I have been noticing a strong antifreeze smell in my 98 Blazer 4X4 for the last month. Got in it to go home after Thanksgiving dinner and the windows started fogging up and nothing would clear the windows. A few miles on down the road and it looks like smoke coming out of the vents. No leaking on the floor and the coolant level is not down at all. I think it just started.

I have the dash out and have removed the two fastners under the hood. Had to cut the evaporator case to get to the bolt in there. I could only find one on the inside, down toward the right lower corner. On each side of that bolt , it looks like there are bolts coming thru from the front side of the firewall.

PLEASE help.

Thanks in advance,


Terry




[IMG]local://upfiles/948/56CB681B8C944227A062B818F65869DD.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/948/EE9443D2A77A458180C8D60122CBE3FF.jpg[/IMG]

 

FYI

Found em! I dropped the right front inner fender and there were two nuts on the bottom of the evaporator case and there was one other bolt on the evaporator case that is pretty much in line with the right valve cover. That makes a total of three nuts and two bolts (one of which is on the inside of the evaporator case) on the engine side of the firewall and one bolt on the inside of the vehicle

Now all I have to do is get the core and put it back together. I have not removed the assembly yet because I still need to drain the antifreeze. The only thing keeping the assembly from coming out are the hoses to the core. Looking down into the evaporator where I removed the gizmo (to get to the bolt in there)...I could see a small amount of antifreeze in the bottom of the case.

So far, I have about 7 hours in this. BTW, I removed both front seats and the console to give me more room to work. That didn't take that much time and now I can clean the carpet and get rid of the freedom fries and peanuts that have been laying around for a long time. Hopefully assembly will go quicker.

Terry

 

glad you got it all figured out. assembly usually goes a littl quicker cause you'll know where all those damn hidden nuts and bolts go.

 

Congrats on the successful disassembly. Hopefully you won't have 'extra' hardware when you get it all put back together.

Were you able to get to everything without disconnecting the A/C system? With my old Ram, you had to disconnect the A/C, making the job a not DIY friendly one.

 

Extra hardware that is leftover is always considered 'nonessential'.

 

Ya, I have a draw devoted to 'Extra Hardware". Is it really difficult to replace the heater core?

 

Out of town over Thanksgiving holiday and did not get to reassemble until last night. Only had two screws left, thought that was not bad...

Did not have to remove any A/C stuff. Got to go check connections, the Airbag light is on. Don't know why, unless connector is not plugged in good... any ideas?

 

Solved my problem. The airbag connector was not completely plugged in. It seemed to be but when I pushed on it hard, a big CLICK made me smile. Works fine now.

 

Great Job! I know heater cores are right up there as far as the complexity of repairs goes.

The extra screws may lead to some squeaks and rattles in the dash, but atleast you got it back together right and everything is working as it should. I wouldn't be worried about 2 panel screws. Now if you had acouple nuts/bolts, then I'd be worried.

Again! Good Job@!

 

Darn it! iwish i had read this before this last weekend. I pulled the same job this weekend and spent 2 hours getting the dash out and six hours getting the danged heater off the firewall. still cursing the GM engineers that think its better to put the fasteners in the engine compartment than the passenger. all is well and i only lost the passenger door light. by the way, where should we have gone to get details/ drawings about removing the heater? i had a mechanic print me his stuff on the dash removal and it was a life saver! showed all the bolts and screws in detail. Chevyman