Very true. Looking on all data it looks like I'd have to remove the dash anyways to get at the blend door.

How is the volume of air? On mine, the air volume was pretty low. Of course, the fix would be the same, remove the box to remove debris.

The volume seems good. Lots of air flow coming out of the vents. Can I get in there to clean the junk out by following the guides on here? Or do you have to totally remove the whole dash to do that?

To clean it well, I don't see how you could do it without removing the box and taking it apart.. I am sure you could try a shop vac and get some out, but no way you get it all. My AC evaporator had the fins blocked with gunk and needed removable and compressed air to get right.

One other possibility that might lend credence to your situation, the previous owner may have used stop leak on an existing hole and the thing is gunked/blocked by that...

In any case, removal sounds like an increasing possibility.

So I can take the whole box out by just tieing up the dash to hold it away from the firewall like in the pics? Or do I need to take the dash right out of there?

Holding it out of the way works. That is what my mechanic did. (I was far too lazy to do the job myself, I just checked in every so often to shoot the bull with him. That is what old age has did to me, made me too lazy to tackle the PITA jobs.)

Thanks for the help! I'll try and get the wife to take some pics and do my own how-to if I have some time.

NP

I am lucky to live in a small town with a good mechanic. Good work, fair prices.

Raplaced heater core, installed a 180 degree t-stat (all Napa parts), added refrigerant to top AC off after discharge, $305 total. Hard to beat that, considering the parts were $115.

OK so I got the heater core in, sorry no pics. It wasn't really that hard at all, just time consuming.

So I have much better heat now. The box was clean inside, nothing stuck in there or anything. I find the heat still lacks though. All the heater doors work corerctly and the truck comes up to temp like it should. It takes a really long time for the truck to warm up though. It has a new 195 thrermostat in there too.

Any ideas?

sounds like you need to replace the core if you haven't done so already. i ended doing that in my 95 and gained like 20-30 degrees in heat...well mechanics ended up doing it because you have to tear apart the dash and i didn't want to mess with that...and let me tell you first hand, it sucks not having heat throughout the whole winter (i unfortunately waited to long to fix it). strongly suggest that you replace it.