Gentlemen, I have a stock 98 EX, 400K, did the head gasket last Christmas.........just gave this gem to my son........We need to replace the heater core.....any Idea of a timeframe for doing this? Helpful suggestions or tip would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rick

 

had mine in and out with in a 2hrs not that bad but you will have to pull the dash out

 

If it's your first time doing the heater core, plan a weekend for it. This way you have extra time to get through it without the stress of having to get it done right now due to having to goto work the next morning.

Should be quite doable in a day.

The hardest part I found was dealing with unhooking the wire harness from the dash to get the dash out. The wiring is semi woven into the dash on the 92-95. I would think the 6th gen might be a little more so with a few more wires.

 

Hey, thanks for the feedback........quite a spread on time......2 hours to all day.......what were the engineers at Honda thinking......

Has anyone seen a tutorial on this somewhere? I didn't see a good youtube on the 98 series.....

Thanks
Rick

 

You should get the Helm's (Factory Service) manual for your car.

2 hours is for those who are well versed and have the manual and all the tools etc etc.

5 hours for skilled but never done before, and a day for someone who is plodding through without any urgency or rush with breaks and drinking beer and BS'ing etc.

 

Make sure the power windows and sunroof are closed, then disconnect the battery before you start. Leave it disconnected the whole time.

 

Pulling the dash is not that bad. Some people are baffled by the location of some of the screws but I never thought they were that hard to find.

Don't plan on 2 hrs, setting aside a weekend sounds like good advice.

**Notice the directions posted don't mention dropping the steering column and wheel. IIRC it needs to be dropped down for clearance. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yeah, there is more instructions in the FSM for the Heater core which I believe covers the dropping of the steering column.

Notice in 20-71 image, the column is detached and lowered from the dash area bracket. On 20-70 step #2 is lower the steering column and refers to section 17 for those instructions.

I didn't have time to dig up all the pages for the heater core and instead just focused on the dash element which was step #3 of the heater core I think.

This also demonstrates why the suggestion to get the FSM for the car by showing them the detail it covers for any specific job.

 

 

Your post was substantially more useful than "2 hours and pull the dash".

There seems to be quite range of talent on here...

 

Removing both front seats (4 bolts and maybe a wire plug each) will make access to the dash area a lot easier. Yes you unbolt the column (unplug all wires, remove 4 bolts) and lower it down. It is a good idea to render the airbag safe before doing that. Please read the airbag directions in the FSM and follow exactly.

 

2 hrs, yea 4 guys with years of experience and air tools.
As mentioned set aside a week end, I have done a few of them, I have the tools but still takes me a full day.

I never pull the seats although it can't hurt, the dash pull by itself is easy, pretty much plug and play. 94