How do you replace the heater core on a 1996 Subaru legacy outback?

Answer 1

The core is located in the heater box that mounts directly to the firewall from inside the vehicle. You will be working kinda "near" some of the airbags - - to avoid any issues, disconnect your battery before you begin (about a minute is all that system needs to go "safe") Disconnect the hoses from outside (if you clam across them you will not need to fully drain the colling system; alternately you can use a length of 5/8" heater line to "loop" the heater core out of the system to allow you to drive the vehicle without the heater core. (I usually take an extra step here to rinse out the installed core with a VERY GENTLE stream of water from a 5/8" garden hose - that'll get the rest of the coolant out - so when you spill in the interior later, you're spilling mostly water!) Working from inside the vehicle, detach the heater control cable from the heater door (Passenger's side foot well - wiggling the "temp" control slider will help you to rapidly ID the cable end!) Next, remove the center console (floor console and all of the radio temp control items) Then remove the instrument cluster -- BE SURE to note that there will be a few connections that are NOT connected as you take things apart (there's a diagnostic connector that when connected will cycle the fans and stuff - VERY scary if you connect that on reassembly and can't figure out what you've messed up :) ) There is a steel cross bar behind the dash that you can access with the cluster removed - that comes out too (your steering column will need to be detached) The heater box in the center of the vehicle mounts with 4 bolts to the firewall. once the bolts are loose you can draw the heater box towards you. The heater core is held into the top of the heater box with 2 retaining clamps, You're there - the rest is reassembly of the vehicle. I usually take a moment to connect all of the coolant lines outside before I work on getting the inside stuff all put back in. thinking that air bubbles will move around as you work. an air bubble in the heater core is not such a good thing and can happen as you refill - generally I've not had the issue, but if you feel that you may, just as you start the car back up, remove one of the heater core's feed-hoses to allow a little spillage - then try the next one... You should be able to hear a bubble inside the vehicle, it may take a while to get it addressed if you end up with a bubble. work at it slowly and allow the vehicle to run hot/cold a few times. Subaru likes to fill with a vacuum drawn on the system, but with the headgasket issues I would advise against it if you have a 2.5L. Good luck