So I began the miserable task of trying to replace the heater core yesterday and after hours of agrication I am down to the 3 climate control boxes and the main steel crossbeam. Every service manual I find is no help at all they all say to simply remove the dash and heater duct to access the core and so far they have left out things such as removing the passenger airbag to be able yo rove the dash and all the various wire connectors and now I can't for the life of me figure out how to get to the core. I tried to remove the top of the heater box which is all the ducts and it won't lift off without the crossbeam removed so I tried removing the beam and it won't budge. At this rate I might be better off parting out the car. Apparently I'm the first person dumb enough to attempt replacing the heater core on a 97 accord seeing as nobody has any clue to how it's done and there is no detailed instructions.

I'm just hoping somebody on here has gone down into the guts of the dash/interior and knows the secret.



The car is a 1997 accord 4cyl 2.2 auto SE.

 

Which manuals are you using?

 

I starte with the Haynes manual which barely helped me get down to the point I am now. I looked at a few other free manuals and they all say remove evaporator or the heater duct. I would prefer the heater duct so I don't have to tamper with the AC system but it would seem as tho the crossbeam has to be removed to do so. The thumbnail you attached is that an available PDF ? I see it mentions to refer to another section for removing the heater duct which is what I am stuck on.

 

Go to the common DIY thread on top of the gen tech forum. Open the online shop manuals link. The links posted will have a 94 shop manual that should help you out.

I know people have done this as a DIY and it is a lot of work. I never did this on my 95 accord, so I can't give you any tips. The shop manual should help you out.

 

As PA said, at the top of this section in the Common DIY Threads sticky there is a link to a site. The attached is from the spoonertuner manual. If you need 21-17 and 18 let me know.

 

I found the manuals and they still lack crucial information. And looking at the diagrams I won't be able to cheat and cut a hole in the heater box to get to it. The alternative is to remove the evaporator but wouldn't you know it there is about an 19-20 mm fastener on the firewall in the engine compartment which only has about 1 mm of space on either side to get to it. Honda built the 97 accord around the concept that a heater core is to never be replaced. Now when I do searches on google trying to do this all that comes up are my posts and other accord issues not related to the heater core.

 

I would like to know what is the problem with your heater core?
Does it leak?
I hope I never have to deal with that as I also drive a 97 Accord

 

Yes you can smell the coolant and the windows fog which really makes it difficult driving in the rain. I don't think it is a very common failure and if it is apparently nobody bothers fixing it.

 

Once the cruise and canister are out of the way you should be able to get to the evap....just looked at my 95, same gen and engine.

Sorry, the evap is going to have to come out, as far as I can tell, to be able to get the heater core out.....now if you "find a trick" please let us know.

 

Havnt even gotten the steering support crossbeam out I removed the 5 bolts the manuals mentioned plus about 8 more they dont mention and the damn thing still won't come out so even if I get the evap. Out I can't get the heater box out which has to come out entirely to get to the non convenient mounting screw for the core on the back side of the box. Only thing I can think of might be to cut a hole between the heater and evap box and cut the heater core out and cut out the rear fastener and see if I can finagle the pieces out and slide the new one in