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So driving home from the school Saturday I turn on my defroster in the daily driver (1998 Ford Ranger 2WD) and to my surprise the windshield fogs up follwed by the sweet smell of hot coolant. It has been in the single digits here in Ohio and I could not think of a better time for this to happen
So step one I go online to see if the local parts store has a heater core in stock. They did. $60. OK, so I then go to there online repair database to see what I am in for.
I look up "heater core" 1991-1999 Ranger. I read the first 2-1/2 pages and it seems easy enough. I print the 5 page hard copy. I go out and drain off some coolant and prepare for the task at hand. I look under the dash and say wait a minute, my airbox doesn't look like the photo on the paper. Then to my surprise, on the top off page three is a little side note: "NOTE: It is necessary to remove dashboard on 1994-1999 models, refer to factory manual". Oh joy. Knowing this would be a $500 job at a shop I had no choice but to attack it guns blazing. With only the heat from my halogen worklamps I began.
It took me about an hour to locate the hidden fasteners I needed to remove for the dash. The dash came off easier than I expected with a vent trim piece the only casualty from aggrevation.
I had to pull the blower motor off the engine fire wall to access the air box or "plenum" fasteners as they called it in the instructions. After wrestilng the dash out of place I tried to pull the heater unit away from the firewall. No good. I looked for the hangup and I had missed a 8MM nut located behind the engine block on the firewall. The kind that gives you only 1.500" to get at. After dropping my 1/4" ratchet twice and having to fish it off the bellhousing, I finished slowly with a boxwrench.
That loosend the heater box but I could not get it pulled away far enough to get the heater core pipes through the firewall. The dash was about 14" from the firewall and it was not enough room! So next I figured I would have to disconnect the steering wheel. Looking underneath I found a support bracket and disconnected that. It gave me enough space to slide the pipes through the firewall. The only smart thing Ford did was put a access cover on top the heater box so you could slide the heater core out.
I jump in the wifes car to go buy the new core and the kid at the parts store says "that comes with a lifetime warranty". Now my Ranger has 250K on it and I tell the kid "like yea, I want to do this again in my lifetime"
All in all it went back together easier than it came apart. Total was about 6 hours labor. Now however my radio has no sound. I probably pulled some pigtail loose along the way. I'll wait until Spring to look into that. I am still not warmed up

HAVE YOU DRIVEN A W A R M F O R D LATELY !

David;

I saw your mention of no heat in the Lifer thread. I responded there but will here as well. You need to get yourself one of those small propane fired garage heaters. I bought one at Home depot about two years ago. I got sick of working on my truck in 25 degree weather and getting frostbite on my fingers, etc. The heater I bought cost me $99.00 plus tax out the door. It puts out 40K BTU, and will take my garage from say 30 deg to about 45 deg in about 15 to 20 minutes. Best thing is you can run them off the propane tank from your grill. Mine will supposedly run for about 17 hours on a tank of propane. Thats a long time. I only use mine an hour or so at a time. You should look into one. They're well worth the initial investment.

Nick,
Yes, If I procrastinate on the heater another 6 weeks or so I will not need it I have been trying to decide on LP, electric, or kerosene since October.
And no, I did not get my snow tires on this weekend either...
Today on the way to work the radio fixed itself...who knows?

I would reccomend the propane ,it's much cleaner. Kerosene is smelly and messy to handle ,electric would be cleaner ,but if your shop is unisulated ,it would be very expensive. DJ

I'll look into that propane one

David;

I have found that electric heaters don't work to well, especially in my uninsulated garage. Plus, unless hardwired, they use up an outlet. I also agree that Kero is smelly, and alot more dangerous to use IMO. You will not go wrong with the rocket engine heater.

HingsingM37 wrote:Nick,
Yes, If I procrastinate on the heater another 6 weeks or so I will not need it I have been trying to decide on LP, electric, or kerosene since October.
And no, I did not get my snow tires on this weekend either...
Today on the way to work the radio fixed itself...who knows?

THE G R E M L I N S DID IT !!!

Darn, I thought I chased those Gremilns away after my distributor incident.

Hingsing,

I feel your pain, I had to replace the core in my Chevy Cavalier and I had a similar picnic. That's one reason I love the M37, it was built to maintain with easily accessed parts, it's built the way I would build a vehicle, yeah it doesn't have the comfy features of a modern truck but modern vehicles could be built with the mechanic in mind if they cared to. I swear the older I get the less I care about style and the more I want repairability and dependability, that goes for everything else we buy too, I think more people will see the importance of this in the rough times coming. Sorry, I didn't mean to rant.

Greencom

Greencon,
Amen brother, I agree!

I also agree. Gone are the days when I used to see my old man sitting in the engine compartment, working on whatever it was he was working on. Now you can't check the oil without a friggin shoehorn and or college degree in rocket science......