So the heater core died on my LeSabre. I got the hoses disconnected and the thing unbolted. I'm looking at it and I cant see how to get the darn thing out without taking the dash off. I know the manual doesn't say the dash has to come off, but I'm not seeing how it comes out without that. Anybody got any tips/suggestions?
That's a real PITA no matter what car. By, "thing" you mean the heater box that contains the core? Havent done one on a 74 LeSabre, but on an A body, you have to unbolt a vent plenum from the front of the box. That gives it enough room to clear the dash and come down
I would imagine a 74 is similar in construction to a 71 LeSabre...have you removed the glove box liner? I had mine totally done in about 4 hours. I remember having to remove some nuts on the firewall side of the AC box and the heater box assembly came out from under the dash.
No, I know they always are a pain in general. I've done a couple in my day and it sucks. Yes the issue is the heater box. It needs to pull back. a) it's not even budging. I think I got all the bolts but maybe not? b) I'm not sure i can pull it back far enough to get the tubes out where the hoses connect.
I'll look at pulling the glove box liner. That might be enough for me to see stuff that's not obvious from underneath.
Small update, I had some time at lunch today and I pulled the (cardboard) glovebox out. Not 100% convinced it's supposed to come straight the hole but I got it out with out too much damage. Good news is I saw a bolt I missed. Bad news is the heater box is still not wanting to come out. I'll give it another try when I have a lot more time to tinker with it.
I did get the heater box out, but I wound up taking the dash pad off first. I'm sure it can be done without taking the dash pad off, but I'm glad I did it because there are vacuum lines and a cable that needed to be disconnected and it made my life much easier. New problem. One of the vacuum pots is cracked . I'm probably going to just glue it up but I'm wondering if I can buy this from a vendor? I haven't been able to find any out there, but maybe someone knows a source?
Interesting to see things haven't changed in 30 years, that's what I ended up doing when mine cracked back in the early 90s.