2004 Ranger, heater blowing antifreeze

A friend has a 2004 Ranger that is blowing out antifreeze into the interior when hot, and of course the coolant level keeps dropping. He's been told by mechanics that it's the heater core, and the cheapest estimate so far is $500. I've never worked on a Ranger so I can't advise how easy or hard it might be. There are no related posts I can find for a Ranger that new. Can someone provide a rough estimate of how difficult it would be to do it yourself? How long would it take? I'd buy the repair manual and do it myself without even thinking about it, but I'm not him. Thanks.

Before you commit to removing the heater core, make sure its not leaking at the hose connections at the firewall. A bad connection can make coolant leak into the cab. Other than that I don't know the procedure for removal.

On 91-99 Rangers you have to pull the dash out. On 04 Rangers you only have to take out 4 screws to remove the access cover. It's right under the heater/ac assembly lowest point on the plastic housing. 30 minutes tops to remove.

Great, thanks for the info. I'll push him to try it himself.

A friend has a 2004 Ranger that is blowing out antifreeze into the interior when hot, and of course the coolant level keeps dropping. He's been told by mechanics that it's the heater core, and the cheapest estimate so far is $500. I've never worked on a Ranger so I can't advise how easy or hard it might be. There are no related posts I can find for a Ranger that new. Can someone provide a rough estimate of how difficult it would be to do it yourself? How long would it take? I'd buy the repair manual and do it myself without even thinking about it, but I'm not him. Thanks.

Definitely sounds like the heater core has developed a leak or its connections to it. I'm not familiar with this model, but a subscription for OEM material can be located at www.alldatadiy.com (http://www.alldatadiy.com) For $26.95 for a year of OEM material beats a hardcopy at $135.00. Hope you get it fixed!

Try Hanes or Chilton Manuals. For fifteen bucks a copy you can't go wrong. They are very informative and I'm sure it includes a comprehensive description of how to remove the heater core. I have the Helms factory manual for my '99 4.0L model Ranger.