Tweet
Well its been a couple of weeks since I purchased my first 2000 Clown Vic CNG. The vic has 310,000 miles and runs great, but needed a heater core.
After some research I realized why it had not been changed. The whole dash needed to be taken apart and removed. I started to pull the dash out per the FSM (not the best details either) I spent about 5 hours taking my time taking everything apart carefully. Once I finally got the heater core out I called it a night and went to bed.
I took one day off as I was not looking forward to putting the whole mess back together. Next I popped in the new heater core and had a heck of time getting the heater/ac box to line up on the holes on the firewall . After about an hour I realized that one of the studs that has nuts on both sides of the fire wall has to be bolted onto the box first, and then it will line up on the fire wall and then can be bolted on from under the hood area. Assembly went very quickly after this, within two hours I had everything completed and FINALLY I HAD HEAT!
Now that I know what to do I think I can swap a heater core out from start to finish within 2-4 hours. But hell why would I want to do that again. I have heard they charge about $500.00 labor only for this job and now I know why. The heater core cost me about $50.00 bucks from autozone.
I would not recommend anyone to do this job. But if you have to save the money its well worth the time and effort. Take your time and be careful not to break anything. Lots of plastic parts here.
I plan to put about 500 miles on the vic before I get it repainted. I want to make sure everything else mechanically is sound. Oh yea of course the head lights are faded as most old clown vic. They are also on the list to be replaced soon.
After some research I realized why it had not been changed. The whole dash needed to be taken apart and removed. I started to pull the dash out per the FSM (not the best details either) I spent about 5 hours taking my time taking everything apart carefully. Once I finally got the heater core out I called it a night and went to bed.
I took one day off as I was not looking forward to putting the whole mess back together. Next I popped in the new heater core and had a heck of time getting the heater/ac box to line up on the holes on the firewall . After about an hour I realized that one of the studs that has nuts on both sides of the fire wall has to be bolted onto the box first, and then it will line up on the fire wall and then can be bolted on from under the hood area. Assembly went very quickly after this, within two hours I had everything completed and FINALLY I HAD HEAT!
Now that I know what to do I think I can swap a heater core out from start to finish within 2-4 hours. But hell why would I want to do that again. I have heard they charge about $500.00 labor only for this job and now I know why. The heater core cost me about $50.00 bucks from autozone.
I would not recommend anyone to do this job. But if you have to save the money its well worth the time and effort. Take your time and be careful not to break anything. Lots of plastic parts here.
I plan to put about 500 miles on the vic before I get it repainted. I want to make sure everything else mechanically is sound. Oh yea of course the head lights are faded as most old clown vic. They are also on the list to be replaced soon.
Comment