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Old 03-25-2009, 04:25 PM   #1
dave45056
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Default Heater Core

I have a 95 ti and I smell a little coolant in the passenger compartment. No wetness in on the floor... yet.
I am thinking the culprit it either the tubes going to the heater core, ore the heater core itself.
Anyway when looking into the parts on realoem, it mentions a part number difference for the twin tubes (item 2) between a plastic water box or an aluminum water box.
Anyone know what bmw put in the ti?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...63&hg=64&fg=15
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Old 03-28-2009, 12:21 AM   #2
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Has anyone ever changed their heater core before?
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Old 03-28-2009, 12:43 AM   #3
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I replaced a heater core on a customer's ti a long time ago but I remember that it's a pretty easy job to do. If I remember correctly, you need to remove the panel above the pedals and you should be able to see the tubes that run from the firewall area to the heater core. You can remove the tubes and then the heater core just slides out towards the driver's side of the dash. (Don't forget to drain the coolant first!)

You're lucky it's a ti, otherwise you would have to remove the entire dash and disassemble the heater box to access it!
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Old 03-30-2009, 05:09 PM   #4
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I dug into my dash to see if I can see what's going on. The tubes and end of the core look brand new.


So I guess the problem is in the core itself.
If you have any pointers how to get the thing out, I'd sure appreciate it. There is a duct in the way and it looks like I need to remove some of the center console, too.
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Old 09-01-2009, 03:56 AM   #5
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Does anyone know the part number for the heater core shown above? I need to get this fixed soon! I'm not sure if this is what is called an aluminum water box heater core or not.
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Old 09-03-2009, 05:29 PM   #6
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Look here:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...63&hg=64&fg=15

It would seem like you need part number 1, which is supposed to be replaced along with the tubes, o-ring, and a radiator cap.
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Old 09-03-2009, 05:31 PM   #7
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I think he knows that, he posted that link in the OP. The question is which number 1 to go with?

Sorry I can't help Dave, bump for someone who can.
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Old 09-04-2009, 06:58 PM   #8
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Maybe someone can take a look at their heater core... especially if it has a build date after 9/96. I am curious if the part the tubes plug into is plastic on later models.
Also if someone has had a new heater core installed, can you take a pic of that, too? It's easy to do. Just remover the drivers side kick panel and you can see what I took pics of in my previous post.
Thanks in advance.
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Old 09-06-2009, 09:16 PM   #9
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Dave here are a few shots of mine. Looks like a design change took place. My build date is 10/97.



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Old 09-07-2009, 03:55 PM   #10
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Yes indeed. This helps alot. Thanks Anthony.
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Old 09-26-2009, 10:03 PM   #11
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Well I have started taking out my heater core. I feel that this is somewhat uncharted territory since I am finding little information about it on this site. In addition, the Bentley manual is useless for this.

So here is my problem... It looks like I have to remove the aluminum tubes which run between the firewall and the heater core. But there is a bolt which secures it to the plastic fittings on the other side of the firewall.
Has anyone taken this out before? I can't see where the nut is but if I could remove teh rubber grommet on the engine side of the forwall, I'm sure I'd see the nut.

This is what it looks like from inside the car. As you can see teh head of the bolt fits into a hexagonal cutout in the flange.
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Old 09-29-2009, 03:08 AM   #12
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I got it out! I had to remove the air collector from the firwall to get the aluminum tubes out of the way. In case you are wonder what an air collector is, it's the same part wich has to be removed to change the microfilters. The heater core looked perfect... maybe new. But when I put water in it, I could see it was a leaker. Looks like my style heater core is obsolete now so I get to buy new aluminum tubes, too.
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Old 10-01-2009, 03:14 PM   #13
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Always good to use the newer design.

GL with the reassembly.
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Old 10-17-2009, 05:01 PM   #14
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This is taking forever... I have ALMOST all of the parts to reassemble.
The heater core is a different design that the one that came out.

My old one looks like this:


The new heater core comes like this:


So the twin pipes which go between the heater core and the and the firewall are different. I was unable figure out what the part numbers were for that next set of tubes. It stumped my dealer, Pelican, and Tischer. So I ended up buying a used set of tubes from a guy on here who is parting out his car. I paid for the part on 10-7, but the tubes are still not here .
Hopefully they will arrive on Monday and I can get this thing back together.

I also bought a new plastic piece since all of the other plastic parts of the cooling system are time bombs:


And the new heater core is smaller than the old one. No instructions were included where to put the foam, but I'll wing it.

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Old 10-30-2009, 10:35 PM   #15
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Default I have all of the parts!!!

I got the last of my parts in to do my heater core.
I finally have all of the parts!

If anyone is interested, here is what you need to buy and what the parts look like if you have to replace your heater core. If your car has a 9/96 or earlier build date, you need all of the parts. After 9/96 you would just need the heater core, but given the track recore of plastic parts on out cooling systems, I would replace the inlet, too.


As you can see, the new tubes are shorter
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