROCK!!
Going to jump on this come payday!!
I'm very surprised to discover the short list of spares for A/C models. In their day, J-Bodies were known for their higher prices and high content standards lists. Looks like lots of older J's are going to be hurting for A/C equipped parts...
J
Just a little bit of information I've gained along the way.
Pontiac has 2 different heater cores 1 for A/C one without A/C - there is a difference.
The one WITHOUT A/C has 12 cores
The on WITH A/C has 14 cores
. . . . . . GM Strikes again!!!
Just FYI the Chevrolet heater core is completely different. It is aluminum instead of copper and the feeder pipes actually turn so you can feed them through the firewall - I remember this when I installed one in my Wagon years ago.
I've been able to find 2 brands of the A/C style for the Pontiac:
APDI N/A HVAC Heater Core 9010335 - it lists for around $60 but seems to be a "Phantom" part because everyone says it is for sale but reports they are out of stock when you try to buy one.
SPECTRA PREMIUM 2-195 Heater Core - this one lists for around $170 ....Yeah no typo - $170 I can't say weather this one is phantom or not .
What has happened so far is I shopped and found one of the 9010335's listed on EBay for about $10 less than the one Sonny steered me to on Rock Auto. I ordered the one off of EBAY and was promptly given a refund due to out of stock. Crazily, that EBAY seller relisted that core back on EBAY. After my experience with EBAY I decided to just get the one listed on Rockauto -but that listing was removed. I checked several other Internet Auto Parts Websites for the 9010335 core with the same experience - every time I added the said part to my cart it popped up not in stock.
All this said, I'm just going to hope my eyes and wallet can come together and find a core at the same time. The one in my Pontiac isn't leaking and I can get by another winter if need be. I'm sure I'll be able to come across one in due time. In the meantime I'd wanted to share with everyone the difficulty in finding one of these parts. I don't know at this time if there is differences with the heater hoses between A/C and non A/C - or if there is difficulty in getting said hoses.
hmm interesting. The hoses on mine (with A/C) look just like yours Orlen coming out at a 90 degree angle to the firewall.
All this makes me wonder if the core is any different for Buick. Many times, Buick/Pontiac matched up, but by the 80s, I don't know if that's true.
I remember when I first started driving, someone told me the reason the heater cores go bad is because of lack of use year round. Something about a valve that cuts off flow to the core when you don't have the heater control to hot, then that leaves a little bit of your antifreeze sitting in the core. So if one never moved the control to hot all spring, summer and fall, the only time anything would be flowing through there would be in winter.
What I've always done with all my cars is move that control to hot in the morning on the way to work, at least for part of the ride, just to allow the juice to flow, and I've never had to replace a heater core.
Does this sound logical/true, or have I been doing this for nothing and just been lucky?
Coolant flows all the time. It is just a mini radiator behind the dash. Some cars with computer controlled ac and head have an inline valve but every car I have seen the coolant runs all the time. All the hot and cold lever does is open and close a plastic door in the dash that cover the heater core. When you want heat it opens, when you want cold it closes. If you move the lever all the time, you are wasting your time. Heater cores usually do not go bad, when they do it is because they ate rusted or clogged. Something with a radiator since they are basically the same thing different sizes. That is why if your car is overheating, they say to put your heater on and on high since the heater core with the fan on will act like a radiator and radiator fan.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
I remember the full size cars from the '70s-'80s had a vacuum operated valve that shut off coolant flow to the heater core. I can still remember cutting off the vacuum line on some of them and plugging it off. Maybe they had so much trouble from those core clogging up due to lack of regular coolant flow through the heater core they finally did away with it.
It's good you used the word valve, I now remember the person telling me it was a "heater control valve"
from Rob's post, I'll guess our Js don't have it.
They probably last a lot longer since coolant flows constantly. Also of there was a valve are cars would overheat since the coolant flows from the engine to the heater color, then two the throttle body, then to the resivoir/ radiator. If there was a valve the coolant would not be able to leave the engine.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
I'm thinking there would be two paths for circulation, controlled by a valve, one of those paths would simply bypass the heater core, leaving the rest of the path intact.
