you said you had the heater core replace already to begin with. why are you changing it again yourself? should be under warranty. and DO A FLUSH!!

 

I did have the heater core replaced, about 2 years ago. Warranty was 1 year and I wouldn't bring it back to the place that did it anyway. I believe they screwed it up to begin with and its been screwed since then. So i will park my *** inside my car for 8 hrs and see what happens

 

man that really sucks. I thought you had this one fixed. the original place that did your heater core probably left air in there, and that caused corrosion, which caused the leak. or maybe it's just a leaky connection at the in/out ports?? good luck.

 

After 5 hrs of work this is what I have now








Here is the heater core I took out:





The hole was about 95% clogged but i dug alot of the **** out to see what it was. It had a soft clay like texture. I am assuming that when the radiator place changed the heater core the 1st time they never did a flush. When they installed this heater core all the crap that was in the system settled in the heater core causing all the problems I have been having. I did 2 system flushes before I started this job so hopefully this will fix the problem of no heat. Now tommorrow I get to spend another 4-5 hrs putting everything back together again.

 

wow that is a huge job. kudos to you for taking it on head first.

BUT -- my advice is DO NOT put the new heater core back inline with the cooling system just yet. you no doubt have more of that gunk in the rest of your system -- it does not just show up in one place, and it will find its way back to your heater core if you don't clean it out first. you need to do a proper chemical flush (or two or three of them) before putting the new core in service. yes I know you already did a flush, but it clearly did not work on the entire system, and I promise you there is more in there and it will spread like cancer if you don't get it now. so go ahead and install the heater core, but bypass it by connecting the two htr core hoses together under the hood. then proceed with a massive cleaning/flush with a flushing chemical. I would do several treatments followed by a full distilled water flush.

THEN, before hooking up the new heater core at the firewall, funnel some coolant directly into it SLOWLY until it is full -- this is to purge air from the core before you connect it. this will make purging air from the system much easier.

ALSO -- use Nissan OEM coolant (or Toyota Red full strength) only. do not try to save a buck by screwing around with any other coolant. having a mix of coolant chemistries and/or the wrong type of coolant in there no doubt played a role in your problems. this has happened to several other .orgers and they have all used prestone/etc at some point. just don't do it.

then, of course, follow the previously described method to purge air. and make sure you get it all out.

best of luck. and great work so far!

 

You are a brave one for doing all that. I'd have probably quit at that point. Makes me wonder about mine, even tho I still have heat with no issues. Keep going man, and please make sure to update us....

 

Well after 5 hrs of putting everything back together again I have succeeded. The heat is amazing and I actullay had to turn it down to 75 because it was just too damn hot . Everything went back together pretty smoothly except for missing 1 switch which was the air mix door motor switch, and wouldn't you know it, it was underneath the heater core housing all the way in the back. With some sqeazing and pushing my head all the way underneath the brake pedals I finally found it and was able by the skin of my teeth to plug it in. I filled the system, put the car up on ramps to make sure I got all the air out and then started her up. Before the needle even starting moving up I could feel heat and then wow! tons and tons of heat. Checked everything no leaks and the only problem was a blinking air bag light which I got rid of by pressing the door switch 7 times within 10 secs and that went away. Now I have tons of heat for the 1st time in 2 years and everything seems to be working perfectly. Thanks to whoever put up the FSM for the 4th gens it came in very handy when trying to figure out where my 1 connector had to go. Thanks to everyone for their ideas,advice and support, very much appreciated!!!!!!

I HAVE HEAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! me ><no heat

 

Post more pics and do a writeup....That's something EVERYONE at some point may need...
It's supposed to really cold this coming week, so let us know how it really does!

 

I think I might try this heater core trick thing.
Jae