spareho

Hey guys, I have the sweet smell of coolant, sparatic heat, wet carpet, and pink flakes coming out of my floor vents. Kind of surprised my 48k mile florida car has a bad core.

Anyways, I have been searching, is there a good tech write up for this job.

Also If I run it through my shop I can get an OEM core for 230, but I see alot of aftermarkets for under 100$ and cheaper even at Rock auto. Has anyone had bad luck with aftermarket cores.

thanks for you help fellas
jamie

raj99

If the heater core replacement is anything like that of the C5, then all I can say is that it's a heck of a job. Basically step 1 is remove the entire dash of the car. I helped a friend do it once and honestly it was just a lot of painstaking parts removal and such to gain access to the core. The actual part is pretty straight-forward to replace, once you have access to it.

Considering the effort in replacing it...i'd go with a part that I would have a high degree of confidence that has the lowest MTBF (mean time between failures).

spareho

thanks for the reply. I have a big refinishing shop and my upholstery guy is actually going to do it for me, He has extreme patience when removing interiors, and is very very good. He just wanted a little write up if possible for the dash removal.

With the symptoms I described it is pretty much a 100% failure and needs replaced right????

4Driver4

Before you do anything, buy the Bentley manual. I found it indispensable when doing the AC evaporator on our C5.

Disclaimer: I am a retired VAG tech, so I've done plenty of cores on various VW/Audi cars.

A6Gary

2nd the Bentley Manual recommendation.

raj99

when we did this with the c5 we had a Bentley and only a fool would attempt such a job without one...

spend the $$ and get a real diy guide, forums are helpful but no substitute for a Bentley manual

odoboyusa

I would not attempt the job without the bentley manual as you'll end up with a lot of broken plastic parts that were meant to come out in a different way than you thought.
And if you have to remove the front vents (which I think you do), I wish you lots of luck, the center one is just ridiculous to remove. Seems to me like it was built for quick assembly but not much thought was given to removal.

spareho

ok guys just ordered the Bentley. Shooting to get this done weds.

thanks
jamie

spareho

One of my accounts is an AUDI dealer. I talked to the service tech and he was replacing a heater core in an 06 A6. He said you DO NOT have to pull the dash, and to only remove the glovebox, MMI control, and be mindful of the abs control module (???) I was a little surprised considering Mitchells, and all data call for 6 hrs. Which I would assume thats a dash pull. But figured I would let you guys know, I hope what he said is accurate.

raj99

it would be great when you get around doing it that you take pictures along the way. That way we could all learn something and hopefully cut down the time it takes for us to do the work when/if we ever need to do it.

Thanks