Started smelling antifreeze when the heater was on, and the windshield fogged up. Determined that the heater core had a hole or leak.
I own an '98 F150 and probably not much different than the 97 that was previously discussed.
I looked at the replies about replacing the heater core and looked like climbing Everest would be easier. Does the whole dash need to come off, like the pictures I saw? What is the best way to approach replacing the core, without taking everything off the dash? Also, saw that shop manual would be better to follow than Haynes or Chilton's manual. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

I too just noticed the smell of anti-freeze in my 1999 F150 this week. I don't have any fluid in the cab or fogging of the windshield (yet). After reading the previous posts on heater core replacement, I think I would rather get beat-up then pull the dash. Has anyone had any success using Bar's Leak to stop the leak?

 

It will help put,but you are putting off what needs to be done.It's not going to get any better with it.The core is weak and it's going too get more holes as tlme go's on.Sorry FORD didn't have a better plan on cores for change out.

 

I had my heater core replaced by a mechanic, and set me back 800 bucks. Although I felt I had just been had, he had some major problems and said he didnt know if he would like to do another one. So I'm glad that it was him instead of me. I also purchased the heavy duty core (more expensive) which was 40 bucks more, but I thought if it saved me from going thru this again it was worth it. My heater core wasnt leaking for about a week and then all hell broke loose before I had it replaced.

 

Sorry to say you are going to have to take the whole dash out. Chiltons book is good to do this. Plan on a day and if you have a digital camera take pictures as you are taking it apart, they will come in handy. I would also cut the metal tubes on the core inside the truck rather than try to compress the quick disconnects, they can be very stubborn. Clean them up and put a litlle vasiline on them before you re-connect them to the core. Make sure you disconnect the battery because you will be removing the air bag on the passengers side.

Good luck difficult and tedious be it can be done.
Love Ford bu there better ideas it is not.

Wayne