DIY: DISMANTELING DASH ON AE82 TO REPLACE HEATER CORe

[andy]

hey guys, i just did the heater core on my ae82.
mr radiator told me $700 for them to do it. i was shocked and decided to do it myself. got all the parts i needed from the wreckers and autobarn for $60. it took me 3 days, but i also took out my plenum and cleaned all the carbon out of my throttle bodies. i think i might take them off all together cos there was more in there i couldnt reach.

i thought i might aswell create a guide for any people who might need to do this in the future. enjoy.

here you go.
right click, save as (its a pdf, 1.74MB only)

if you notice anything wrong let me know and i will fix it.

[andy]

since doing this the car has been taking ages to warm up. i know its not a thermostat, cos it was changed 6 months ago, and i dont belive it would die so quikly.

a mechanic told me it dosnt matter which way you hose up the heater(in regards to flow direction). so i just hooked up the block to the tap, tap to core, and core to block. im wondering if it is possible that i have it flowing the wrong way, and if so does anybody know which plug on the 20v silver top goes to the heater and which one goes to the tap?


as you can see there one hose is above the other. dose the top or bottom one go to the tap? (this is a old photo from when there was no heater in teh system)

[Yian]

since doing this the car has been taking ages to warm up.

Define 'ages'? I'll say right now that I don't know if having the hoses around the wrong way would make a difference, but by having a heater core now, wouldn't it act like a secondary radiator? Albeit a very tiny one. Or your heater tap could be stuck open.

[andy]

Define 'ages'? I'll say right now that I don't know if having the hoses around the wrong way would make a difference, but by having a heater core now, wouldn't it act like a secondary radiator? Albeit a very tiny one. Or your heater tap could be stuck open.

i mean it takes nearly twice as long as before to get up to temprature. thats with the heater tap closed. it should be bypassing the heater all together and keep the water circulating in the engine only.

[oldcorollas]

so you now have air bubbles at your thermostat stopping it from opening sooner? (said by Yian )

sure you got all the air out of the system?

ask Elmo, he'll know

[Yian]

Hrmmm if the tap is working properly, one could only assume something is wrong with the thermostat. Either its fubared. Or when you did the heater core, air bubbles have gotten into the cooling system and maybe is blocking the thermostat from closing properly?

- Bah... OC too quick -

[oldcorollas]

or maybe you had air bubbles before, allowing it to warm up faster?

if you changed nothing but the heater core... it must be something to do with air in the system..

good luck

edit: a wise man told me

"what he needs to do.. is bleed the fucker out properly then he can figure out which one it is"

[Draven]

which wise man would that have been?

[oldcorollas]

[/COLOR]

which wise man would that have been?

a really really wise one







midget

[andy]

when i did the heater core i just opened up the plug at the bottom of the radiator. couldnt find a plug on the block. when it all drained out i removed the hose and heaps more came out.... i figured that when ive filled it back up any air in the system will be pushed through to the top of the radiator and i would top it up. its been a week now and it hasnt changed. it literaly takes 12-15 minutes to get into the normal operating range. before it took 5 or 6 min.

anybody know where it might be on the silver 20v?

[andy]

it would be good to get a resolution to my problem on here, cos then anyone doing a heater core would see it and not have the same problems.

so would it matter if the flow goes the wrong way?

[towe_001]

Its possible that you could have the tap on the wrong end of the heater core. Instead of the tap blocking off the hot water from entering the core, the tap is stopping the hot water from leaving the core. You wouldn't notice any heated air from the vents cause the heater core gets covered over when you switch over to cold air.

[oldcorollas]

it would be good to get a resolution to my problem on here, cos then anyone doing a heater core would see it and not have the same problems.

so would it matter if the flow goes the wrong way?

might make a difference to whether air bubbles get pushed out or not

it's common for AE82 to have air stuck. all the ones i have known have the "gurgle"

you need to burp your car

[andy]

^ lol. im not gonna goto a mechanic and tell him to burp the car....

do you mean drain it(via plug on radiator and block) and then fill 'er up again?

[Yian]

Bleed the air out of the system. Start the car and run it on a slight incline so the radiator neck is the highest point of the cooling system (with the rad cap off). You should get bubbles escaping as they are ejected from the system. Continue until bubbles disappear.