do you know if the removal process is the same as a 95 RRC? my heater core is fine but i've heard so many stories about it that I just want to be prepared when it happens.

 

sorry I don't know but if it is in front of the center console It may be the same.

 

You did it in 30 min???? What does your dash look like know?

 

The '95 RRC and the DI have the same heating system. The heater core, blower motors, ect. are all interchangeable.

I've removed a ton of heater cores from DI's and '95 RRC's (and didn't even have to worry about getting the truck back together) and never did it in anywhere near 30 minutes. If you worked for the dealership ALL they would have had you do would have been heater cores if you did it that fast!

 

I'm impressed.

 

All you have to do is pull your center console out, pull your glove box and the bracket that bolts to the glove box on the bottom and the side bracket next to the heater core. Than you can pull the bottom of the dash out where the heater core is pull the floor vent up it have a bolt at the top you don't have to take out if you pull easy at the bottom and turn it up. Than undo the lines and slide the core out. This is the first time I have ever done this on a land rover. If you need any help just ask. i will take so pic to help if need. I steal have to put a new one in just don't have the money right now.

 

the way I have done this tasksome dozen times is a s follows, drop the steering wheel column after demoving the knee bolster, remove the left side bracket which holds the dash to the kickpannel, remove the lower center bracket at tunnel left side, go to the right side, remove glove box follow by removing the remaining two brackets matching oposite side....wiggle the whole dash out wards until it stops as if you intend to drope it on your lap (about 1/2 a foot to a foot).
take a bungee cord, goto the rigth side seat wrap the bungee around the head rest... pull up and out on the glove box opening to raise the dash 1/2 way p the right pilar, tie the bungee to the glove box opening...
at this time if you have power seats you can use the seat to recline and back position to gain a little room...
crawl under dash on passenger foot well area and access the heater box and you heater core..... total time to remove, replace, fill cooling system and test about 2 to 3 hrs...
mind you, my method is completely different from removing the whole dash assembly followed by removal and dissasembly of heater core as factory manual recomends...in 8 plus hrs.
off warranty and extended warranty dealer charges between 12 to 18 hrs.....

 

ps, 95 to 03 disco and 95 classic. 95 to 2002 p38 is a whole different game. 03 to present I have yet to do one or see anyone do it... have done fan speed control on 03 to 07.....very easy

 

killthimall,
KevininCT and Carloz have worked for Land Rover for a long time. Antichrist has owned Rovers for longer than most LRO members have been alive. I have disassembled Rovers for about six or seven years and owned them for seventeen. We don't need to be shown how to do it. Rather, I think we are just a bit incredulous about the time you claim it took for you to remove the core.

But, hey until Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile, no one said that could be done either.
Cheers,
Paul

 

Just the mere suggestion of a heater core R+R in room full of mechanics is enough to clear the place out. It is a universally hated job. In order to get the dash back together in anything resembling it original condition extreme care must be taken. If some kid at the local electronic store has been in there before you, then your f*%ked. I'm sure the components comprising the trim in automobiles are designed to crack and break at the first sign of disassembly. Usually it is the apprentice that gets that job. This is part of the reason the job quotes are so high.


Ever since Land Rover introduced real heaters (as opposed to the 'warmers' found on Series LR) to their products it seems they have taken special care to make them as inaccessible as possible.

 

Now I don't know why everyone is getting so heated about this, all that I'm am doing is trying to help the guys that don't have money to take the truck to the shop and thank this is a nightmare of a job. I worked for a dealer for 5 years and to make money you had to find the fastest way to get the job done and not brake anything. I looked on this website to find the best way to do this and couldn't find one. So if you do it one way and it works for you keep it up. But i don't like pulling the hole dash out so I found a better way for me and faster way but remember it is my way do it anyway you want thats fine by me and I thank everyone that puts stuff on here to help get the job done.

 

AWESOME....so your job, that will help the rest of us who have not worked for LR, but instead are weekend wrenchers is to write up the procedure, take the pictures and PUBLISH it here...cheers mate I look forward to the writeup AND using it if it is so simple.

 

Hope you don't think I was giving you grief for doing a heater core in a 1/2 hour because that was not my intent. It was just a general statement of how heater core replacement is viewed in the industry.

I have been a mechanic for quite a while now and once did a steering rack in a V12 Jag XJS that took the best part of a day and had me cursing all the way. Next time we had one in I gave the job to the apprentice to help him build 'character'. That little SOB had the entire rack R+R and off the hoist before lunch time. When asked how he did it so quickly he showed me a method that had never even occurred to me. Unorthodox, but it sure worked. So I don't call anyone out on this stuff, if you did it quickly, more power to you.

I think it is quite an achievement to be able to R+R a core in a Land Rover in so short a time. Good on ya for sharing the info, If I ever have a Disco heater core to replace I will definitely try your method first.

Thanks, Matt.

 

i dont mean to steal the thread or anything i just have a quick question. i figured I'd ask it on here since the 95 and the D1's have the same heater components. when i set my fan on 4 it goes off every once and a while and i have to push it to make it go again but on speeds 1-3 it works fine. i had a friend with a D1 with the same problem. anyone know how to fix it?

 

I have the same problem I thank it is the blower resistor but do not know maybe someone can tell us.

 

If it was the resistor, I would expect you to have nothing BUT high speed. You would loose the slower speeds. It's sounds to me like you may have problems with the switch. The resistor for the blower motor is in the mouth of the motor. It's held in place with a couple of bolts and it pretty easily accessible. I bet the job shouldn't take more than 30 seconds.

 

I know that all gm trucks are that way but did not know if land rover was the same. Because mine will work for a good 5 min and then stop working but you can go the the 3 setting and it will work all day.

 

my rover does the same exact thing killthimall

 

first question, did you lack heat in your heater core or actually leak? I have seen one leak in those and the rest we just cleaned out with a hose and it worked fine without removal.

oh and the fan issue is probably the hvac unit itself. if you have a wiring diagram you will see the ground is actually the unit itself and not some separate one. Not that you couldn't run a ground to one and get it to work.

 

no I had a leak did not ever see the leak but would fog all the windows up and smell coolant from the heater. and I try the ground thanks.

 

I've just taken my (leaking) heater core out and, following kilthimall's method, managed to do it without removing the whole dashboard or the air-con. My car's a right-hand drive, so the process was slightly different, but basically it is possible to gain access to it a pull it out by holding the loosened bottom section of the dashboard out of the way. The biggest headaches I had were:

1) disconnecting the alloy coolant pipes and
2) getting the heater matrix past the water valve control lever

(1) needed careful prising apart with the blade of a screwdriver and (2) just meant I had to push the matrix back whilst I disconnected the control. Then it just slid out (dropping a load of old coolant out - beware!)

I admit it took me longer than 30 minutes, but although I didn't time the job, I'd say maybe 2 - 3 hours to get the old one out.

I also read on another forum of someone else who did it this way, but he cut a section out of the alloy pipes and made the connection with new rubber heater hoses. I didn't do this as I couldn't quite figure out how to cut the pipes (there's no room to get a hacksaw to them!) but it sounds like a pretty good idea.

 

The intermittent fan is almost certainly a bad fan speed switch.

30 minutes is impressive.

 

It seems I spoke too soon....

I got the replacement heater matrix installed, connected up the coolant pipes and tightened up the little clips. Then I ran some tap water through from the engine bay, in through one of the down pipes, to test it all for water tightness. Checked inside and the water was gushing out, top and bottom.

Working on the (probably right) assumption that I'd just put it back together wrongly, I took the coolant pipes back off the matrix, checked the O rings were still in place, joined them back together, made sure the faces were nice and tight, refitted the clips and...no difference!

Any hints as to what I'm doing wrong? I even tried running the water through whilst I held the lower pipe as tight as I could against the matrix, and it was still just running straight out. It's as if the connectors on the new matrix are bigger than the coolant pipes connecting from the car.

Anyone suggest anything before I take the whole dash out?