The other day my heater quit and then it started leaking on the passenger side floor. My truck has AC, is there anyway to remove the heater core without taking the truck in to have the AC removed at a shop?

 

yep the heater core is independent of the ac.

 

On a 86 model the evaporator needs to be remove to get access to the heater core.Not sure of your trucks year model.

 

Guess what's sitting on the table next to me...my heater core. It may not be the actual heater core but the compression orings that seal the hard lines into the core. These little orings are a massive PITA to replace. If there's a trick I don't know it. This is my second time replacing them.

 

haha only trick i know is this getting the entire dash out, not so fun.

i put a bit of rtv around the oring just for safety because i reused them..

 

It's an 85. I took a look at it the other day and I would have to remove the entire dash to get it out.

 

Yes. You have to pull the entire dash but it's not that bad if you have the FSM and see where all the bolts/nuts/screws are and what needs to come off first.

www.ncttora.com/fsm

:wabbit2:

 

Its not hard to replace the heater core, it just looks hard because of everything you have to remove (the complete dash). Ive replaced heater cores in three 86 4Runners, and its a 4-5 hour job. You do not need to remove the a/c to change the heater core.

 

when removing the heater core on a 86 you can remove the glove box dash area ,unhook the evaporator hoses and remove the evaporator housing and access the heater core from the side through where the evaporator housing was. at least that how I done it.It has been around 8 years ago so I don't remember all the detail but the dash was not remove to do it.