coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

i was cleaning my truck out today and noticed how my carpets are wet i pushed my hand into the carpet and it was all green from the coolant and i had just filled my coolant last week does that mean its my heater core and if it is how do i change it "1986 sierra 1500 6.2 diesel

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Heater core is leaking. I took one look at all that needed to be done and paid someone to do it.
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Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Well if it has ac it's a pain! No ac then it's a lot more simple. Drop heater box under the dash and it's held in by 4 1/4" screws. The assenger side inner fender had to come out in my 79 and the outside box come off. Overall time maybe 2 hours... If that. But my truck is non ac.
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Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

yeah i have no AC. so the mechanic doesn't have to take off my dashboard?
thinking if they have to then i might change my dash since its all cracked

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Nah ya din't but u definetly need to take out the glove box. That makes it 200% easier.
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Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

heater core, pain in the ass

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

If you have AC take it to a shop. Took the shop 6 hours to do mine because of the plastic cover over the AC stuff under the hood. Then they had problems dropping it inside because of the vaccume lines. They only charged me for the quoted two hours tho.
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Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Now a years back and I mean years back, my uncle and myself changed the heater core in my truck. Yes it was a pain, but we didn't pull the cover off the firewall. Seems odd to me now but I don't rember it being six hours of work either. Yes my truck has AC and yeah it was a pain but I just don't remember pull the AC cover to get to it. I do know we dropped the glove box and worked under the dash. Maybe my memory is gone now....Still if I had the money I'd pay someone to do it and flush the cooling system too.

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Changed mine a couple years ago, wasn't as bad as I had anticipated (yes, I have A/C). Worst part was one bolt holding the cover on being hard to reach but just worked on it a while and got it out. Took about 6 hours working by myself, first attempt. Took the opportunity to clean everything up while I had it out. I'd do it again before hiring it out but I have more time than money. (85 GMC).

Plenty of experienced guys on this site, try a search and you'll find lots of helpful information.

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

No AC is easy. But I would drain the coolant from the block and radiator. Then flush it with water and vinegar. Flush with distilled water. Then fill with coolant and distilled water. Try to find a copper core if you can.
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Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Good advice on the copper core, I found one at O'Reilly's.

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

It's a royal PITA. Did mine last year (I have AC).

Worst bolt is the one between the firewall and the inner fender. Had to use a long flexible ratchet extension to get it. Takes a couple hours to undo the 5-6 bolts to remove the interior cover. The swap itself is pretty easy.

Definitely one of those things that gets easier/quicker the more often you do it.

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

Watch out many replacements are Chinese and smaller than the origional.

Re: coolant inside truck on floorboards
 

I Have ac, and it took me 3 hours to do mine. Luckily I had a friend helping drink my beer to help hold it up while I screwed it back together. In the mix I had my 3 year old boy helping, and that was worth a hour alone.