I've done a search and still need some more help...

I know that one of my problems is that my heater core is either shot or clogged. I'm thinking it must be clogged because currently I'am not leaking any coolant.
The reason why I'm saying its the heater core is because I'm getting the white smoke/steem coming out of the vents when I turn on the heat. It is still running at normal driving temp. 190-210.

Can someone tell me what to do when flushing the heater core. Is it still a b**ch to get to and would I have to tear apart my dash? I would just replace the heater core since there fairly cheap but I dont have to have to do 9 hours of work and I dont want to pay someone $$$ to do it.

So if someone could help me with flushing it, it would be great.

Also if you could rate how hard it is to do 1-10. I'm pretty good with cars and I have some tools but its more a matter of time and me not screwing anything else up more.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

first thing I would do is take the hoses going through the firewall(from engine side) off and put a hose in there, maybe put some platic on the block to channel the water away from electronics. or you can use distilled water and a funnel.

 

on a scale of 1-10... 1 being easiest 10 being hardest, a heater core flush ranks about a 2.5...lol easy as pie...... remove these two hoses


just backflush till clear water comes out, and flush until clear water comes out a few times and you will be good to go... it helps if you use a flush kit, but it is not necessary... I did mine with a garden hose and an ordinary spray nozzle...... have funnn

 

Yes, as both hillbillyinOhio and a_tack have said, flushing the core is easy as pie. However, if you have a mist coming out of the vents, your core is leaking. Does it smell like coolant inside the truck?

 

It does not have a strong coolant smell. Right when it started coming out of the vents I shut it down.

Thanks for the help and for the picture. Im going to do it this weekend. One more thing... which tube should i spray water in and which should have the water coming out? I dont know if it will really matter but...

 

sprasy in the one on the right first and after it runs clear spray through the one on the left..... thats what I did... i think...lol

 

If you can smell coolant, dosent that mean theres a leak in the core?

 

^^Yup^^

 

...I don't know. If there is a leak it is very minor because it doesnt seem like I'm loosing fluid.

I have a couple other questions and I don't want to take up more space so here they are. (should be easy ones)

On my '99 what kind of fuel system do I have TBI MFI???
and
I counted 4 o2 sensors on my rig, since I don't have the funds to replace them all at the same time should I wait till I do that the funds and do it all at once or should I replace the 2 infront the cat. etc?

thanks for the help

 

Your '99 has the SCFI fuel injection. 6 injectors in a centralized injector pack with fuel lines running from the injectors to poppet nozzles in the intake port.

IIRC, your '99 should only have 3 O2 sensors... 2 upstream on the y-pipe ahead of the 'Y' and 1 post cat sensor. I thought that it was early '98 that they switched to the 3 sensors, but I could be wrong.

If you wanted to change any of them, the 2 upstream sensors (closest to the exhaust manifolds) would be the ones to change. They are the only ones that impact the fuel delivery.