Could somebody please describe the replacement procedure for changing out the heater core in a 1993 Camry 4cyl? I have a shop manual that makes it look pretty easy, but i talked to a mechanic who works on foreign cars and he told me it's a 14hr job, that requires removing the entire dash and steering column, who do i believe? Please help?

 

Never done one but I would trust the Haynes manual. I have never been misled bythat.Maybe he's trying to scare you. I was told that my struts of my 93 camry was a huge job calling for $700.00 labor. I did all four in about 4 hours. It was a breeze.

 

The Generation 3 Toyota shop manual shows a simple job.

Remove heater protector -2 clips

Remove heater core -3 screws and 3 clamps

Disconnect heater pipes

The core appears to be in up front under the dash for easy access. Check it out, should know after a few minutes of looking.

There may have a change in the AC system that required taking out the dash, etc when working on the AC condensor.

 

Sorry to bring this up, but just throwing out my 2 cents. On my 70 mustang it took me a good 10 hours to replace the heater core. The box was bulky and it could not be simply dropped and slide through the floor. Havent seen how big these ones are, but its gives you a pretty good work out. A lot of mechanics over estimate the cost because each car is different. My friend was quoted for $1500 for a blow head gasket on his 93 Mazda mx6 but it only took me 8 hours which is equivalent to about $900.