DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Working on my car AGAIN!

Well my car has been over heating the past couple of weeks and it's been a real mess. I drive a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

The radiator was old and already repaired once so I assumed that was the problem. Bought a new radiator installed it...........still over-heating.

Re-placed the thermostat and put in a brand spankin new water pump (not fun). Drove it for a week not over heatign one bit. Problem solved right?........NO still over heating.

So I see my floor board has a huge puddle of anti-freeze on the floor which wasn't there the week before because I checked the floor board to make sure I didn't need a heater core. Well now it is flooded with anti-freeze.

So now I bought a brand new heater core and decided that I would install it today. LOL it is nothing short of a nightmare. I have literrally almost pulled the entire front of the inside of the car. Worked on it for 3 hours today and I still haven't got the old heater core out. I still have to pull off the dash and that is seeming to be quite a chore in it's self.

I have NEVER, EVER not one time seen anything like this in my entire life. I litterally don't know how they even assembled the damn thing. I mean there are screws that i have to take out on the box covering the heater core that I can't even get a friggin screwdriver to, not even the shortest one I have. I ended up putting a phillips bit into a socket and got one of em out (after about 20 minutes cause I could barely turn it and it kept popping off), but the other one I have no clue how imma get it out.

One thing is for sure I might need to hire a handful of NASA scientists to come over and help me put it back together.

Anybody ever attempted this job on one of these cars?

Your nightmare is pretty normal for replacing a heater core in a vehicle, all the ones I have worked on have been a pain in the ass and the location isn't for those who lack mechanic skills. I feel for ya, but been there and done that, this is the price you pay for owning an older vehicle, and I have one myself but it is cost effective for me since doing jobs like this are a problem but I can handle them, so it sounds like you bit off more then you can chew, be patient and you can get your car up and running correctly, if anything buy a haynes or chilton manual for the vehicle, other then that I have no tips because the job is what it is, a pain in the ass.

Good luck getting your vehicle up and running.

I agree with what Fletch said, and good luck on the heater core, they are a pain in butt no matter how you slice it.

Well I am mechanicly inclined and have been working on cars since I was 7 . I'm not saying i'm a great mechanic but I can get by knowing what I know.

Old? Lol this car is a spaceship comapred to the stuff I usually work on. But everything is going allright I just did not expect to be pulling this much stuff out.

My biggest problem I am having is trying to get the dash out. Theres something holdign it in the center and i'm not sure what it is. I can't see it or feel it so I don't know if it's a bolt, screw, clip or whatever. But once I get that out it should be smooth sailing.

I worked on it for about 3 hours yesterday and haven't touched it today cause I just got home from work. Don't even think imma mess around with it today.

I am not sure about your specific vehicle.
But I just did the heater core in my 1996 Chevy Blazer.
And you have to drop the steering column to get the dash out of the vehicle.
Deffinately get a Chiltons manual. They Hayne's manuals are OK I guess.
But I think the former are better written.
I hope to never have to do a heater core ever again as long as I live.
I will prey for you. And I am not a religious man. hehhe

Went through this a little while ago with my daily driver '97 Camry. The little veins in the core itself get filled with gunk and prohibit proper movement of the water...thus overheating. You'd think is was the radiator or thermo.

I didn't actually do the job (I try not to do so much of that stuff anymore) but when taking off the dash make sure you disconnect your hazard flasher. Look for screws that might be covered by little caps. (had the dash out of my vette a few years back to install the HUD - was nice to have the CorvetteForum - a guy had done the job and had pictures showing every step of the way).

Good luck.

I though Mitsubishi was a foreign car?

It is but It's assembled in the U.S.

Little update.

Got my dash loose, dropped my steering column and now I gotta take out the crossmember that runs across the inside of the car and I can start getting into my heater core to replace it.

Probably would have had it out and in tonight but had to take my son to baseball practice. Would like to finish it this weekend but it's not looking to good. My son's birthday is 2morrow and I have some plans for Saturday evening.

But hopefully I can put a dent in it saturday morning and afternoon. I know it won't get done cause from what I have read the job calls for 14 hours of work and I don't even have half that yet. But it doesn't seem like it would take me 14 hours as far as I am right now.

Be sure to keep you up-dated on my living nightmare.

Putting it back together will not be as bad as it was coming out.
At least that is the way mine went.
Took me around 10 hours total. And I am not a huge gearhead at all.
Once you get into the heater core compartment it is silly how much work it takes to get to a 30 dollar part.
And even sillier how easy it is once you get to the core.

Is sillier a word?

Well I think the biggest part is that imma have to be careful when i take my cross member out because all my wiring harnesses are attached to it in some way shape or form. So I wanna make sure that I have them put back in the same place.

So i think i'm going to mark them with permanent marker and snap a few close up with my digital camera to be sure that I have everything in order so that I don't have to take it back apart and re-run the wiring.

head gasket?

No it's not the head gasket.

Believe me I kind awish it was. Sure as hell would have been alot easier for me to fix.

You would have had different signs,...nice try though on his part.

Hey man, I've been trying to sell my GF's car

You wanna drive a purple PT Crusier?

you can even get better than the manuals that you can get at the parts store at your local library....

don't think they all have them, but a branch near me has tons of car manuals....the real ones....

although i admit i haven't had the need for one in about 7 years......might be all on the computer now...

Car's have heater cores? what for?

Sorry about your experience, sometimes they can be a real bear depending on what your working on.

Well worked on my car a couple hours today, got the heater box out and put in the new heater core. Now 2morrow imma slap it back in and start the assembly.

Well depending on how I feel. Headed to the ole legion for casino night.

Car is just about doen everythign working fine, just gotta put in my center console and vaccume up some of the anti-freeze left over on the floor board.

This job didn't end up as bad as I intially thought it was going to be and it seemed like. After I figured out how to get it all the way out and put the new one in putting it all back together was cake work.

Would have been done sooner but I just didn't have the time to work on it and the days i did have time it was raining, which sucked cause theres too much junk in the garage and I couldn't get it all the way in.

Ah well it's done now.