all right here goes my write up on the heatercore replacement theres a few out there but another cant hurt my car is a 97 gti VR6. I also used the VEMEO replacement from MJM for 34.99
(also thanks to xxxxx who did a write up i didnt want to type everything back out so i used yours sorta )
we will start with the outside first heres go
1. gotta start with liquid to get you through this horrible job
2. Disconnect both rain ducts(covering ecu, and window wiper blade). Each side has about 3 plastic screws.Also take the wipers off
3. Unbolt 2 bolts, one next to the ecu, 10mm nut; and the other right behind the window wiper blade motor, 10mm nut. They aren’t connected to anything,
4. unbolt all little bolts that are behind the flaps on the firewall cover, also there are 2 bolts that are holding the a/c service controls to the firewall, remove those as well. Unbolt 3 13mm bolts from the firewall behind the firewall cover, the one on the left is almost behind the shock tower, kinda hard to get too.
Thats pretty much it for the outside of the car bolts no onto the dreaded inside
Heres a picture take out every screw marked in pink
1.pull off every plastic cover on the dash, as well as take all vents out, also open glove box and remove the 3 screws inside.
2. Unbolt steering wheel nut with 24mm bolt, take off steering wheel, unbolt all sensors attached to steering wheel/airbag.
4. unbolt steering wheel top and bottom plastic cover, 2 bolts from underneath.
5. Then lean the cluster forward and disconnect both harnesses from behind, then take out.
6. Unbolt passenger kick panel( 5 screws from underneath), then pry off slowly(3 clips on top).
7. Take out bolts for airbag cover, 3 or 4 underneath, the slide to the right and pull out.
8. disconnect passenger airbag sensor from behind; take off 4 allen bolts from airbag assembly, 2 on each side. Pull out airbag. )Optional i did not remove my airbag as you can see)
9. remove the center console including unbolting the e-brake. two hidden screws by the rear ash tray/cup holder. Disconnect electronic hatch switch. Then pull up and unscrew handbrake, 2 bolts. Then move out of the way.
10. take off shift knob and boot, unbolt 2 plastic nuts. And then unbolt another plastic nut at the end towards the e-brake.
11. pull out cupholder/console assembly.
12. take out metal cover behind cupholder, around 7-8 holts, 10mm
13. Take off driver kickpanel, 5 bolts underneath, then pull off.
14. unbolt all bolts that hold dash to the rebar, should be around 8-10.
15. unhook all wires that are hooked up to the dash wire clips.
16. Take out dash slowly, and move out of place.
17. unbolt vent right behind rebar, 2 10mm plastic nuts, then unclip from the bottom, and pull up.
18. unbolt vent on top of heatercore housing, 1 screw
19. unbolt footwell vent from the bottom, 1 screw right behind rebar.
20. unbolt 6 clips that hold the heatercore/evap housing together, 2 behind, 2 front, 1 top, 1 bottom, rears are hard to get too, need small screwdriver to unclip those from the back.
21. pull apart heatercore housing from evap housing
22. unbolt the rightside and leftside dash rebar, 2 torx bolts from the outside doorwell
23.Now break out the drill and some bits your gonna have to drill out 2 shear blots that hold the steeering colum to the rebar. once those are drilled out right behind the ingnition swith are 2 -10mm nuts on a bracket holding rebar to firewall take those off. Now you can move reabar out of the way for easy removal of heatercore with no fighting
----replace shear bolts with #8 bolts at 1.25 pitch cost aboust 1.50 at the most
24. pull off the vacuum hose that’s on the heatercore
25. unscrew the heatercore if yours have screws, mine only had 1 holding it up.
26. unbolt a harness that plugs into the heatercore housing, its almost next to the gas pedal , just sits a bit higher to the right.
27. pull back heatercore as far as possible, you will have to use a lot of force to get the heatercore out, just play with it, and make sure you don’t brake anything. .
28. Pull out heatercore by sliding upward, should come out easy.
29. Disconnect the plugs from the heater box and remove from car i did this so i could wash the box out and clean it up.
30. Now replace your foam in the box since its probably gone or soaked.I went to Michaels and bought a .99 peice of foam to recover the blend doors ( i choose green to match my car
) i cleaned off all the old foam and used spray adhesive to attach new foam to the front and back of the blend doors and a little bit of silicone around the edges to make sure it was good and permenant.
This is where i stopped and let the foam sit over nite. At this point i have about 5 hours into the job but i stopped for dinner and to play with my 10 month old so really maybe 3 hours (first time doing the job, but i have replaced dashboards before if that helps)
Evening number 2
is spent puting everything back together just follow the instruction as you took it apart, All the electrical plugs only plug into one thing so you cant screw it up
1st thing i did was put new heater core in ,now my heater core replacement came with plastic cover on the bottom and Foam around the outside. the new one did not fit with the plastic cover on it and the foam got ripped while sliding the new one in so i just ripped it off.
and thats it for replacing it if you got this far awesome not you get to put it all back just take your time and have a beer.
Oh and i spent maybe 4 hours the 2nd night but at leaset an hour of that was trying to figure out where a plug went ( white one that attaches to the ac/heat controls ) and while looking at it pounding quite a few beers so progress slowed down
Modified by smi2710 at 11:14 AM 12-11-2009
Modified by smi2710 at 11:15 AM 12-11-2009
Modified by smi2710 at 11:18 AM 12-11-2009
(also thanks to xxxxx who did a write up i didnt want to type everything back out so i used yours sorta )
we will start with the outside first heres go
1. gotta start with liquid to get you through this horrible job
2. Disconnect both rain ducts(covering ecu, and window wiper blade). Each side has about 3 plastic screws.Also take the wipers off
3. Unbolt 2 bolts, one next to the ecu, 10mm nut; and the other right behind the window wiper blade motor, 10mm nut. They aren’t connected to anything,
4. unbolt all little bolts that are behind the flaps on the firewall cover, also there are 2 bolts that are holding the a/c service controls to the firewall, remove those as well. Unbolt 3 13mm bolts from the firewall behind the firewall cover, the one on the left is almost behind the shock tower, kinda hard to get too.
Thats pretty much it for the outside of the car bolts no onto the dreaded inside
Heres a picture take out every screw marked in pink
1.pull off every plastic cover on the dash, as well as take all vents out, also open glove box and remove the 3 screws inside.
2. Unbolt steering wheel nut with 24mm bolt, take off steering wheel, unbolt all sensors attached to steering wheel/airbag.
4. unbolt steering wheel top and bottom plastic cover, 2 bolts from underneath.
5. Then lean the cluster forward and disconnect both harnesses from behind, then take out.
6. Unbolt passenger kick panel( 5 screws from underneath), then pry off slowly(3 clips on top).
7. Take out bolts for airbag cover, 3 or 4 underneath, the slide to the right and pull out.
8. disconnect passenger airbag sensor from behind; take off 4 allen bolts from airbag assembly, 2 on each side. Pull out airbag. )Optional i did not remove my airbag as you can see)
9. remove the center console including unbolting the e-brake. two hidden screws by the rear ash tray/cup holder. Disconnect electronic hatch switch. Then pull up and unscrew handbrake, 2 bolts. Then move out of the way.
10. take off shift knob and boot, unbolt 2 plastic nuts. And then unbolt another plastic nut at the end towards the e-brake.
11. pull out cupholder/console assembly.
12. take out metal cover behind cupholder, around 7-8 holts, 10mm
13. Take off driver kickpanel, 5 bolts underneath, then pull off.
14. unbolt all bolts that hold dash to the rebar, should be around 8-10.
15. unhook all wires that are hooked up to the dash wire clips.
16. Take out dash slowly, and move out of place.
17. unbolt vent right behind rebar, 2 10mm plastic nuts, then unclip from the bottom, and pull up.
18. unbolt vent on top of heatercore housing, 1 screw
19. unbolt footwell vent from the bottom, 1 screw right behind rebar.
20. unbolt 6 clips that hold the heatercore/evap housing together, 2 behind, 2 front, 1 top, 1 bottom, rears are hard to get too, need small screwdriver to unclip those from the back.
21. pull apart heatercore housing from evap housing
22. unbolt the rightside and leftside dash rebar, 2 torx bolts from the outside doorwell
23.Now break out the drill and some bits your gonna have to drill out 2 shear blots that hold the steeering colum to the rebar. once those are drilled out right behind the ingnition swith are 2 -10mm nuts on a bracket holding rebar to firewall take those off. Now you can move reabar out of the way for easy removal of heatercore with no fighting
----replace shear bolts with #8 bolts at 1.25 pitch cost aboust 1.50 at the most
24. pull off the vacuum hose that’s on the heatercore
25. unscrew the heatercore if yours have screws, mine only had 1 holding it up.
26. unbolt a harness that plugs into the heatercore housing, its almost next to the gas pedal , just sits a bit higher to the right.
27. pull back heatercore as far as possible, you will have to use a lot of force to get the heatercore out, just play with it, and make sure you don’t brake anything. .
28. Pull out heatercore by sliding upward, should come out easy.
29. Disconnect the plugs from the heater box and remove from car i did this so i could wash the box out and clean it up.
30. Now replace your foam in the box since its probably gone or soaked.I went to Michaels and bought a .99 peice of foam to recover the blend doors ( i choose green to match my car
This is where i stopped and let the foam sit over nite. At this point i have about 5 hours into the job but i stopped for dinner and to play with my 10 month old so really maybe 3 hours (first time doing the job, but i have replaced dashboards before if that helps)
Evening number 2
is spent puting everything back together just follow the instruction as you took it apart, All the electrical plugs only plug into one thing so you cant screw it up
1st thing i did was put new heater core in ,now my heater core replacement came with plastic cover on the bottom and Foam around the outside. the new one did not fit with the plastic cover on it and the foam got ripped while sliding the new one in so i just ripped it off.
and thats it for replacing it if you got this far awesome not you get to put it all back just take your time and have a beer.
Oh and i spent maybe 4 hours the 2nd night but at leaset an hour of that was trying to figure out where a plug went ( white one that attaches to the ac/heat controls ) and while looking at it pounding quite a few beers so progress slowed down
Modified by smi2710 at 11:14 AM 12-11-2009
Modified by smi2710 at 11:15 AM 12-11-2009
Modified by smi2710 at 11:18 AM 12-11-2009