Can you change a heater core in a 1997 Ford F150 without taking out the dash board?

Answer 1

I am not sure about a 1997 F-150 but last weekend I had the opportunity to remove the heater core from my 1992 F-150. The body styles are very similar and 1997 is before the major body changes that Ford made.

I was able to remove the heater core in my 1992 without removing the whole dashboard. I started by disconnecting the heater hoses in the engine compartment from the heater core stub outs. Next I removed the glove compartment by opening it and squeezing the tabs on either side of the back of the box. This exposed a removable panel in the heater assembly. After moving a control cable, some wiring, and the panel cover, the heater core was exposed. There were only about eight self tapping screws in the plastic housing. The joinining parts had some king of sealant or adhesive on them. I was able to pull the core almost straight out of the assembly with only some minor twisting and turning. The core itself was held in place with some sort of mushy rubbery gasket. Be careful to observre how the heat/cool selector shutter on the left side of the core is mounted so that you can reinstall it. The shutter will probably fall out when you remove the core but its easy to reinstall if you pay attention to how it sits into its place.

I hope this is helpful. Luckily Ford doesent change their pickup styles too often.

--------------------------

F150 1999 4x4 V8 Triton -- With passenger airbag. (Info Posted December 2008)

I have just replaced the heater core in my F150 and unfortunately I had to take off just about everything in order to get to the heater core. Yes as insane as it seems you are even going to have to remove the instrument pannel. This was not designed with easy access in mind. My truck is a utilatarian beast so I have no fears when it comes to working on it. If yours is a pretty city truck you might want to give it to the professionals but be prepared for big labor $ for a $49 part!

No special Ford tools necessary but socket wrench with tiny socket wrenches are necessary 1/4" 5/16" and one or two metrics in that size range were useful too.

• • Warning you will have to remove the passenger airbag, I did not think about it when I did it but it would have been prudent to disconnect the battery, my airbag did not explode but it could have :-) Oh yeah and point the blasted thing away from you when you handle it **

*I read somewhere that you needed to drain the coolant from the AC unit before working on the heater core but as both systems are independent I did not see the point *

When you take out the glove compartment you can see part of the box/tub/clam shell in which the heater core is located. However the heater core itself is located closer to the center of the vehicle.

The heater core sits in a black pastic tub or clam shell with the AC unit. The two halves of the tub are sealed with screws which can only be accessed by removing nearly everything. The screws to undo it are heads up for the most part.

The heater core is against the firewall. Two aluminum pipes go through the fire wall with two hoses connecting to the engine coolant circuit. In theory these two rubber hoses (on the engine side) have quick disconnects.

1. you need small hands to get to the clips themselves (at the fire wall to the passenger side of the engine).

2. If the plastic was supple enough to be a quick disconnect at one time it no longer is (at least it was not for me).

3. As the heater core is forfeit anyway cut the aluminum pipes with a hacksaw blade, slow but doable.

4. Pull the hoses through the wall. Gently disconnect rubber from aluminum stubs using plyers. I reused the quick disconnect and o-rings because I did not want to drve back in town but that is up to you.

The after market heater core I bought (Napa) did not have enought foam to do the same wrapping job as the factory. Again I did not want to drive back in town to get more of that.

I am currently in the process to putting the dash back together and will take pictures of that and I will post the pictures if that is an option.