Saturday, June 4, 2011

How do I change the heater core on a '95 chevy caprice?

I have no heat in the car. I changed the thermostat then flushed the heater core then flushed radiator. I put cardboard in front of radiator. Still no heat! Cold in michigan!


Do I need to change the core or is there something I%26#039;m missing?|||The only time you should have to change the heater core is when it%26#039;s leaking. I would have to look at it to exactly know, but you should check the following:


Does your heater motor work?


Is your coolant level up?


Is there an air lock? do you need to bleed the system?


Does the engine run hot? ( you might have a bad water pump)


What is the heat range on your new thermostat?


Lastly, if anybody was fooling around under the dash they may have un plugged one of the vacuum lines that go to your heat selection switch. Try to get under there or remove the board that the switch is on and carefully inspect the back of the switch. You want to make sure that all the vacuum lines are plugged in without un plugging anything.


Good luck|||NATHANIEL G has some good points and covers good areas however, I have seen heater cores in need of replacement due to plug up. In most cases it has been on GM vehicles because of the lack of performing coolant flushes. GM claims one can go 5 years or 100K miles before flushing the system out because dex-cool is supposed have longer life. Anyone thats been in the business long enough knows otherwise and thats why we recommend to our customers that the coolant be power flushed as soon as their GM warranty expires. That stuff turns to gel and causes all sorts of problems.





On a final note, NATHANIEL G suggested you check the heater control valve. Thats actually the first thing I would have checked, I%26#039;ll walk you through it. Now I%26#039;m going assume that this is your only problem since you were not too specific in regards to weather or not the car is actually reaching operating temperature. Once your car is fully warmed, locate your heater control valve which should be toward the firewall on your right side in the engine compartment. Now physically turn that valve to the opposite direction and hold it there while someone sits in the car with the heater on. Did warm air come out? If yes, then now you have to find out why; Is there a vacuum hose broken? etc. If not, thats the best I can do without you giving us further information and even then it%26#039;s hard to diagnose things without physically being there. Good luck!|||should be passenger side up under the dash,