heater core
Asked by Grace Jul 06, 2012 at 05:07 PM about the 1996 Chevrolet Suburban K1500 4WD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a 1996 Chevrolet Suburban. The AC is blowing out hot air. I have had the truck for 6 years, every Summer its
the same thing. The ac does not get cold, I take it to the mechanic, they put Freon in, fix the leak, etc and 3-4 days
later its blowing out hot air again. Today, they told me its the heater core - it will cost $700.00 to fix. They also said that
my truck has 2 heater cores and its the front one that needs to be fixed. If it is the heater core wouldn't that affect the
heat also? I know for a fact that the heat does work.
Thanks!
11 Answers
The heater core doesnt need replaced unless its clogged or leaking. Niether of those will affect your AC being cold. When you turn your ac on see if your compressor is kicking on as well. Sounds to me like they didnt fix the freon leak. Dont let them rip you off.
However, i thought of this after i posted. You do have blend doors that open a vent to allow heat to flow or close it to block the heat from the heater core. If that is stuck open you would need the dash taken apart to fix it. If this was the problem your vents would blow out really hot air all the time. I dont mean warm i mean HOT.
After they put Freon in AGAIN the air is cool, not even cold.
Go somewhere else, get a second opinion and request they put dye in the system with the freon to find the leak. If your shop thinks the heater core needs replaced to fix the ac they dont understand the ac system.
I'll try that as soon as I can. Its so upsetting because they want to charge me for the freon every time they check for leaks. I've put about $600.00 into the ac for nothing. My job was outsourced to India and I cannot afford it. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions!
u can put freon and dye in urself to save money and u turn on the ac and check the compressor to see if it turns on if it does run the engine with ac on and switch between hot and cold u should notice a change in temperate even if the freon is low that will indicate that the door is switching from hot to cold then fill it with freon and look for dye coming out through out the system if there is no leak i would imagine that something in the system is not performing right
The compressor does turn on. They put freon in and the air blows out cool NOT cold Thanks!
The blend door may be sticking. Do your hot/cold controls have numbers or just blue and red?
I think maybe they actually said its the evaporator core. I was probably crying too loud to hear them correctly. I tried to call and ask them but they were closed. I'll have to try again tomorrow. Would that cost $700.00 and take hours to fix? They said its so expensive because of the labor, not the part
the evaporator is also labor intensive, they can go bad but i havent experianced that happening much. Have they changed the accumulator? The accumulator takes moisture from inside the AC system, if it goes bad then the moisture in the system can build up and freeze in the system.They tend to go bad if your freon leaks out and air enters the system. If they have done the correct steps to determine the evaporator is to blame then it very well may be, but i would ask about it.
