Saturday, February 4, 2012
Expedition Heater Core Replacement Instructions 1997 Ford F 150 4.6 97
Shopping list from FORD dealer, $15.00 for 2 sets of heater hose o-rings and snap clips, $40.00 heater core, (cheaper at the dealer but no warrantee, aftermarket parts store model preferred by many @ $55) insulated foam tape to wrap new core with (parts dept just gave me what I needed), and a gallon of anti freeze.
1. Tying off the antenna cable to a old shoelace was a great little trick that made the reassembly a snap, allowed pulling antenna cable back out of the hole real easy. I used elect tape too, didn’t want “ANY” surprises later!
2. Get the heater hose removal tool from a mechanic willing to loan it out to you. I was surprised at the helping hand the dealer mechs were. The tool took a few minutes to figure out. Took a second trip back to the Ford dealer for replacement o-rings and clips. save time, buy these first cause you’ll break the originals, if you dont, change em anyway, your in this deep!! 2-A Another method without using the tool is just cutting off the inlet and outlet pipes from the heater core with a saws-all and pulling the hose/pipe out from the engine compartment side. This is done after the H-Core plenum is removed. I got so frustrated without the special tool I nearly did this too!!
3. Leave all the steering column and large bulkhead elect plugs attached, I unhooked these before the Ford mechanic advised me not to mess with them.
4. Try to follow in reverse the “dash removal instructions” during reassembly so you dont have any “do overs” when you cant get a screw to line up properly. (Don’t ask how I now this)
5. Get a large box for all the trim parts.
6. Updated tip To help to figure out where all the screws go I am recommending an idea from a user of this heater doc who offered this tip. I wish I had used this method myself, had 3 left over, no rattles. Tip: if you have a helper, have them read the steps aloud while you perform them and also have them put the screws removed in baggies labeled with the corresponding number of the step.
7. I removed the big elect housing located right over the heater core housing to aide in getting the cover reinstalled, it was in the way when I was reinstalling the plenum cover, 2 screws, no big deal.
