cost to change heater core

[Dre_audi]

I live in the Toronto area and winter is coming around now and my heater wont blow hot air unless Im on the highway up till -5 deg Celsius. I was wondering if anyone has had there heater core changed and how much did it cost? i found this diy ,but 4 hours to get to 2 screws i wouldn't want to mess it up

(http://www.audiworld.com/tech/int54.shtml)

[DGAFxxx]

Never had it done, but I can guess you would spend at least $400-$500 in labor. You have to pretty much gut the dash to get to it.

[ForceFed]

before you go and do this i would make sure its not something else. when you say no heat comes out untill you on the highway. what does you temp gauge look like when this is happening? is your coolant dirty looking? could be your thermostat? i would start with the small things before you would spend 500 bucks. just my .02 cents. maybe you already did. then disregard my post

[Dre_audi]

i dnt think its my thermostat cause my temp is always 90 deg my coolant is orangy pink i dnt know but i think its blocked up

[clconversion]

have you tried to flush it out ? http://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng.html

[walky_talky20]

^ x2. Flush that bad boy. You'll be amazed when you see what comes out there.

[BlackLock_A4]

x3 ^^^. I just flushed mine last week, wish I took pictures of the sh*t that came out of there. Heater still doesn't work, but since I changed the coolant after I flushed it, I still need to bleed the system. I am doing that today after school... Hope it works.

EDIT: If you do flush the system with the audiworld tech article... use 7/8 i.d. hose and get 20' of it (10' for inlet and 10' for outlet). I would find that much easier rather than 3/4 piping and swapping the hose for inlet and outlet each time you flush it the opposing direction. Make sure you have a fix for the hose rather than using your hand as a gasket .

Eric

[Coopa]

x4!!^^
Just because its going to be a pain to tear the dash apart to get at the heater core. I was almost on the verge of doing it. Took walky talky's advice on flushing the core. I flushed the crap out of the core, flushed the coolant, changed the thermostat. Heat suddenly worked. Do all that before you take the dash out. Mostly because those are the other things that could give you problems and are easy checks.

I'd be scared to ask a audi dealership how much they charge to change it..probably 4 hours of work times how much an hour?

Edit-As black lock said, 2 $.70 hose clamps will work wonders.

[stevejones19]

i bet it would be more than 4 hours of work too... You need to remove the WHOLE dash, and that takes a lot of time. lol. It costs a small fortune at a shop to do it.

[Dre_audi]

Thank you all for your help my mechanic said he flushed it last winter but it dnt do anything so im gonna try on my own then get a thermostat changed

[Amorphic]

was talking with some guys at the vw dealer here and they just did a heater core on a 99 a4, said the bill was over 1100 bucks. ouch.

[walky_talky20]

Yeah, I'm thinking its more like 8 hours to do. I hope I never have to do that. *shudders*

If the flushing doesn't work there is 1 more drastic option. We had an A4 in the shop with the no heat problem. Flushed the heater core a bunch and heat was just barely warm still. More flushing didn't help. It was obvious it was the heater core as the initial flushing made some improvement but it still wasn't right. As a last ditch effort before changing the core we tried a little drano (home drain cleaner), and it worked. I really wouldn't suggest doing this as it could easily damage the heater core. The chemicals are corrosive and could eat right through the aluminum. But if you are going to change the core anyway, you might as well try something risky first. Beats pulling the dash. In hindsight some sort of cooling system flush cleaner (BG, Prestone, etc) may have done the job.

Just to repeat, we tried flushing with water multiple, multiple times before doing this. Almost every time a quick flush with water is all it takes.

[BlackLock_A4]

^^ Well when I flushed my heater core about 3 days ago, it still is not blowing hot air. But like I said earlier, I changed my coolant and forgot to bleed the system... so i'm crossing my fingers and hoping that's my problem right now. I'm going to try to do that tonight. I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

Eric

[toddstebleton]

Yes, not bleeding the system will prevent the heater core from giving you heat. Since you haven't bled the system yet, you mine as well flush your heater core again. Sometimes, it requires about 3 or 4 good attempts. After you flush your core (with super hot water and maybe some CLR or something similar), consider blowing it out (from both ends) with an air compressor. I will say from experience, this step is the most important. You will see a tremendous amount of gunk come out. The water and solution break it up, but to get it out use the high pressured air. Then, finally bleed the system. Most people who bleed the don't do it long enough, so be sure to bleed the coolant at the heater core for several minutes, not just until coolant comes out the firm time.

I'm changing my heater core right now (as I write). I flushed my core several times last year - and it did work. But, now I'm smelling coolant in the cabin and also the windows are fogging up - which are both signs of a bad core.

[STONER]

I work at a dealer as well and just bought my wife a 96 audi. When I bought it the heater didnt work. I flushed with water for about half an hour. It worked great for the night, next morning didnt work too well, flushed again with water, worked but not that great. Decided to get fill heater core with vinegar for a while and then flush with water. This has helped alot. Remember to bleed the system well.

[pzp107]

if anyone needs a heater core or the whole fan assembly with evaporator, blower, and heater core ready to bolt on I have 2 in fantastic shape.

[Kev]

I don't think it is your heater core. I think you have air in your coolant system or a bad heater control valve.

What happens is when you are at low speed/rpms or idle your coolant cant make it to the heater core because it must go through the high points in the system.

When you get up to highway speeds your RPMs are higher and it allows coolant to get through to the heater core.

Try this: warm the car up to operating temp. Come to a stop, then hold the engine at around 2000 rpms. Keep it their for about 30 seconds. If heat starts to come out then its probably air in the system.

[Puckstr]

I got my A4 for a steal because of "no-heat" in Colorado. Got her home did a back flush and Voila HEAT!!!

Flush first before you look at spending a ton of money

[onemoremile]

I replaced the core in mine. Search my name and heater core and you'll see what it takes. The dealership wanted about a grand for the job which includes swapping the core, draining and refilling the air conditioning.

[Dre_audi]

for anyone havin issues with heat at idle but no problems when driving flush and BLEED emphasis on the BLEED this was my mistake and my mechanics aswell

[belinko]

Just had the heater core replaced. It was about $850, not at the dealership.

[M3Armand]

$850 is cheap... My dealer wanted $2000. So I went with the "can't lose anything for trying" flusing the heater core...voila! Heat!!!

[legbuh]

I just swapped the radiator on my 99 30v and no heat right away... duh.. forgot to flush the heater core. Did it (only took a second for antifreeze to start coming out) and heat was back. Then I found on the 30v there is also a little bleed valve on the engine. Did that too. Working great so far.

When you guys are flushing, you're talking about just flushing the heater core, right? Not the entire system? I could see how that would be pretty easy. :)