Where I live It hasnt rained in almost a week and my Passenger Side front floor board was wet today when I went to take my Ranger for a ride after letting it set for a couple weeks. I noticed a smell that permeated the cab when I opened the door that was reminiscent of urine, the only problem is I have no cat and truck windows were closed and doors been locked since I parked it. Well anyway to make a long story short I suspected the heater core might be leaking and I checked the coolant level and it was low. I did a forum search and found no tips on how to change the heater core for my generation of Ranger. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

94 is easy. drop the glove box and there should be a panel with 4 screws in it. take the panel off, unhook the hoses, slide the heater core out. should take 20 minutes tops.

 

Okay, thanks! I just did not want to have to pull the entire dash or do something that would make me have big regrets for taking on the job, The Heater cores are pretty cheap also.

 

^ this if your just replacing the core. if you need to replace the whole box, Your dash has to come out.
Also. Your floorboard being wet has nothing to do with the heater core. mine is pretty new and still works, and my passenger floor is still wet after it rains.
just get a rubber mat :p

 

I pulled the heater core out this evening as it was leaking... definetely coming from heater core and antifreeze was under carpet...oh well about 30 minutes and $32 later for core and 1 gal jug of anti freeze. no to bad to do.

 

I'm glad i came across this thread. Before i bought my truck the heater core must have **** the bed because i smell the faint odor of coolant in the cab and some one pulled the hoses from the firewall to make a continuous loop inside the engine bay (obviously to avoid coolant from flowing into the cab). Most of the information out there agrees with "StxDangerRanger", saying that the dash has to be removed entirely. I dont really wanna get into all that right now, but if it only take to 30-45 min and a glove box drop, im fixin it!

 

95+ requires pulling dash. 94 and older doesn't.

 

I was saying that if you were going to replace the whole box (that contains doors, and vents and cables) you need to pull out the dash, to swap the heater core, Troy was right, you only need to pull the glove box.

 

stx, that wasn't directed to you. it was to kip.

 

My truck is a 94 Ranger extended cab and it was not to bad to change. If you have basic tools you can do this.

 

yea, i was on my phone, there should have been a "^this" in there.

 

Larry here:
or do you 97 rangers just as easy as the 94 yr?

 

No, in 1995 and up most of the dash must be pulled out to swap heater core