freak'n heater core job...how do i?

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 17 Jan 2013, 17:54

1. How the hell do you get these bizarre proprietary clips off the heater hose at the firewall junction? I appears from several write-ups they have to come off so the interior pipes can move around...is this correct? and if so how the f%^$%$ do you get them off?

2. How the hell do you get the clips that attach the pipes to the old heater matrix off? they push toward the rear of the car but the lower one starts hitting plastic "stuff". Do you have to half pull the core out before you can pull the clips out?

I'm completely stuck as these clips have beaten me this evening.

Looked like a straight forward job until you realize you needed to go to some swedish ninja coupler boot camp to know how these evil devices work.

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 17 Jan 2013, 19:22

I"m going to add to my own post...I got some really bad advice with write up on this project. The old core had to be destroyed to get out. Don't let anyone tell you it will clear the steering column because the new one will clearly NOT go back in with the steering column in place. The angle required for the heater matrix to be pushed back in and not hit the column will not permit the top of the matrix to enter into the hole...

I am currently stumped with no knowing how involved removing the steering column is or having to dremel out the entire bottom of the box to allow for the proper entry of the matrix...this is hands down the worst core job I've ever done and this inclues a Vw that the entire dashboard should have come out...bad advice given and taken!

Which route have you guys have to take to get the core back in?

Post by **precopster** » 17 Jan 2013, 19:58

You may have got more help by posting which model of car you'te working on. Many of us log in with Tapatalk which doesn't show signature or car model.

If this is an 850 or P80 series V70 or S70 you can first undo the pipes at the heater core by means of a centrally located torx screw. After doing this release the heater hoses then release the coupler from the firewall via the 2 small torx screws at the firewall side. This method will give you far more flex in the metal pipes so you can pull them out. It goes without saying that a new coupler should also be fitted to avoid leaks in both the cabin and engine side

Post by **JRL** » 18 Jan 2013, 10:54

Never had one go bad on a P2 but I don't think the column has to be removed

Post by **regent** » 18 Jan 2013, 15:24

...unless the swedes built the car around the core...:

slione · Post by **slione** » 18 Jan 2013, 17:33

regent wrote:...unless the swedes built the car around the core...:

I did a heater core in a Nissan once. Worst project I ever did. I swore the core was the first part bolted to the pan on the assembly line. Whole dash had to come out to get to the damn thing. After I got it all back together, I only had about a dozen miscellaneous parts without a home.

Post by **DGM** » 19 Jan 2013, 07:30

carboncow wrote:1. How the hell do you get these bizarre proprietary clips off the heater hose at the firewall junction? I appears from several write-ups they have to come off so the interior pipes can move around...is this correct? and if so how the f%^$%$ do you get them off?

Looked like a straight forward job until you realize you needed to go to some swedish ninja coupler boot camp to know how these evil devices work.

The attachment IMG_2604.jpg is no longer available

They are twist lock type.

: Heater core coupling .JPG (52.02 KiB) Viewed 1021 times

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 21 Jan 2013, 19:04

Does anyone know from experience how to get the pipes with new gaskets back into the core. We are are on our 3rd night of trying to figure this out.