hellosubaru Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 A while ago, some mice got into my '86 GL, and made a hell of a mouse resort for themselves in the heater ducts, fan, and around the heater core. I've gotten most of the insulation they used out of the ductwork and fan, but I'm not sure how to remove it from around the heater core since it's buried in the dash. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on how to get it out from around the heater core? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Coat hanger with a hook bent on the end. Or pull the dash if you want to do it right. Lysol all that ductwork to kill the hantavirus. GD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 My 87 came with that problem. I removed the dash and cleaned the entire system with bleach and other cleaners. Put hardware cloth in the intake ports that lead air into the hvac system. Had to restore the foam on the flap doors on the hvac box, as the mice had removed allmost all of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellosubaru Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 Thanks guys. Is there anywhere I can cut a hole to access the area I need to get to? I was hoping it wasn't the "pull the dash" answer, but if that's what it's got to be, then so be it! Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 You can remove the glovebox then the fan to get at the ducting. If you have AC you won’t get very far and that’s not removable without pulling that system and possibly the dash out in the process. Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 you cannot get at the blend doors, heater core, AC evaporator, or the ducts on the drivers side without removing the dash. IF they only got into the blower, maybe they didn't go through the whole thing. In mine, they had. The passages are oddly shaped, and to get them cleaned, they had to be oriented in several positions to get all the crud out. They had also left fragments of stuff they eat, and poop in the evaporator fins, and all of that had to be cleaned out as well. NO way to do that under the dash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellosubaru Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 (edited) Ok, thank you all for the replies. It sounds like I'll be pulling the dash at some point, as soon as I can make some room in the garage. Also, does anyone know where to get a heater core, so I can do some preventative maintenance while I have it apart? Edited December 4, 2018 by hellosubaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steptoe Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Shame you can't supply the better digs nearby to encourage whole house clean up and move out. They have good taste in cars anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyalematt Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Hellosubaru, autozone has the heater core for these cars. I think they run around $100 brand new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakertom Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 On 12/3/2018 at 4:14 AM, DaveT said: My 87 came with that problem. I removed the dash and cleaned the entire system with bleach and other cleaners. Put hardware cloth in the intake ports that lead air into the hvac system. Had to restore the foam on the flap doors on the hvac box, as the mice had removed allmost all of it. Where are the intake ports? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamemdor Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 under the wipers on each side. Yeah just pull the dash it is easy on 3rd gen cars be careful and go slow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 There is a small port for each of the far side vents - the ones near the roller wheel on either side. When those are set to the vent position, air flows if the car is moving. The other setting connects the vent to the HVAC system. The main one is where the blower intake meets the firewall. There is also a door there that closes the port and opens the blower intake to the cabin for the AC max setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Zhiemer Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 A really important thing to note when removing a dash is that, if you are removing the wiring harness to get the dash out, STOP right there. The wiring harness and the dash will come out as one complete unit, the only wiring that may require removing is any wires that have been put in after the factory. If you separate the wiring harness from the dash, it makes it a real bitch to get back in neat. Other than that, as the others have said, it's a very easy process. Take your time, and watch where you remove everything from, all the plugs are either colour coded or different in some way to each other. Or a bit of masking tape and a pen soon fixes the problem of what goes where. Cheers, Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakertom Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Some photos of the intake ports; I removed the hood, wipers and the 4 center plastic insets holding the two plastic screens in place. It's a shame Subaru didn't screen off those ports. Would keep the drivers side port closed - AC position for any vehicle being stored to block mice access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wysubey Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 I got a bee in my bonnet today and pulled the dash. Mouse hadn't been living in there in awhile, but was definitely evidence of past (pest) infestation. I got this nice stuff designed for sanitizing CPAP machines that has no odor and kills everything. I can't stand scented cleaning products. Worked well for clearing musty smell in my other cars system without tearing it all apart. Took the blower motor apart and cleaned all the crap from it, lubricated with 3-in-1 oil. Is there something better for old blower motors? Brushes still have a bit of life left. The AC box came apart without completely removing it & depressurizing ac system. Get all the clips from the front & sides, then there are 2 around back but there's enough room to get hands and flathead screwdriver to pop them off. Pull the drain tube, a little jimmying and the bottom comes off. Was a little trouble to get the back clips back on. Dave, where do you find the foam to restore flappy doors? What is that stuff called? Other issue I found was the fan resistor is shot. I probably bumped it with my vacuum and broke the small wires. Ordering it from rockauto now. Cheers y'all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 The foam I used was 1-1/4" wide 3/16" thick. It is sold as weatherstripping in hardware stores. It is black, closed cell foam. You want whatever kind they have that is the longest life / quality. [I have some leftover, but not the packaging with the part number] After removing the old crud, I laid strips onto the doors side by side to re create the sheet they had. I have not had any signs of malfunction in the car I did this on, several years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wysubey Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Put the dash back together yesterday, and most everything works. Happy to report that all the HVAC is working perfectly with new weatherstripping. Put 1/4" hardware cloth screens where the intakes meet the body, and the fan box recirc intake to keep vermin out. A/C works perfectly now, wheras it stopped after about 20 seconds before. Maybe just a poor connection somewhere in the dash or ac box. Didn't realize before that the defrost setting turns on ac for drying the air before it hits heater core. Kinda cool, but in -20f temperatures there's not much moisture in the air to begin with! Bi-level does feet and windshield vents so that will do the trick, or I will pull the AC fuse in winter. Heater much better now too, it was barely lukewarm before. Almost made a boo-boo with connecting the new heater hoses... put a small rubber stopper in to keep the coolant in the engine, then forgot to take it out before 1st start up. Why doesn't the heater work???? OOPPS... thankfully it didn't go anywhere and I extracted it, bob's your uncle. The problems: "1" fan setting is not working per the broken resistor, I'm not too worried about that for now. Does anyone want to tell me their impedance readings? Then I can solder a resistor in to replace the busted element. Only other thing that's not working is intermittent wiper setting. Slow/fast/mist work fine, but wipers don't return to the bottom automatically. One or two connectors to find I guess. I was so happy to hear it start up first try! Cheers, Y'all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Letting the AC run for defrost also helps keeps the system, lubed when it would normally sit idle for months, which isn't necessarily good for anything. With -20 air going in, it won't run much / work hard anyways. For the fan resistor, 2 options I've used - Get a spare used resistor assembly from a scrapyard. Take the smallest good resistor [even if it's the second to smallest], and replace the broken one. The smallest one is often the one that fails. This fix will make low speed a little faster than stock, but still quiet. Other option, buy some NiChrome wire off ebay, similar diameter to the original one, make the same number of turns and size as the original. The power loss in the resistors is high for their size, and they depend on the airflow to keep them from burning up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoby4wd Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 does anyone have a how to for removing the dash? Specifically, I just want to remove the soft dash top from my 86 Brat and replace with one I have in my Hatch which is in better shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydube Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 You pull the entire heater core with plastic cover, from beneath the dash and leave the dash entirely in place. It is only held in place with one or two bolts. Obviously, you have to disconnect it on the other side of the fire wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Not in a wagon from at least 86 through 93 powered by an EA82 engine. Outside of these years, I don't have first hand experience. But inside of them, and I would expect anything with an EA82 engine, would be the same. The dash must be removed to get the box with the heater system and core out. Once that assembly is out, the heater core can be removed from it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 13 hours ago, DaveT said: Not in a wagon from at least 86 through 93 powered by an EA82 engine. Outside of these years, I don't have first hand experience. But inside of them, and I would expect anything with an EA82 engine, would be the same. The dash must be removed to get the box with the heater system and core out. Once that assembly is out, the heater core can be removed from it. I can vouch for this. It’s the same for the EA81 from memory too (it’s been about ten years since I pulled an EA81 heater core. I’ll be doing another dash swap in the next month or so). Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydube Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 On 4/25/2019 at 1:42 PM, DaveT said: Not in a wagon from at least 86 through 93 powered by an EA82 engine. Outside of these years, I don't have first hand experience. But inside of them, and I would expect anything with an EA82 engine, would be the same. The dash must be removed to get the box with the heater system and core out. Once that assembly is out, the heater core can be removed from it. I have an 86 and I had no problem in removing the heater core without touching the dash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 1 hour ago, scoobydube said: I have an 86 and I had no problem in removing the heater core without touching the dash. So someone else removed the dash for you?? Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydube Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 On 4/26/2019 at 9:04 PM, el_freddo said: So someone else removed the dash for you?? Cheers Bennie I removed the glove compartment, and the cover below it. The dash was left entirely in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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