1988 THUNDERBIRD HEATER CORE REPLACEMENT

Not A Professional Video. I wanted to highlight the important repair steps and minimize the fear which accompanies such a task. In the face of a $700+ estimate, and with a 26 year old car, I could not justify spending the money. Neither could I tolerate the slight smell of antifreeze inside the car nor the chronic fogged up windshield and side windows. I have already done another Ford vehicle 2 years ago, so I was up to the challenge. I credit COOLCATS.NET for their tech instructions on this. These are the steps I found necessary-- PLEASE READ. 1988 Ford Thunderbird 3.8L Automatic with AC/ STANDARD CLIMATE CONTROL (Levers). What's nice is when you pull the dash out---it will rest on the center hump due to the design. 1) Inside you need only remove the glove box door and MAYBE--your ashtray from the dash (I took mine out). Remove 2 insulation panels (under dash). One under the steering column and one under the glove box. Remove the side kick panels inside the doors. To remove the side kick panels, you will have to remove 2 screws on the threshold door plate each side and one screw on the door pillar to do so. The kick panels actually have 3 fasteners. One is behind the panels and will be seen after you pull the panel out. 2) Under the hood, first have the AC freon recovered and the accumulator (round black cylinder) disconnected. Cap the 4 AC line openings. The accumulator and its bracket can then be removed (2 11mm nuts) and it swung up and away from the work area. This exposes the 2 disk/ 11 mm nuts which hold the heater/ac plenum to the firewall. Remove these. IMPORTANT--Disconnect the small black vacuum line near the ac ports on the firewall from its junction tee near the left hood hinge. Remove both heater hoses and plug the pipes with rags !!! Remove the 3 screws which hold the glove box door in place. This will give you a better view and access later. Remove the 3 7mm dash screws found under the 2 dash speakers and headlight sensor on the dash top. All covers pop up --use a putty knife carefully and start from the seat side. You will likely break the plastic studs on one of these as I did. They are just OLD. Having long extensions for a ratchet is a plus for many of the tasks listed. Remove the 2 10mm bolts along the bottom sides of the dash at the doors. Remove the lower dash-instrument panel plates around the steering wheel carefully and remove the steering wheel lower plastic shroud cover and collar ring. Remove the plastic/nylon bracket and cable which operates the gear shift lever indication from the steering column. This white bracket is a collar around the steering wheel and located under the instrument panel--NOTE--gear lever must be in PARK for its connecting cable to be in the max relaxed position! Remove the brace which runs from the dash to the rear steering column bracket. It is a z shape bracket. Remove the 4 9/16 nuts which hold the steering column in position. As you loosen these, the column will lower. Be prepared to support the steering wheel/column with phone books or whatever if necessary--on the driver seat. You will decide later how low to put it. Remove the 10 mm nut from its location above the dropped steering column behind the instrument panel. I found no bracket near the radio right side and mentioned in instructions--CHECK your vehicle. Remove the 11 mm nut underneath the heater core box --near the tranny tunnel at the top of the carpet. A long extension makes this easy. Now you can dislodge and pull back the instrument panel. Note--you will have to see it disengage on the sides of both door jambs. Fear not, a little maneuvering will ease this task. REMEMBER, you really want to only pull out the passenger side for this job, but will have to see both sides work freely. As you pull the pass side out, note the wiring bundle connected from the door pillar. Just pull out a retaining grommets in the lower dash to ease the movement of the wires. Also, the panel is somewhat fragile--as in "Fra-gee-leee" Don't over do it. Easy. If the dash is tight--you forgot something or there is binding--review what you did and/or resolve the issue. Pull the dash out enough to expose the heater core box. The core box opens at the top. Be wary of cables and controls in its area. Remove the 2 11mm bolts on brackets holding the whole plenum to the firewall. These will be obvious to you. Now the whole core box can be pulled back. You may hear sounds--the tubes scraping the firewall opening. Pull back enough to expose the core cover. The core cover is held in place by 4 5/16 screws--remove these. The cover is likely secured with some sealant as well. Use your putty knife to loosen it and then remove it. Watch out for the vac lines crossing that area. Remove the core. Reverse the procedure. Disclaimer-- Seek help for doubt/ inexperience. Thanks to CoolCats.net.