[20sNaRanger]

Well these past two weeks have been all sorts of fun and head banging :banghead with the bronco.

I'm wondering if they are at all related to one another...

Alternator isn't charging the battery *possible bad wiring or bad ground somewhere to screw the circuit up*

and now i have white smoke puffing through my vents in the cab...i pull over...immediately...and no smoke in the engine bay.

:whiteflag


Any correlation between the two? I had the top off and windows down so i really couldn't tell if there was a smell or not.

S.O.S. I ended up making it to work, i only live about 2 miles away. so i took the gamble and drove it there. i might just leave it over night depending on what the census is.

 

[KyleQ]

Heater core - pop the glove box out, unbolt the computer or whatever is there and then take out all of the surrounding screws. remove heater hoses from engine bay and remove it - i'm guessing you will have coolant on your pass side floor mat.

I was testing out a new stereo when my heater core popped, I thought I had an electrical fire and freaked out. The bass must have popped a weak spot in the core, lol.

 

[chapter]

i was gonna guess the same thing....heatercore

 

[joshbronco]

My money is on the heater core as well. Had that happen as well just after I replaced the alternator...

 

[20sNaRanger]

Thanks for the rapid response guys!!!!

I was geekin out there for a little bit. I still have to figure out whats going on with the alt but I will do this on my lunch break. Am I able to drive the truck without the heater core? i have a jacket, i dont' really need heat...hardly use it...only when the g/f is in the truck

 

[20sNaRanger]

Just ordered the heater core...also ordered a valve cover gasket...just incase.

How easy is it to replace the heater core? esp on the bronco. I've found other write ups on other cars...but none on the bronco.

Do i need to take the whole dash off to get to it?

 

[chapter]

dont know how hard it is,,,but when you ready to do it...lemme know,,,hehehe we can figure that shit out...have anouther 83 parts vehicle siting in the driveway we can break to figure it out

 

[Slick61]

white smoke from vents... suppose it could be antifreeze, tho would think you would smell it before seeing smoke... another possiblity is leaves & debris getting into the heater core from the cowl... had that happen with my Ranger when I was always parked under a big oak tree... freaked me out when it happened, & took quite a while for the smell to go away. Had to pull the core & clean out the airbox.

 

[20sNaRanger]

dont know how hard it is,,,but when you ready to do it...lemme know,,,hehehe we can figure that shit out...have anouther 83 parts vehicle siting in the driveway we can break to figure it out

well if you're free on friday, we are tackling it at my buddies. At the very least come over and have a beer. *we also have rum :thumbup *

Slick-I was reading up on this too...i'm gonna see if i can open up that access and pull some gunk out of there later today...i really don't want anything to catch on fire. lol

 

[SCRebel]

How easy is it to replace the heater core? esp on the bronco. I've found other write ups on other cars...but none on the bronco.

Do i need to take the whole dash off to get to it?

No. It's really simple.

Open the glove box, and pop the glove box out of the dash (there are two ears on each side holding it in). The black box behind the glove box holds the heater core. Take the bolts out, remove the cover, unhook the hoses from the other side, and remove the heater core.

If yours is original, it will probably be copper.

 

[20sNaRanger]

No. It's really simple.

Open the glove box, and pop the glove box out of the dash (there are two ears on each side holding it in). The black box behind the glove box holds the heater core. Take the bolts out, remove the cover, unhook the hoses from the other side, and remove the heater core.

If yours is original, it will probably be copper.

awesome. I'll try and knock that out tonight. No special tools required?

 

[SCRebel]

awesome. I'll try and knock that out tonight. No special tools required?

Na, just have a good selection of 1/4" drive sockets. (I can't remember the size). Its also been awhile, so I can't tell you if you might run into any headaches.

Also couldn't hurt to top it off with anti-freeze and water again

 

[20sNaRanger]

Na, just have a good selection of 1/4" drive sockets. (I can't remember the size). Its also been awhile, so I can't tell you if you might run into any headaches.

Also couldn't hurt to top it off with anti-freeze and water again

awesome. thanks!

I'll be taking pics for a write up for this. seems easy enough for a 1st time right up.

 

[TegGs]

yeah heater core is a sinch. drop the glvoebox and there is a bunch of 1/4 bolts. some are kinda hard to reach tho

 

[dgarvy]

Yeah heater core can be done in about 30 mins if that the hardest part for me was getting the hoses off it

 

[jobei]

Yeah heater core can be done in about 30 mins if that the hardest part for me was getting the hoses off it

x2. One of the first fixes I did and it was really easy. Make sure to burp the system when you're done.

 

[20sNaRanger]

ok ok ok . . .took me about 30 mins to take all the bolts and screws off....pull the cover off.

I'm looking at the heater core...a few questions arise:
the stock seems a bit bigger than the replacement...does it need to be exact?
How do you pull it out? i was trying and trying and i couldn't pull it out from under the dash. Is there a clip or something i need to release from behind it in the engine bay?


I also took off the blower motor-thought maybe i could have a different access point to the heater core from the engine bay...no such luck...BUT i did clean out a bunch of leaves and gunk in it. yay.


Lastly-it seamed that the cover to the heater core had a seal around it...is this needed to be applied back on before i run the truck?

 

[20sNaRanger]

any thoughts?

do i tackle this from the cab and in the engine bay? i just don't know what to do in the engine bay...or how to take it out of the cab...seems nice and tight with very little wiggling room to pull it out. i just don't want to bust anything.

 

[20sNaRanger]

Heater core - pop the glove box out, unbolt the computer or whatever is there and then take out all of the surrounding screws. remove heater hoses from engine bay and remove it - i'm guessing you will have coolant on your pass side floor mat.

I was testing out a new stereo when my heater core popped, I thought I had an electrical fire and freaked out. The bass must have popped a weak spot in the core, lol.

i guess i should read a bit more carefully. lol

 

[chapter]

opc1: