Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

John D · 2K+ Club

2000 Dodge Stratus Heater Core

dashboard · 2K+ Club

JD, was the heater plugged or leaking? Your daughter is lucky to have you work on it, that's a thousand dollar bill in a shop.

John D · 2K+ Club

It wasn't plugged or leaking, but it was clogged/restricted. A "calibrated hands" guess would be about a pound difference in weight between the old & new (crud). I did some searching online (fruitless) but I did learn that the average bill for the job was in the $800 range. The new core was $68 at NAPA, double that for a shop price - the rest is labor.

(I'm at an advantage over most, as I did nothing but take interiors apart 8hrs a day for 10 years at Audio King. I've still got all the "trick" tools and tricks stashed away. Most mechanics don't "do" interior stuff quickly or well. Start to finish/road test it was about 3 hours.)

Lost in the 60s · President

I had the same poor heat issue in my 2000 K1500. I researched on line about changing the core and had the same result. Take most of the dash apart to get it out. Some people had reported that back flushing the core got heat back. That was a lot easier to do as a first try. I ran the water hose from my spigot to the outlet side and flushed a LOT of crap out. I have excellent heat again.

Dan Williams · Active Member

Lost in the 60s wrote:
I had the same poor heat issue in my 2000 K1500. I researched on line about changing the core and had the same result. Take most of the dash apart to get it out. Some people had reported that back flushing the core got heat back. That was a lot easier to do as a first try. I ran the water hose from my spigot to the outlet side and flushed a LOT of crap out. I have excellent heat again.

My 99 S/10 did the same thing about 5 years ago. Backflushed the core and you could have cooked hotdogs from the heater at the vents. It worked well till this year, I think I need to try it again. I hope it works, truck isn't worth much anymore and worth nothing without a heater around here.

John D · 2K+ Club

I considered the backflush procedure, but since the car (and kid) are 300 miles away most of the year I bit the bullet and did the job. Now I know she'll have heat through the season.

SShink · 3K+ Club

John, how many miles on the car? Seems like vehicles today are designed for that magical 100K mile mark, then deemed disposable.

Of course, I'm sure most of us remember when cars were built in the 60's and 70's we felt 'lucky' getting it to 75K miles before trading it in! But, they were a LOT easier to work on from a repair perspective...

3 Hours is pretty quick IMO. It would take me at least half that time just gathering all the right tools, figuring out which little clips and plugs needed to be undone on the interior, etc. I hear you on the car not being accessible while the kids are in college. I swapped out a 5 year old battery in my son's car a couple of months ago just as preventative maintenance before winter hit since it sits outside all the time in an open parking lot. I should do the same for my 7 year old battery in my 2003 GMC before it pukes... kids always seem to come first.

John D · 2K+ Club

The car has 115K on it, so it's a little "low" as far as miles on a 13 yo. car. The job wasn't really that difficult, once you get your head wrapped around the fact you've got to strip the interior to get to the access panel. The biggest bytch was getting the spring clamps off (and back on!) the hose nipples at the firewall.

Tools: 1/4" drive ratchet & short extension, 10 & 8mm sockets, 10 & 8mm nutdriver, phillips, pliers, 3/8" drive ratchet & 15mm socket, 7/64" allen wrench, and a "panel popper" were the only tools needed. The rest of it was held together with snapclips & pushpins.

You just have to go easy when tugging/prying on the pieces. If something doesn't pop, stop and look around for another hidden fastener... one screw releases a piece, which reveals another screw, which releases a piece which reveals another screw... and on & on until there's no interior left and you can get to the heater box.

Lost in the 60s · President

I have a special pliers for those rings. It has a notch in the end of each snout to engage the pin so it doesn't slip off, like a flat nosed pliers.

You can use it next time...

John D · 2K+ Club

I've got a pliers with "cups" on the ends for the round wire type clamps, but this thing uses the flat metal clamps with the ears. My pliers worked on one of 'em, but not enough room for the other... needed to use a mini channel-lock to get the angle & squeeze.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

90% of the cars out there are just like this. Ive had to pull seats out on some cars before to replace a heater core or an evaporator. There is nothing worse when working in the field then dash work. We always replace those stupid spring clamps with normal hose clamps since its easier to get them on and tight when your finished.

Last month I noticed the core was leaking on Michele's 200K Santa Fe after I did a Timing Belt/WP as well. Dash Work sucks no matter what kind of car it is.

I have news for you guys as well. They suck to do on a lot of old muscle cars too.

John D · 2K+ Club

Yup... pulling the seat wasn't "necessary", but it sure gives you a LOT more wiggle & access room. The really scary part of the job was you have to yank the E-brake waayyyy up for the console to come free. Those of us in MN with older auto-trans cars know what the consequences of that can be!!