1984 Lincoln TOWN CAR heater core replcement

Disconnect the battery. Drop the steering wheel and column into the floorboard. Un-bolt the dash and lay it in the front seat. Discharge the AC and drain the antifreeze. Pull the heater case. Big Job! Go slow and carefully - that old plastic gets brittle.

There is a LOT to the job. First, you do not need to touch the air conditioning system. Leave it alone, and do NOT open it. The other big thing is be VERY careful of the dash pad. They crack and fall apart at the speaker grills if you look at them funny. Make sure every screw is removed and do NOT force it. It can crack and then fall apart at nothing. The whole thing is foam. Have the service manual close to hand. Some of the bolts are hard to find. There is one, almost in the centre of the car, that you can only reach through the radio hole in the dash, after you split the defroster vent. It takes about 2 feet of 1/4 drive extensions with a u joint behind the socket. You don't have to remover the dash, as that is a pain in the neck to do, but you do have to loosen it and gain about 4 inches of clearance. Be careful NOT to pull on the brake light switch wires or the headlight switch harness. Both are vulnerable. Better to unplug both. If you need to remove the headlight switch, feel on the top of the switch behind the dash. There is a little button. Press that and the switch knob pulls out from the switch. Ignore the release and you ruin the knob. There is nothing particularly difficult, but it is fiddly and very time consuming. Take your time and you'll get there. The first time I did it, it took 30 hours. That blasted bolt behind the radio took 12 hours to find!