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Hot and steamy....

7

78 GMC Jimmy

1/2 ton status
Joined
Jan 30, 2024
Posts
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Location
Seattle, WA
So my 78 K5 is leaking coolant. Out of the defrost vents.... In the form of steam....

How hard is it to change the heater core?


Thanks.
 
Not hard, just time consuming. There is one nut that is hard to get a wrench on, I think it’s the lower one by the wheel well.
 
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Plan on a couple hours if you’ve never done it. Save yourself from a stroke and remove the passenger side wheelwell. Remove the glovebox as well, and you will have good access to do the job.
 
If its stock, yeah, 2-3 hrs should be plenty. I recently did the job, I have custom shock towers and I couldn't get the box to slide past. Got lucky with a little trimming and finished in about 4 hrs. Lower nut was hard, lots of sealant on everything can slow you down a bit.
 
HankScorpio said:
If its stock, yeah, 2-3 hrs should be plenty. I recently did the job, I have custom shock towers and I couldn't get the box to slide past. Got lucky with a little trimming and finished in about 4 hrs. Lower nut was hard, lots of sealant on everything can slow you down a bit.
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Shock towers?

Does this thing come out through the engine bay?

Anyone got a link to the instructions?


When I was a kid, I tried to replace one on a K5 by cutting a hole in the firewall with an angle grinder. It did not go well, and it did not end well. Not trying that one again, although I'm sure it would go a lot better than the last time if I did, with better tools and better mechanical experience.
 
I recently installed all new HVAC box on both sides of firewall. I was able to get the right lower bolt by removing most of the bolts from the inner fender, which gave enough room to get a tool down there.

You're going to pull this whole box out from the passenger compartment. Then the heater core cover can be removed and the heater core swapped.

1730820975223.png

The A/C box, which is in the engine bay should be able to stay put. If you pull it, the firewall is still blocking the heater core. Look at the pictures in this thread: https://ck5.com/forums/threads/square-a-c-cab-v-s-non-a-c-firewall-compatibility.349014/
 
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Blue85 said:
I recently installed all new HVAC box on both sides of firewall. I was able to get the right lower bolt by removing most of the bolts from the inner fender, which gave enough room to get a tool down there.

You're going to pull this whole box out from the passenger compartment. Then the heater core cover can be removed and the heater core swapped.

View attachment 490325
Click to expand...


Mine doesn't have A/C if that makes any difference.
 
Blue85 said:
I recently installed all new HVAC box on both sides of firewall. I was able to get the right lower bolt by removing most of the bolts from the inner fender, which gave enough room to get a tool down there.

You're going to pull this whole box out from the passenger compartment. Then the heater core cover can be removed and the heater core swapped.

View attachment 490325

The A/C box, which is in the engine bay should be able to stay put. If you pull it, the firewall is still blocking the heater core. Look at the pictures in this thread: https://ck5.com/forums/threads/square-a-c-cab-v-s-non-a-c-firewall-compatibility.349014/
Click to expand...


Cant see pics. But if you right click on the image and then "open in new tab" and then post the link to that new page, I may be able to.
 
Blue85 said:
Sounds like a problem on your side.
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Blue85 said:
It's kind of an ethical dilemma. How much of our time do you want to save a little bit of your money?
Click to expand...

Well, since you brought it up...

1) People (including myself) offer free advice in forums to help other people out. If the topic is not interesting or too time consuming, then people simply do not post a reply to the question. No one is going to do a bunch or research or spend hours on a topic just to help someone else for free. People that post advice in forums get something in return, and when that return dissipates, then they move on to the next topic. People skim through topics and comment on some, but not all.

2) People that spend money on a whim usually are quick to defend that action, and do not agree with the idea of being thrifty. If I offer financial advice to someone that makes good money - but is always broke, they always respond the same way. Quick to defend their actions, saying things like "I could die tomorrow", or "what good is the money in the bank, its just sitting there", things like that. They cant save money at all, and they need to either defend that action or they would have to admit that they have a major fault. Not being able to save money is a horrible personality trait, in my opinion. Many people only make money in order to spend money. Some people make money in order to HAVE money. I am the latter. How many people do you know that make $200,000 a year, but spend 200,001 dollars per year, and thus are broke every day. Furthermore, if you want to increase your net worth, you can do so either with money, or with assets. However, if you think about money as an asset, it becomes a tool, rather than a toy. You go to work and make $100, and then buy something that costs $100, but is only worth $20 used, then you increased your net worth by $20 for a whole days work. You go to work and make $100, and then spend $100 on an item that is worth $200 used. At the end of the day, you have increased your net worth by $200. So you can increase your value by $20 or you can make times that amount and get $200 simply by thinking about money as an asset. Spending money on web pages, over priced aftermarket parts, buying cars from a car lot, etc are not the way I do things. When I buy things, the items increase my next worth. Website memberships don't do that. If I cant get the info here for free with all the extra tips and tricks that are not in the book, then I would open the service manual or search other sites. I don't even know how much the membership costs, but I'm not paying cash in order to view some pictures that people post. But I could, regarless of the cost - and that's the whole point of being thrifty.
 
78 GMC Jimmy said:
Well, since you brought it up...

1) People (including myself) offer free advice in forums to help other people out. If the topic is not interesting or too time consuming, then people simply do not post a reply to the question. No one is going to do a bunch or research or spend hours on a topic just to help someone else for free. People that post advice in forums get something in return, and when that return dissipates, then they move on to the next topic. People skim through topics and comment on some, but not all.

2) People that spend money on a whim usually are quick to defend that action, and do not agree with the idea of being thrifty. If I offer financial advice to someone that makes good money - but is always broke, they always respond the same way. Quick to defend their actions, saying things like "I could die tomorrow", or "what good is the money in the bank, its just sitting there", things like that. They cant save money at all, and they need to either defend that action or they would have to admit that they have a major fault. Not being able to save money is a horrible personality trait, in my opinion. Many people only make money in order to spend money. Some people make money in order to HAVE money. I am the latter. How many people do you know that make $200,000 a year, but spend 200,001 dollars per year, and thus are broke every day. Furthermore, if you want to increase your net worth, you can do so either with money, or with assets. However, if you think about money as an asset, it becomes a tool, rather than a toy. You go to work and make $100, and then buy something that costs $100, but is only worth $20 used, then you increased your net worth by $20 for a whole days work. You go to work and make $100, and then spend $100 on an item that is worth $200 used. At the end of the day, you have increased your net worth by $200. So you can increase your value by $20 or you can make times that amount and get $200 simply by thinking about money as an asset. Spending money on web pages, over priced aftermarket parts, buying cars from a car lot, etc are not the way I do things. When I buy things, the items increase my next worth. Website memberships don't do that. If I cant get the info here for free with all the extra tips and tricks that are not in the book, then I would open the service manual or search other sites. I don't even know how much the membership costs, but I'm not paying cash in order to view some pictures that people post. But I could, regarless of the cost - and that's the whole point of being thrifty.
Click to expand...


:popcorn: :popcorn::popcorn:
 
78 GMC Jimmy said:
Well, since you brought it up...

1) People (including myself) offer free advice in forums to help other people out. If the topic is not interesting or too time consuming, then people simply do not post a reply to the question. No one is going to do a bunch or research or spend hours on a topic just to help someone else for free. People that post advice in forums get something in return, and when that return dissipates, then they move on to the next topic. People skim through topics and comment on some, but not all.

2) People that spend money on a whim usually are quick to defend that action, and do not agree with the idea of being thrifty. If I offer financial advice to someone that makes good money - but is always broke, they always respond the same way. Quick to defend their actions, saying things like "I could die tomorrow", or "what good is the money in the bank, its just sitting there", things like that. They cant save money at all, and they need to either defend that action or they would have to admit that they have a major fault. Not being able to save money is a horrible personality trait, in my opinion. Many people only make money in order to spend money. Some people make money in order to HAVE money. I am the latter. How many people do you know that make $200,000 a year, but spend 200,001 dollars per year, and thus are broke every day. Furthermore, if you want to increase your net worth, you can do so either with money, or with assets. However, if you think about money as an asset, it becomes a tool, rather than a toy. You go to work and make $100, and then buy something that costs $100, but is only worth $20 used, then you increased your net worth by $20 for a whole days work. You go to work and make $100, and then spend $100 on an item that is worth $200 used. At the end of the day, you have increased your net worth by $200. So you can increase your value by $20 or you can make times that amount and get $200 simply by thinking about money as an asset. Spending money on web pages, over priced aftermarket parts, buying cars from a car lot, etc are not the way I do things. When I buy things, the items increase my next worth. Website memberships don't do that. If I cant get the info here for free with all the extra tips and tricks that are not in the book, then I would open the service manual or search other sites. I don't even know how much the membership costs, but I'm not paying cash in order to view some pictures that people post. But I could, regarless of the cost - and that's the whole point of being thrifty.
Click to expand...
1730830128562.png
 
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