Heater core one more time....

[Bruno]

After reading countless post, I didn't find a clear procedure to change the heater core...

I don't feel like taking the dashboard off along with airbags, is it good enough to go through the center console? Or is it even longer?

For whoever did the job, how long did it take you and what did you do? Console or dash out???

Thanks, tackling the job in two days.

and I did read that link: http://www.homeofsbc.com/Fixes/Heater/heater.htm

[ryan roopnarine]

this proves the worthlessness of roadfly.
i am grateful that mr. borsch provided the the pics he did. im sure that nobody else had such instructions on the internet in 1999. but if you are doing the core on an e34, there were much more specific, turn-by turn instructionson roadfly. i'm holding a paper printout ofthem in my hands, but the roadfly url no longer works.

http://bimmer.roadfly.com/bmw/forums/e34/7017392-1.html

if you remember your roadfly password (i don't) you arelooking for a post by cyrcil on 2005-09-13 entitled "Instructions (long)" that tells you how todo it by just loosening up underneath the steering wheel. using these instructions, and putting everything into its own numbered plastic bag took me only 2h 15 mins to get to the core, and about the same amount of timetoput everythign back together. its a shame nobody cached the page before, they really are the best instructions written up about how to do this.

[zman-95-540i]

Here is the text from roadfly you linked to...

I didn't document with photos but in case anyone wants to tackle the heater core replacement, here are some instructions. Perhaps it will be good for the archives at any rate. I, of course imply no guarrantees of success and take no responsibility for your peril (I'm not a lawyer). But seriously, it's not too hard.
Tools: Philips #1 and #2. Socket or wrench 8 or 9mm and 13mm. Small straight blade screwdriver for prying. Flashlight.

1. Pry off vertical black strips to right and left of center black console housing the radio, etc to reveal screws.
2. Pry off wood dashboard strips below instruments to reveal screws.
3. Remove drivers lower dash panel via 6 screws
4. Open/lower glovebox (can keep attached by straps).
5. Remove shifter knob, leather boot surround, wood surround (reach hand in and pop up forward edge, slide forward and up (towards ash tray) to clear tabs at edge of wood closest to you).
6. Remove rubber and foam around shifter rod.
7. Pry off color-coded cap from screw at junction of front and rear consoles (where center recess is between arm rests).
8. Unscrew said screw.
9. Pry off leather parking brake surround and lift up a little.
10. Unscrew screw at bottom of opening around parking brake which holds down driver's side of front console to rear console.
11. Pry off rear black panel where rear airducts are located.
12. Use 8 or 9mm socket to unscew two side bolts holding rear console in place (I couldn't easily budge the 2 phillips screws but this is an alternate).
13. With rear console free, slide it back 5 inches but don't need to lift up.
14. Using 8-9 mm socket, unscrew black plastic bolt holding rear of front console in place on a ridged plastic tab.
15. Up front, unscrew single phillips screw holding small carpet piece along right and left sides of transmission tunnel (e.g. near accelerator pedal) and slide piece of carpet forward and lift off.
16. Unscrew black phillips screw holding front bottom of center console to a brass metal tab on both sides.
17. Unscrew any of the four remaining screws at black plastic console holding radio, climate control, etc., revealed in step #1
18. Attempt to free the front center console. The window switches need to be pried up and disconnected along with the hazard switch. I don't have ASC but this switch, if present, should be disconnected. Un plug white connector holding wires to cigarette lighter.
19. Try to swing upper center black console containing radio to the right. As you do so, disconnect radio wires, climate control cables, and climate control wires. Look at how connectors come off carefully; one has a small lever that needs to be pulled which helps eject it. I didn't disconnect the computer but this could also be done.
20. Swing this assembly to the right and balance on open door of glove box (don't scratch your wood - use a protective paper, cloth, etc.
21. Revealed is now a big black plastic enclosure to the heater core. Disconnect temperature wires at white connectors on each side.
22. Unscrew two phillips screws at front base of enclosure.
23. Un-bolt two shock absorbing mounts at base of front enclosure.
24. Remove 10 clips holding enclosure back (facing you) to the front half. The clips at driver's side may be tough to spot and access due to the obvious wires and metal support rod, but this is "do-able".
25. Clip tie wraps holding t-shaped wire loom in front of enclosure and push this and climate control cables up, out of your way.
26. Remove enclosure panel. Start at passenger side and pull towards you, then slide to passenger side and free driver's (left side) from behind wiring etc.
27. Now you see heater core!
28. Un-screw each of three pipes slowly and make sure paper towels are on hand. I didn't drain coolant and did lose 1/4 cup from top of core and pipes, but that's all. Make sure towels soak up any draining coolant and not your carpeting.
29. carefully bend/move passenger element pipe torwards you to make room for removing core (just a little).
30. Core is only held in place by the three pipes. Pull top of core forward torwards you and lift out of dashboard.
31. Clean plastic box well.
32. Have three new washers on hand for attaching new core and pipes.
33. Test the new core to rule out leakage by reattaching the climate control and running the car.
34. Assembly, is, well reverse of above.
35. Bleed the coolant system.
I hope I haven't missed anything. Good luck.

[ryan roopnarine]

ha ha ha
sorry roadfly.
bruno, the link below works, i must have just typed it in wrong the first time. if you are doing an e34, that is the only way you should do it, and it even tells you every screw you need to turn. can one of the mods PLEASE cache that to our technical section, so that we will not be dependent upon roadfly keeping the thing alive?

[Bruno]

Thanks guys, I will try to take some pictures while I am doing it so I can make a clean procedure for BMWE34.net. Many people will start having the problem and like a cluch job, it is scary until you takle it the 1st time...

I would still do a clutch job on a 535i any day.

[DigitalRelay]

I did this job a couple weeks ago and it is not bad. I took my sweet time and did it on a Saturday and finished Sunday late morning. That time included a complete flush of the cooling system, installation of a microfilter, installation of an auxiliary power outlet in the center console, and numerous trips to advise my 2 and 3 year old against playing with tools, coolant, fighting with each other, whining about taking a walk, whining about going to the sandwich store, etc. I think you could easily do the job uninterrupted in 2-3 hours. Do you have your heater core/pipes/o-rings already? I bought extra o-rings, however there was no need to as the heater core I bought from the dealership included new pipes and o-rings pre-installed.

[Bruno]

I bought the same Behr kit the dealership is selling (at a lower cost) so everything should be included but I will double check tonight.

I think after that job, I would have tackled pretty much everything on the E34... I just have to learn how to rebuild an engine.

Thanks for the tips, I will take some pics for the future.

[ryan roopnarine]

im sure that you are well acquainted with mechanical work, as you've taken all of those pictures and such.....

but just to make sure nobody else does it,
heater cores are build date specific. sometime in 1991 they went from the 3 pipe up front (like what SBC shows) to the one pipe front, two pipes side style. i say this because i had bought o-rings at the dealer, just in case. after pulling up my model/year car from the etk, they sold me 5 orings. i took more time dicking around, trying to figure out where the extra orings went--i experimented with putting two on each (because the two extra were smaller) pipe....couldn't figure out the two extra were supposed to go-than actually doing the heater core. turns out that both new and old style cores use 3o rings (one for each pipe). the old one, however, has a break in the pipes for the driver/passenger independent pipes, and needs two o-rings there. i just said "screw it" and left it alone. i realised where the extra two were supposed to go about a month afterward.

[DigitalRelay]

I forgot to mention, I did not replace the three aluminum pipes. I removed the new pipes from the new heater core before installation, took the o-rings off and replaced the o-rings on the existing pipes in the car, leaving the pipes in place.

[bbig119]

I did this recently as well. There are clamps on the pipes that lock them into the heater core. I had one BITCH of a time trying to get the pipes seated well enough to get the clamps to lock in place properly. It requires patience and careful pushing/pulling because the installed pipes don't move much at all. I replaced the pipes but didn't need to-- don't bother unless you feel they have been damaged in some way.

P.S. I followed the instructions from roadfly mentioned/linked/pasted above and they worked the best of all 3 or 4 postings on this procedure. Make sure you take lots of pictures.

[Bruno]

Well, removed everything last night, this isn't a bad job... I took pictures that will help for the procedure.
I think it will be tricky to put all the little clips all around the black cover back in place, but I wouldn't mind doing heater cores now on.

So if you are in Ontario, I can do your heater core hehehe. I still like doing 535i clutch job better though.

[Johntee540]

Threading the pipes through the firewall were a bitch! If you don't need to do this by all means avoid it!

[Bill R.]

your well compensated :)




Well, removed everything last night, this isn't a bad job... I took pictures that will help for the procedure.
I think it will be tricky to put all the little clips all around the black cover back in place, but I wouldn't mind doing heater cores now on.

So if you are in Ontario, I can do your heater core hehehe. I still like doing 535i clutch job better though.

[Bruno]

your well compensated :)

Long time no see Bill, I avoid working on Volvo and mainly Audis... I learned my lesson. Some jobs are not worth doing in my opinion, like electrical troubleshooting.

[brosher]

Hi all,

I made it to step 20 without incident tonight. Only took about 1.5 hours so far and I bagged/labeled all the bits and pieces. I'm done for tonight and will do the real job tomorrow.

I just want to confirm that you really do not have to drain the coolant?

[DigitalRelay]

I drained mine, but I figured it was time to flush the entire system anyway.

[brosher]

I did it without draining the coolant, only a little bit came out of the pipes. Took me about 8 hours total. The clip was a real pain, that took 2+ hours of messing around, cursing, removing and reinstalling the core. :( My tip for that part is to install the front pipe first. This puts the core in as close as possible position to help line up the side pipes. I spent quite a while messing with the side pipes and I think the core wasn't ever in the right spot. I used an adjustable wrench to squeeze the pipes in and push down the clip.

I also dropped a small clip and 2 screws down behind the carpet or in the actual air duct on the lower drivers side. Need to get a magnet retrieve tool and try and fish them out. Really wished I had plugged that area with paper towels and made sure the foot air ducts were closed while working on the core.

This is definitley are major PITA job and I do not recommend it to people with short temper. Everything other than getting the pipes back on was pretty easy though. It was pretty sweet to feel nice warm air with no stench afterwards, very high satisfaction factor. Hopefully it is good to go for another 10 years. :D

[Qube]

Well, removed everything last night, this isn't a bad job... I took pictures that will help for the procedure.
I think it will be tricky to put all the little clips all around the black cover back in place, but I wouldn't mind doing heater cores now on.

So if you are in Ontario, I can do your heater core hehehe. I still like doing 535i clutch job better though.

Okay, I'll come by for my heater core leak, and put in the Sachs clutch kit then :) How's the turbo research going? I'll get the short shifter and maybe Konis in as well.

[Bruno]

I do agree that the side pipes were a major pain, the bigger one didn't lined up for me as it has to slide in a groove. I had to wiggle the heater core and move it around for a good 30 min.

After that, I also used a set of pliers to push the pipes all the way in. Wasn't that bad then reinstalled everything.

Still, I do agree that you need a magnet and some patience. Removing the clips with the magnet is so much easier, I had the magnet on the side and I was prying the clips off with a screwdriver.

[Dash01]

I've not done the heater core, nor seen the pics, etc., so this is totally off the wall, based on what I imagine the issues to be, from reading other posts:

Would magnetizing the tools help with preventing loss of clips, etc.?

How bout a small magnet on a string, stuck to the clip, etc. before loosening. That way, the magnet/string either prevents the clip from falling, or helps with retrieval.

Would hemostat-type pliers help to grab and hold the small bits?

Would it help to use duct tape and tape off the carpet border, so stuff cannot fall behind and get stuck/lost?

Pipes-through-firewall problem: Would a shot of Armour All to the grommet help with sliding/positioning as lubricant for the pipes?

[Bruno]

I just used one of these tool magnet on a flexible arm, I placed it next to the clip and removed the clip with a screwdriver, the clip stays on the magnet and you do not loose it, there is nothing to it.

I took pictures of all major steps, I have yet to make the procedure for it.

[bbig119]

The clips are tricky but if you're careful they aren't that bad. The pipes are as bad as everyone makes them out to be. There is very little wiggle room, and as you're sitting there pushing, pulling, prying I was terrified of damaging the heater core so that it would leak and I'd have to buy another one and repeat the whole process. Its one of those things that seems like it could have been designed better-- certainly the hardest/longest part of the job-- attaching the pipes shouldn't be as much of a pain as it is.

Be happy if you don't have to do it, and make sure you have a support group if you need to get it done and try to do it yourself.

[DigitalRelay]

One thing that helped me on getting the pipes back in and the bracket in place was very carefully using a vice grip (channel locks would work too) to pull the flange on the pipes towards the heater core to the help them seat all the way in. This will help to allow the bracket to line up in its slot.