Few mechanical type questions about my 96 Sonoma???

Loosen the bolts on either end of the dash that hold the dash in place (one fairly large bolt on each side). That combined with a flexible attachment, and you should be able to get to the top screws on the housing from under the dash. Remove the clamps from the hoses that attach to the core, have a catch pan as you will spill anti-freeze everywhere. Do this when the engine/vehicle is cold. Remove the passenger seat prior to working on this and you'll be much happier. If you have the ability, taking the door off would also get you some additional room (which is needed when you are my size -- 6'3 and

270lbs). This is one of the most frustrating jobs on this vehicle. Very poor design, obviously the designer never had to replace a heater core on one of the prior to their production....especially not at 10F in December in a driveway in South Dakota :-) Buy the best heater core, not a remanufactured one, as you DO NOT want to have to do this again any time soon. This is an all afternoon project that will have you cussin' by the time you are done, but is not difficult in terms of mechanical skill. Guaranteed to test your patience though. I have no idea what shops where you live charge to do this. Call them or stop by and ask them. My guess is $200-$400 range.

Also, if you google this group with the key words heater core S-10 you'll find volumes of information.

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and click on the groups option. Make Google your friend.

Big Chris

Big Chris

Reply to
Big Chris
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I have a 96 GMC Sonoma, 4.3L, Auto, Air 2wd, 106,000 miles, yadda yadda yadda, that I have not had very long, say 4 months and I starting to have a few (hopefully minor) things going wrong.

1st. It seems the heater core went out or is going out.

I was on the way home from a small trip and I started smelling Hot antifreeze. The temp guage hadn't started to climb above normal, but I keep smelling it and started to worry, so I stopped at a gas station to make sure it wasn't overheating. Nothing under the hood looked out of the ordinany. However, when I got back in I noticed the passengerside floorboard was slightly wet. I'm sure we didn't spill anything so I'm thinking this had to come from the heater core.

How hard is it to replace a Heater core?

About how much would it cost to have a shop do this?

2nd. Something is funky with the headlight switch I think. Sometimes, when I go to turn the headlights on, the dash lights and the driving lights all come on, but the headlights do not come on. I have to fiddle around with the headlight switch for a few and then, the headlights will come on...

Any thoughts???

Reply to
smullen

The headlight switch gives trouble, I don't remember how, but I removed mine and was able to clean all the copper contacts in the thing, this fixed it for good it seems, at least it hasn't given any trouble in the past 3 years.

Reply to
David Algie

Thanks for the responses guys...

I haven't got a chance to tear into the truck yet, but the answers seemed right on point.. Thaks again...

Scott

Reply to
smullen

"smullen" on 18 Aug 2003 had this to say news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

"It cost me $731 to have the core replaced in the S-10"

DB

Reply to
DBCooper

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