[scorpionkill]

A) Undo the NEG battery cable. Wait at least 2 minitues before proceeding.
1) Remove the top long skinny dash panel at the top of the dash. There are 5 equally spaced clips. use a flat screw driver to carefully pry up the panel.
2) Remove the ash tray and remove the scre behing the ash try holding the center bezel to the dash. Remove the screws at the top of the center bezel.
3) Remove the 4 screws holding in the HVAC unit . Unplug vaccum and electrical conectors and undo the heater control cable.
4) Remove the radio.
5) Remove the fog light/cig lighter panel.Unplug any electrical connections.
6) Remove the two screws holding the dash panel under the steering column. Put the key into the ignition and turn to the on position. Tilt steering wheel to it's highest position. Pull the panel toward you and rotate it down until it unhooks it self at the bottom.
7) Remove the 4 screws holding the metal knee blocker in. Remove knee Blocker.
8) Remove glove compartment. Your dash should now look like this.

9) Remove the upper and lower steering column covers. To remove you must insert the key and turn to the on position. Insert a push pin into the hole in the bottom of the lower column cover and depress the button that holds the key cyl in. Pul the cylinder right out.

10) Unhook the tilt steering column cable.
11)Remove the two nuts holding the upper steering column, it will allow the steering column to drop to the seat.

12) Unplug all of the electrical connectors. There are several on the steering column. Remove the courtesy light on the bottom of the dash drivers side. Unplug all wire harnesses on the passenger side. There will be two going to the heater box.

13) Undo the two bolts behind the steering wheel that hold the air bag module to the wheel. Unplug the module and remove from vehicle. Place the module on a workbench facing up. Undo the two nuts that hold the bottom of the passenger side airbag module. Look up inside the glove box.
14) Remove the 6 bolts holding the dash to the door jambs.
15) Remove the 4 nuts at the top of the dash.
16) Using a steering wheel puller remove the steering wheel. Do not forget to mark it so you put it back on in the same exact spot.
17) Here it helps to have another set of hands. Lift up the dash and pull it forward. It should come forward several inches.
18) Remove screws holding in instument cluster and remove instrument cluster. Remove the electrical connectors from the dash frame.
19) Unplug the main electrical harness.
Try not to loose this color coded sticker that is on the main harness connector. I recommend that you write down the colors just in case as my sticker was ready to fall off.

20) Remove dash from Jeep. Now go get a beer or quit for the night. There is still alot to do.
Here is the dash removed

 

[57811]

Holy Crap !!!!!!!!! Will you come and do mine when it fails ?

 

[JFM626]

To quote Oliver Twist

 

[scottcha]

Look on the bright side, you save yourself a ton of $

 

[Jeepsrfun]

well???

So you got heat?

Dad

 

[Slithering_Joe]

Wow! I thought only Mustangs were bad!!!

 

[scorpionkill]

Finished the heater core swap. Man what a beotch!!!!!! Cracked my heater box while trying to separate the halves :brickwall :brickwall :brickwall Nothing a little duct tape cant fix. The new heater core was about twice the thickness of the stock one which did cause the blend door to slightly stick. I now have to help the little lever under the dash a bit. but no big deal. I stayed up till 5:30 AM putting her back together. Man was I tired. If you have an automatic be careful of the ignition interlock cable. The plastic tongs that hold mine to the shifter broke and now my key will not come out of the ignition cyl. I need to fix it but in the mean time I keep a screwdriver in the car and just pop out the cyl and pull the negative battery cable.

This is a job that I hope to never do again. It isn't super difficult just very very tedious.

My heat ROCKS now though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[13979]

Oh man what a JOB!! Is there anything I can do to help take care of my heater core so I won't have to deal with all of that in the future?

 

[scorpionkill]

Flush your system regularly and DO NOT EVER USE RADIATOR STOP LEAK!

 

[13979]

Thanks...I will be SURE to do that! The manual reccomends every other year. Do you think that is frequent enough? I have drained and cleaned the system myself with the Prestone Radiator Flush three times since I have had my 1998 Jeep. Is that the same as "flushing" the system? I once read that you should only use distilled water for refilling the system...I wonder if that is the reason why?

 

[scorpionkill]

Update.

In order to remove the heater box assembly you need to remove all of the nuts inside the firewall. The one behind the motor is the toughest to get to. When you have the assembly removed you must seperate it in two by removing all the little bolts (make sure you get them all before you start to pull it apart. I forgot two that were hidden) and I broke the heater box assembly a bit. Thank God for duct tape. the rest is fairly straight forward. Then put it all back together.

 

[tcestes]

Good lord! Screw that. I'd rather pay someone to do that job. I don't mind most other jobs on my ride, but that looks like H#LL!

 

[57811]

Good lord! Screw that. I'd rather pay someone to do that job. I don't mind most other jobs on my ride, but that looks like H#LL!

definitely not for the timid !

Scorpionkill ................ thanks for sharing all this ! :thumbsup:
I subscribed to this thread when you first posted it .

 

[finsout]

Do you remember the order of the vacuum hoses that attach to the heater box? I think its (from top down) red,yellow, blue, brown.

 

[tcestes]

Scorpionkill ................ thanks for sharing all this ! :thumbsup:
I subscribed to this thread when you first posted it .

Ditto! :thumbsup:

 

[88525]

I need some help!!! I can't get my heater box out. My dash is completly out, but i can't figure out how to get out the heater box. i see the bolts and nuts sticking through the engine side of the firewall, but when i turn the nuts, the bolts spin too! I can't even see, little on get to the bolt heads on the other side to grab them.......any advice???

 

[98028]

They are studs (4ea) so doesn't matter if they both turn
Removed mine yesterday (97 TJ) without removing the steering wheel & complete dash panel.

 

[88525]

Stud meaning threaded on both ends with a nut on both ends??? That explains why when i turn the nut, the bolt turns too, but i can't get the nuts off!!! What is the trick for them???

 

[98028]

No nut on orher end
Stud has fine thread on the firewall side ( where you can see inside engine compartment) and there is a course thread on the other end which screws into the plastic plenum these two threads are seperated by a hexagon fixed washer which seats against the plastic.
So if nut & stud are turning together it should come out with no problem
Could send a picture if you want ( just give me an e-mail address, as i seem to be unable to attach files over the allowed limit of 109K ( or somthing in that range)

 

[quigtj]

Heater Box

I seem to have found the end of the instructions...FSM is on the way...in the mean time, I'm at the point (I think) where I need to get the heater box out. Just want to make sure I have the correct bolts behind the firewall before I go taking them out...I don't mind spending hours ripping out my dash, but I'm not a mechanic and am not as comfortable taking out random nuts under the hood...Let me know...THANKS!!

BTW, Thanks to scorpionkill for this write-up!