Wow....To anyone that has to change yours....I pity you big time. Might be worth the 5-6 hundred dollars to fix it........The pix (link under the picture as well) say it all!!!!

REALLY FUN HEATER CORE INSTALLATION ON MY CAR

 

that almost makes me sick to my stomach looking at it. how's the heat now?

 

Great job...there is no way I would pay someone to do something that can be done yourself even though its a pain sometimes it still better than spending money .


It looks worse than it is though...

I was at that same point the other day when doing my MCC to ACC swap. I wanted to take the plastic box out that has the heater core in it but couldnt take it out without the core. I didnt want to disconnect and pull out the core so we just put it back together and modified the bracket that changes the max cold door.

I have taken the dash out of 3 different 3rd gens (and put 2 back together) so I had my dash apart in no time (well I did have Craig B's help so that made it faster). Had it back together in an hour or so too. It will be easier the next time around LOL.

 

I told you it was going to be quite a job. At least you're lucky enough to have NWMax homies to help you out.

Sorry I couldn't make it up there, but only so many people can work in the cramped interior of a car...and it's like a four hour drive for me.

It looks like everything worked out and hopefully you'll have heat again and you won't ever have to do this job, unless you help out someone.

 

Yeah, your right it was not a fun job. So many screws... . Luckily I had some serious help from the NWMAXIMA guys (it'k ok RED, it's the thought that counts) so it came out ok except for a minor problem after all that work ........

I am only getting heat from the floor and defrost. In the pic below it shows the valve in the green circle that opens and closes when you choose either hot or cold from the climate control. Mine does not open or close. There is also no vacumm going from the small hose that is closes the engine out of the two hoses ( I forgot which one ) . Either we didn't plug something in correctly to the back of the climate control or something is up with the heater valve electrically.......

But all you guys are right though. It wasn't as bad as it looks, just very very time consuming (noon - 10pm). Although I didn't see everything because we had so man guys working on, I will try to help if someone needs their's cuz I know how it feels to have no heat in the winter = n: and blazing heat after spending a lot of time for it = .

Thanks for everything guys!!!!

 

I dont think that valve is a problem because the middle vents dont work either, I am pretty sure a plug just wiggled loose or something.

Michael, it's not so much hard as it is time consuming. This is my 3rd time tearing apart the interior like this (once on my old black car, once for my white car, and now this). Now I've got it down and know where everything goes without thinking about it.

I think I'll stick to tranny swaps and clutch work though, its much easier, along with anything having to do with the engine lol. Chris, your car is the next victim yaaaay

 

check the connectors to the max. cold motor and make sure its working (put it on vent and move with the car ON switch the slider from hot to cold and see if the motor moves the max. cold vent) and make sure the cable that goes to the the air mix door lever is adjusted right (put it in full hot and put cable on the lever with the lever in toward the inside of the car...then put the locking clip on).
Also check the mode door motor is adjusted and working right.

All the procedures you need to do the adjusting is in the FSM in the HA section. Believe me I had to do all of these precedures when I put the MCC in the GXE.

Shawn I wasnt trying to sound like I was belittling the work yall did or saying that its not difficult or time consuming. i was just replying to Mark to say that it looks worse than it actually is. Like you I have taken 3 maxima dashes out and I know where everything goes and can do it quite fast...especially with air tools. The first time I did it was a lot more time consuming...and it gets easier the more times you do it.

Good luck...if you dont have the HA section of the manual email me and I can help out.

 

oh yeah, I know. The hardest part to me was actually dealing with the heater core box thing, lol. Air tools hunh? lol. Ask Jeff, I dont really ever use air tools, I just haven't gotten into the habbit of it. The compressor was like 5 feet away too, heheh. It's funny, a year ago I would have been really intrigued or whatever by the pics, (and thought dang thats a lot of work). Now its like 'oh thats nothing' lol.

I still would rather work under the hood, less bolts and is just easier for me. I'm like you though, If I can do it myself I will (ie, everything but charging AC, allignments, etc).

 

i'm like that too. i hardly mess with air tools for some reason. only thing i usually use the air tools on is getting the crank pulley bolt off.

 

I just did the same job, did you try the thermostat first

 

his heatercore was leaking, we fixed that, his thermostat is fine, car has heat like normal, but for some reason the center vents arent working, neither is the valve in the engine bay that blocks coolant from entering the heater core, so basically right now until that valve starts getting a signal again (tested it with a working valve), he is going to constantly have the coolant going threw the heater core.

I'm thinking one of the plugs came un plugged or something, but I'm also going to follow Michaels advice.

 

Aw89, maybe you could help me here. I was having problems with my water pump... It started to screech. So I changed it along with my timing belt. Next thing you know, I'm driving in a cold car! No heat. Ok, so I figured that the thermostat should've been changed too - and I did. Still, no heat. There's enough coolant in the radiator, and I want to try everything before dabbleling with the heater core. I noticed your pic about some vacuum thing that you circled in green. The mechanic I was dealing with touched that item you pointed out and it gave me some serious heat! It was temporary though. The bottom line is that your pic was kind of fuzzy. Can you please take that pic again or explain how that valve works... or recommend a solution to my No heat situation.

Thanks

 

it is called the watercock valve and it allows coolant to flow into the heater core and in turn provide heat.

 

........Yeah, what he said haha....

Mine doesn't move at all but luckily I'm getting Hot Air instead of cold. There is no vacumm coming out one of the lines so I'm guessing, along with shawn, that it is something electrical(missed plug or something)...

What you guys think???

 

Oh my Goshhhh... That looks horrible.

And do you live in a Maxima subdivision?

 

lol, nope, but I'm turning it into one

I was trying to get Jeff to buy a house across the street, but it turns out its for rent only.

edit: I think I'm going to mail these pics into the county and ask for them to change my street to Maxima CT. instead of 44th CT.

 

picture makes an impact. it would seem that once you are at that point, you might as well take an inventory and just change anything and everything that may remotely need fixing.

oh lookee. i have a thousand posts now. the dash did it.

 

.....Yeah.......your welcome

Any ideas of a fix guys.....

 

I will be changing the thermostat hopefully this weekend if it warms up, I have more heat in the car after I changed the heater core so that was defitnately one of the problems. With my luck though after I change the thermostat the system will probably be the same, How do I test the water **** valve to see if it is working?

 

I already told you ideas for the fix but you need the FSM in order to do them.

I just sent the HA section but its over 3.5M so it may not work with AOL...not sure on that.

I am almost certain that your problem is just in the mode door motor or one of the other adjustment precedures.

read the FSM section and it is pretty clear on how to adjust these. It may just be that the motor is unplugged or that it needs adjusting. I assume you took the stuff apart since I am pretty sure you have to in order to take all that plastic out (maybe not though) so you need to run the adjustment on it.

dont worry about the water **** solenoid valve. I am pretty sure if its on then its hooked up correctly. Without being there my guess is the Mode door linkage adjustment will take care of it. If not check all the cables going to the motors and switches in the car. Luckily the MCC only has a couple.

Good luck...

 

The only time that valve works is if the AC is on. It blocks coolant flow to the heater core. However, you should get vacuum on one port of the electrical switch.

 

looks like u guys had a mini maxima meet there

 

There was 1 more Maxima there earlier: me (bringing the total to 6 3rd gens). However, I had to leave to go to work before those pictures were taken.