i know that these threads keep appearing all the time however i was not able to find the answer i wanted by doing a search and looking through what was already here....

i wanted to know how much i would be looking at to get the heater core replaced????
i have no idea how to do it myself not terribly good at this stuff....
atm i have no spare cash to get this job done anyways..... how likely is it to stuff my ecu????
i can't smell any coolant in the car unless i have the heater on.... however when i turn the heater on the smell is really bad.... i have noticed even when the heat is on cool and the blower off that sometimes there is a little steam coming through the air vents... i imagine this is due to the coolant in the system where it shouldnt be indicating to me i need a new heater core not just leaking seals.........

also i mayb getting a blackout cluster and trip meter aswell so i imagine it would be best to do this at the same time..... once again no idea how to do it....

mayb there is a member here in sydney who could help out???? is there another DIY day soon???? would be good to meet some of the people on here.... dont know how much use i would be at a DIY day but i'm sure i can learn.....

For starters there is no heater tap so regardless if on or off you will have leaks

If you are really desperate, pull the heater hoses from the engine and loop them back into the engine thus you bypass the core

I charge $35o for the core seal replacement, I believe Mits charge somewhere in the area of $1100

For starters there is no heater tap so regardless if on or off you will have leaks

If you are really desperate, pull the heater hoses from the engine and loop them back into the engine thus you bypass the core

I charge $35o for the core seal replacement, I believe Mits charge somewhere in the area of $1100

You would be quite close Mal. I believe my heater core replacement was $1240.

ouch...... too bad your in victoria........

Add a trip down to Melbourne and a night on the town, you would probably still get a lot of change out of $1100 and earn heaps of brownie points with your other half.

true that...... definatly would be a go but a trip to melbourne is still out of the question at this point in time.... i might however bypass the heater core until a time comes when i can make a trip to melbourne.....

at some point i will be replacing the heater core with my brothers help....... he is a panel beater / spray painter and also has basic mechanics knowledge...... what i am wanting to know is....
1. how much is heater core????
2. what other parts ie pipes and seals are recomended to change and how much are they?????

It is not the core that generally leaks, it is the seals and they will cost you all of about 6 bucks from Mits

was thinking that because the job is such a PITA that i would just replace the core while there... that way i know i have a nice new one.... not a 10yo one....

are there any symptoms of a leaky core before coolant appears in the footwell?

Mine seems to fog up real bad, apricot rocket seemed to think it was the heater core playing up....?

cant say mine was leaky when i got it.... it fogs up reallly bad...... i mean terrible.... and now its leaking inot drivers and passengers footwell.....

depending on if u are running coolant or water... the smell of coolant when the heater is on... and possible some engine/trans problems if it gets really bad.... as the ecu can get covered in coolant.

I did the DIY seal replacement myself a couple of weeks ago. It's not that hard, just time-consuming and a little scary (mostly worrying about getting it all back together and not having too many bolts / screws left over, not to mention connecting all the electrics properly - I missed one connector, which nearly gave me a heart attack). I used a combination of the workshop manual and Madmagna's DIY guide - a pretty good mix of instructions...

One thing no-one mentioned - the right-angle plastic heater hose connectors that bolt onto the core can snap off while trying to remove the heater hoses in the engine bay, particularly when they haven't been touched in 6 years, like mine. I broke one on the Saturday and had to wait until Monday to get a new one (the dealer had them in stock, so I'd guess breakages aren't that uncommon...) & then take a day off to finish the job.

did you get the new seals from mitsubishi?
what was the part NO#