Heater Core Repair

[jay79cj7]

Well, for those of you who read my other post, you know that I screwed up my heater core in the process of replacing my evaporator core. Now I found that I literally screwed it up. There is a brace between the two lines on the core and a screw that goes in the exterior of the case is supposed to line up with a hole in that brace. I didn't know that I was supposed to be blindly aiming for that hole and just put the screw in the case and secured it. You see where this is going... A screw through one of the lines on the core assembly, thus my problem. So now I have a perfectly good heater core with a hole in the tube. Can this be fixed reliably? I would love to save the money on a new core, but I would hate to go through this tear down again any time soon.

On a related note, Autozone has the replacement cores for $70, the dealer for $170, Napa can't get one, and some other place wanted $215. I ordered an Autozone one... Are these some sort of made in China pieces of junk? Why so cheap?

 

[jay79cj7]

The core came in to Autozone today. Now I know why it is so cheap compared to others. It just looks cheap compared to the old ones. The fins are much larger and more spaced out. You can see much more daylight through it. The old one has very fine tightly spaced fins that looks much more difficult to manufacture and much more effective at transferring heat. Then it didn't fit in the housing without bending the tubes a bit.

But it all went in and back together just fine and now I am up and running again. Now its time to find new A/C line O rings, oil, and refrigerant. The places I have checked tell me I am out of season here in Chicago.

Have a good Thanksgiving all.