I am used to older cars and am now plagued with a bad heater core. (at least I think so) How hard of a job is it in a '97 F150 4X4? Where is it? Thanks.

 

Figure a good weekend's worth of work if you've never done one. The dash has to be removed to access the core.

 

just did my '97 F150 4X4 this past weekend

make sure you have new core hose's on hand (i did ), i could not get the quick connects off so i just cut them, the hose clip by the fire wall is a b**** but it can be done with little blood shed

i also replace radiator hose's flushed and filled with all new coolant
i used a garden hose repair part (female end) stuck onto the old heater core hose connected to the eng. after i cut it and connected the garden hose make sure the other hose is cut and aimed down toward the ground

there is a nut on the fire wall under the hood by were the core hooks to the hose's this will also need to be removed

with one person working on dash and one working under hood we did it in 3 1/2 hrs (my 4 1/2 yr old helper ( duaghter) may have added the extra 1/2 hour)

carefull with instrument cluster i now have to pull it again to replace some back lights
after market core made of copper fords is made with alum i used after market

it's located in the middle of dash so theres no cheating you will have to remove considerable amount of dash parts

there is a thread with some very detailed info on this if i can find i will reply again