Hello there! So since its getting towards winter i want to replace my heater core since i have no heat.... at all. My question is yes i know the dash comes out but is there any shortcuts? and if so what kind of shortcuts are there? Also how much screws/bolts are we talking about? Anything i should be aware of or take caution with? the reason i need heat is even though its florida having holes in your floor basically means driving with your windows down and trust me that is COLD.... That and i need to take my sister to work and she cannot be in cold cold for to long.

 

I would make sure you really need to change the heater core first. And if you do need to change it, may as well change the AC evaporator because they are in there together.

Unless you know the heater core is leaking, try to flush it out first, check your water pump, and all the rest.

The job looks really involved with lots of parts, screws, and an order that has to be kept. Anyway, do a Google search for Heater Core replacement for your Jeep year and you will find some good threads on the issue.

 

In on heater core thread.
I need to replace mine soon as well.
There is a legendary thread (I know it exists because I seent it) that describes how to do this without removing almost your entire interior. I think you just loosen the steering column from frame, loosen all fasteners and stuff from the dash and swing it down hard and to the right. That thread must not be titled "How to change heater core in 45 minutes" so I have not actually found it in a long time. If I had to guess it might be in the middle of an unrelated thread titled "My Jeep I hate thee, let me count the ways."

 

-change ac evap core, too
-remove drivers seat to drop steering column so dash can swing to drivers side
-buy some kind of felt tape to put back on the dash plastic as you assemble so it won't squeak like crazy

 

The procedure is totally dependant on the year.....

 

Its a 99 cherokee and my god that felt tape is genius! Thank you for suggesting that! i never realized how much my dash squeaks till i just thought about it lol. And yes i know for a fact its clogged i flushed it backwards, forwards, sideways and upside down and that aint fixing it at all. There is water flow strangely enough but i still have no heat or very very little heat at max setting. This jeep had TONS of rust in the cooling system before i owned it and when i flushed it the first time chunks upon chunks of rusty junk came out of it and i did so till it finally turned clear both ways. And i know alot of people suggested putting clr in there but im skeptical as alot also said all that remaining chunky rust ends up back in their cooling system. And trust me i do NOT want to replace everything again lol. So im just gonna replace it. Kind of funny i have ac but no heat usually its the other way around.

Edit: Not clogged.... just ineffective i touched the hoses going in and coming out while the hose going in is HOT the hose coming out is slightly cooler almost lukewarm.

 

hmm doesnt look that hard.... Interior has to come out anyways to put carpet back in lol.

 

have you checked to see if its just the thermostat? its like 10$ to do the whole job and it might be as simple as that. i wouldnt think it would be the heater core unless its leaking.

 

I am dead sure. It has been like this since i redid the cooling system and i replaced the entire cooling system including the thermostat and after i flushed it as best as i could, it is still the same as it is right now. I am positive the heater core is the issue. Because i remember hooking the hose to the heater core and it had some pressure when flushing. Now i dont know if it supposed to have pressure but i backed off the pressure of the hose because i dont want to blow a hole in my heatercore and have it leak. Also if my coolant recovery tank had hard rust built up inside im sure the heatercore looks exactly the same inside. God i hate rust.

 

I would agree with ya on that then. If there was rust in the system then it's probably plugged up. It's not too rough of a job so good luck 👍

 

gonna need it lol. Knowing florida its gonna rain heavily when im working. Wish i could just put clr in and see if that woiuld work but ALOT of people told me to avoid that because then the rust will go all throughout your system later on and wreak havoc on your system once more.

 

I've been putting off my heater core replacement all summer. I need to get to it before it gets cold again. In the spring I did a lot of searching and didn't come up with a conclusion in terms of which core is the best replacement part. There are some cheapies out there, but it's not something that I want to do on a regular basis. OTOH, I'm not sure that I want to spend $300 on OEM either.

What core would you recommend, and why? How about the evap core?

Thanks!

 

Replying to myself... I just checked and OEM has been discontinued.

The evap core is a whopping $459 from my local dealer and $320 from Wholesale Mopar Parts.

 

Have the same problem but put it off to next spring . Since they tell you to replace the ac core at the same time l had my ac disconnected and lines sealed off along with heater core , got two replacement lines from the wreckers , cut them and used heater hose to connect them to my heater hoses and get lots off heat now thru the ac core. Come spring will pull dash and replace both cores Garage did the work for for 50.00 dollars and now got the winter to save up or plan on a weekend in the spring to do it when weather is better

 

ok I know that "cold" is relative and if you're cold and your sister is cold then you want a working heater...

but can you please TRY to not act like it gets actually cold in Florida?! I mean, literally FLORIDA IS THE WARMEST STATE IN WINTER. Everywhere else is colder than Florida.

For Christmas I had to drive my XJ for 6 hours and it's 12 degrees today here in Kansas, with no working heater. With my fiance in the passenger seat. We would have taken her tiny car but it snowed the night before.

My feat were completely numb the whole time. We had heavy gloves, hats, coats, long underwear, etc. and a big blanket. Thank god for the blanket.

So, can you please try to not complain about it being 60 degrees in Florida? Thank you