Ive been looking into the location of the heater core for my 09 tc. Anyone know exactly where and which end under the dash they are located ? And if you REALLY NEED to remove the entire dash to replace it as well ? Or can it be removed from underneath while leaving the dash on.

 

Its pretty much center of the dash and yes the entire dash has to come out, the hvac case has to be removed and opened to replace it.

 

How hard of a job is it ? And how long should it take ? I am mechainaly inclined. I have nust never dome a cobalt heater core. Although im not totally sure i even need a new one. Im just trying to access it. My heat is decent. Just not as hot coming out of the vents as my wifes Montana mini vans are. With her van i could burn my hands in like 15 to 20 seconds. With the balt its like 80 to 90 seconds before it gets too hot on my hands. My cars cabin is warm. Nust not as hot as the van. Unless it just has a much larger heater core.

 

Cobalts have crappy heat.... They get toasty, but no where near as warm as other cars.

My 2001 Cavaliers heat can make ya sweat if you stay in the car long enough at full heat, same with my wife's 2013 Equinox.

I wouldn't mess with the heater core unless you are blowing cold to luke warm air.

 

Its hard to tell honestly... I would say its semi warm. After the car running for 15 minutes i have to turn the heat down from fan speed three to two. Cause it does get fairly warm. And i like it warm. So its deffinitly not cold. Maybe a tad warmer then luke warm .

 

I'd say you are ok then. Just keep an eye on it.

 

If you haven't tried already you could try flushing it. May or may not help but worth a try if you think it could be a bit better.

 

Heat in these cars is iffi. some do good, others are sub par. As far as how long it should take, your looking at 8-12hours depending on your skills and tools available. Since I work at a shop with all the goodies and have done them a few times before, it would take me about 6hrs here, at home it would probably take me 8ish

 

Have you tried replacing the cabin air filter? That makes a significant difference in air flow.

My old base model and my current LNF get pretty damn toasty, unless the temp is below 0F and I'm spending a lot of time idling (i've watched my coolant temp drop from 190 to 175 sitting at a light (ambient was like -15F)

 

This

With a dirty cabin air filter, the 4 setting will feel like a 2.

 

Yup!!

I change my cabin filter yearly.

 

Your heater core is probably fine, unless it is plugged. How many miles are on your car, and has the coolant system ever been flushed? If you're near 100,000 miles (161,000 km), it is time to have it flushed.

The heater core is always hot when the engine is running, so you might want to check the operation of the flapper/door that controls the flow of air over the core. If the actuator is bad or the door is jammed, you won't get full heat. You can access those without taking the dash apart.

If you haven't changed the cabin air filter within the last 8-12 months.... do it now.

If you still want advice on how to replace the heater core, let me know. I've been in there before. It is at least an 8 hr job, but you don't need to remove the entire hvac box. There are a bunch of plastic rivets that you chisel off (probably 8-12 of them) to gain access to the heater core. When reassembling, there are screw holes already molded into the sections of the box in place of the rivets you chiseled off. Much of the lower dash needs to be removed, and you'll want to remove the front seats so that you can lay down on the floor to work. There is also a plastic bracket that mounts a fuel line to the firewall that needs to be removed (yeah, crazy, I know).

 

Ugh I had to do this on my 89Z24... hope to NEVER have to do this on another car again

 

I suppose that's one way to do it, I prefer to follow GM SI and take the case apart and replace the case seals while I'm in there since it would take about the same amount of time either way.

 

my heat can get to the point where the dash gets soft, lol, i usually let my car warm up for like 30 seconds or a minute and drive, i usually have heat before im out of my neighbourhood if its not ice cold out. i et the cat warmup cycle run tho

 

Yeah it's pretty normal for the cobalt to take about 15 minutes for the heat to get to the point where it's too warm. But it starts getting warm within 3-5 minutes.

It would be nice if all cars came with electric heat assist while the Core is warming up.