Passat Heater Core Replacement VW- Super Fast and Easy. B5 MK5 1996-2005 

Hey AutoTech guys. THANK YOU!!!! I finally got the courage to try this. Having seen a car assembled at the factory, the dash goes in in one piece so no surprise it comes out that way too. Before this job, I have tried flushing and reflushing -- after taking out the old core, I cut it in half and even with a flush a week ago, most of the core was still clogged. It's a fools errand to flush and expect it to be good as new. So, at my local VW mechanic's advice (Neil @ Ellis Automotive) I got the Nissen heater core. It does indeed take about 3 hours. Took me more because I flushed the entire system after. Some tips for others that might do this: 1. the steering knuckle is a torx50; the bolts in the fan box @ 0:58 do not need to come out; the bolt at 1:44 connects the brake/clutch pedals and is between them; the wires at 1:49 for the clutch safety switch can be mixed up as there are two of the 2 wire connectors (I made the mistake of reversing them so the car would only start if the clutch was not pressed, whoops). AutoTech, I can't thank you enough. Had I known it was this easy, I would have done this years ago. Total cost: $110 CDN for the Nissen Core; $80 to Searles Auto in Victoria to drain and recharge the refrigerant; $30 for VW Victoria for 4 litres of G12.

I need to thank y'all personally, posting this video and showing people you talent saved me $1000 in repairs. Yall gave me the courage to do it myself and every bit your instruction helped me do this repair all by myself. Pretty empowering thanks fellas.

Thank you so much for this!!!! Book time is 10.2hrs on this and I was able to get it completely done in about 5hrs!!!

4 years later but this method is awesome; I've done it the Bentley way and this is so much better. Instead of a weekend, it was about 6 hrs and I took my time. Thanks very much,

Thank you so much! I have been with out heat for 3 winters and one of them we had temps with highs below 0 for 60 days straight! I have been dreading this project because it seemed so daunting with having to remove the steering wheel airbag, the steering wheel, radio, climate controls and everything else involved without having detailed instructions. Your video gave me the courage to tackle this project. Your video was near perfect; there was just one extra wire I had to disconnect near all the red wires connected to the 30 terminals. Thank you for making my winter commutes warm and toasty, again!

This is an excellent video and I take my hat off to you. I have sold a Golf Gti mk 2, a Seat Alhambra and another Golf GTi mk 3 ALL because the heaters started to blow cooler after about 8 years old. I knew it was the heater matrix getting clogged with sh$t over time. And, I knew it would be expensive to rip the dash out, especially in the Alhambra which is about 3 feet deep! I did ask my VW service chap about it and he said "Sell, sell, sell"!

dec 2023 I swapped out A4 B5 using this procedure......a real blessing to get windscreen demister action back up and running...and heater comfy warm... happy days....I also dismantled air box ( not easy, some clips broke in process ) and aluminium tape to replace disintegrated black sponge on heater diverter flaps...no more sponge being blown into cabin Great video and soundtrack helped a lot with calming anxiety about taking it on

Thanks for making the heater core video it was very helpful and much easier than the procedure in the Haynes manual

I used this technique on my 2001 Audi A4 2.8l Quattro I can't thank you enough You saved me many hours

Excellent instructions. you need to remove the black and yellow wire from the left terminal also. Thanks for the help

Yup super fast and easy we was shocked of how tremendously easy this was got it in and out in 30 seconds the whole job took us about 12 seconds Thanks!!

I have to do this job on my 02 passat, i was dreading doing the job piece by piece . Thank you for posting this great time saver, Now wont be afraid to sell the job at my auto shop

My friend and I replaced heater core in 2003 Passat, 1.8. What an experience! We did it all by watching RU-vid videos. I have no intentions of doing another but I would try your way in a heartbeat.

Fast and easy you take the whole car apart and fast and easy you replace the heater core.

I've done many passat heater cores, and I did them by taking piece by piece out. I was able to do them in about 6-7 hrs. I tried it your way and I cant believe how simple it is. I now can do them in 2-3 hrs!!! great time saver and great video!! Thank you!

THANK YOU! I did this in 5 hours compared to the 7 hours I was quoted from shops. 900 bucks to install a $25 part! NO THANKS!! Something to keep in mind for all newer vehicles as I understand most of them are built this way these days.... Thanks 1000 times again!

This is an excellent video and I cannot recommend it enough for someone needing to perform this repair. The only addition I'd make is actually a subtraction - no need to remove the bolts in the metal crossbar; only the nuts on the mounting studs, the small bolt near the wiper gear, the small center console bolts and the eccentric bolt connecting the steering column to the power steering shaft. Some of the harness plugs don't need to be pulled but they're so easy to replace it is of zero consequence if you pull a few extras just in case.

Nice one. All works great. Only one extra step for me was a cable to a 60 A fuse in the ecu container. I used some steel wire to push the locking tangs in of one of the fuse blade holders and so unlocking the metal blade holder from the plastic fuse housing. The trick with taking out and putting in the heater matrix from the plastic compartment is to curve it out so it misses the underside of the top of the dash. I had this work completed in 5 hours including tools out, tea, lunch and tools away.

Congratulations, I watched others in which unraveled piece by piece. I'm from Brazil, and I am trying to create the courage to make the switch. I'm afraid to connect something wrong. But congratulations on video.

Wow, pretty slick. Done tons of em' the other way; but that's pretty ingenius. I'm gonna try that next time.

German engineering man... I love it until I have to replace a heater core. Good job guys thank you for the informative video.

you make it look so easy , I'm about to do one in my 01' Passat , I've done a all the work myself on my Audi's and VW's and found that I can get parts fairly inexpensively and to work on them is not that bad compared to other cars I've fixed in the past. My first Audi A4 saved my life when I was in a accident, they are tanks, since then I was sold on them. So don't let the fear of costly difficult repairs detour you from owning a Vw or Audi ,its not true.

extraa, hvala mnogo, ubedljivo najbolji tutorijal za mali hladnjak!

Man! Thank you for this tutorial, you saved my life! :D It was pretty good idea for no disassemly the full front of car-interior. I had a leaked heater core radiator. But i think, it's not a good work for one ppl. I did with my dad, and one of my friend. (3x) And it was 4,5-5 hour while we disassemle and reassemble the full interrior. BTW again, thank you for this video. ! HONOR YOU!

perfect instructions guys, definitely not something to attempt on your own if you don't do this kind of work frequently. thumbs up.

Thanks for the info, doing one of these today and tomarrow. Got it out in like 4.5 hours! Ive found these things are actually pretty easy to work on despite the VW reputation. Good video.

Picked up an 03 Passat GLS tonight, owner tried to hide the bypassed heater core and I was able to pick it up for $500! (Amazing what you can do what you catch someone in a lie..) anyways, I really appreciate the video! I plan on using it as a guide here in a week or so.

Well done! Took me and a buddy about 5 hours to do this! Might start buying passats with blown cores 😂

to me it was absolutely obvious the factory does assemble the dash inside the car, knew it was a better way.. now this should also work on a 2.8 b5 so this is the way i'm doing it tomorrow

going to do that on my s4 b5 . after seeing your video i think i can do it by myself. thanks for sharing this HUGE life saver!!

Did this yesterday. It took me about 5 hours, and I'm a relatively slow worker. I snapped a few plastic screw mounts but nothing that left any trim wobbly. My 2004 is an automatic but that just meant I had to lift the dash up over the shifter which was a bit awkward. I discharged the AC myself. I realize now that I didn't understand the eccentric bolt on the steering linkage, I thought it was just stuck, so I just removed the 4 allen bolts on the steering wheel mount and dropped the whole thing (had to remove the trim around the steering wheel, which was the most awkward part of the project with getting the right angle on the two top T15 screws, even with a flex shaft). My core also didn't slide in as easily as the one on the video, my dash extends just barely over the edge so it took a little bit of forcing to get it to clear the edge of the dash. I managed to slide the steering wheel assembly back onto the linkage arm 90 degrees off, which means my wheel is turned 90 degrees when I'm driving straight, and I suspect it caused the ESP warning light to come on, but I think I can fix that without having to re-pull the dash. It's more inconvenience than anything. Otherwise everything works and the heater is hot! I was pretty stoked that the dash slid back into place without anything getting hung up on the firewall and just a minor bit of banging. $30 for a new core and $30 for a gallon of coolant, pretty good deal for what a shop would charge. Thanks so much for the video!

Well here I go tomorrow my first one I have a 03 audi A4 heater core out and just bought a 03 passat wagon and Guess what heater core out, so it begins great video

I'm pretty sure this guy said very little, if anything, and I understood this more than any other video I've watched

so this is a fantastic idea! tomorrow I will have one B5, and i will try it. a lot of tanks for helpful video!

thanks for the vid guys- im an auto body tech and always looking for as easier way to take things apart and i knew the heater core was gonna be an ordeal esp when i saw a diff one and they took every single part off the dash. ive got an 02 v6 4motion 2.8l wagon and hope theres nothing too different with this model. also have a 68 squareback lowrider- funny how both my vw wagons have no heat right now. thanks again for the info and excellent replies to others i saw with similar questions i had right off the bat. Cheers- mike.

Y’all are definitely experts, because that looks like hell lol

I was nervous about doing this my self due to lack of time but it was pretty easy once I got into it. The hardest part was steering wheel shaft it took a T47 to remove it but what was quoted as a 7 hr $1300 job took me 3 hrs plus $100 to get a/c recharged. bonus tip buy a all metal heater core with top plastic mount to avoid doing this again the factory style units have plastic firtings and fail at the seals

Great video. Just did mine looking at this tutorial.. everything went just perfectly.. the only difference was that mine was Irish car.. so steering wheel on the other side but video shows that it is literally mirror reflection of mine. Thanks again for helpful guide !

Thank you very much, you saved me a ton of time and money. My 2002 Passat varied a little from the video but it was close enough that it got me through. I did not have the up facing bolt above the wiper motor under the cowl, there was just a rubber plug. In your video the trim under the wiper arms is on, I had to pull the wiper arms and plastic trim to get to a bolt in the waterproof electrical box under the hood on the drivers side.

Good and Quick method. Thanks. Jeroen from the netherlands

I just finished this on a 2000 Audi A4 (B5 Chassis). Worked great. The A4 has trim around the center console that has to come out, so the Radio, climate control, ash tray, and frame for all these has to come out first. Otherwise it is pretty much identical, and much faster than disassembling the entire dash. THANK YOU for sharing this method!! I also removed the drivers seat--it makes it easier to get under the dash for all those wires, and is easier to move the dash around when it slides out.

Just did this yesterday. Thanks a bunch. Took me 6 hours. Still lots of work but thanks for the cheat

haven't tried this yet but this sounds like good advice. thanks for the heads up!

Awesome vid! I'm going to tackle this project this weekend and you simplified the process! THANKS SO MUCH!

Great video, I'll be doing a heater core in about a week and trying to figure out the best way to do it. I'll be following your direction on this one.

Well, I can only say ,Thank you for this video, I done it hard way, damn I disassemble everything today, what a shame because didn't watch this video on the first place. My bad, tomorrow is assembly day. :"( A long day.....

I might be picking up a 2001 Passat 2.8, 5 speed wagon tonight! flex pipe is bad and needs a new heater core...hoping to get it for a pretty low price, and this video will help a ton. thank you!

You definitely made it look easy & less painful, thank you for the pics & vids.

Nice! Will do it this way the next time!

looks like the real deal. Many thanks.

Thank you. This video was very helpful

Audi a4 guys. OK. Awesome video. Very good overview for the semi experience. As for my 98 audi a4, here's a few tips for you guys. There is no bolt by the wiper motor just under the wind shield. (so I took all my wiper arms and plastic off for nothing, my 98 model) I took almost all the wiring plugs off at the passenger footwell, except for the 5 that go to the door. I didn't take any plugs off at the drivers footwell. The note about the 30 amp works is right and there is 1 (the thickest) brown ground by the hood release. Before I watched the video, I took apart the center console including the black Frame that holds the climate control and radio. I may not have needed to do that because they didn't in the video BUT... I may have damaged some of it with the shifter if I had left it there. I had a hard time rotating the dash back with the steering wheel attached. It hung up on the seat. Even with the steering wheel off, the heater core was tight up against the windshield coming out. Over all great video. And doesn't separate the dash from the heater box which is another pain in the ass I didn't want to deal with. Any questions, ask. Thanks

Best video ever Thanks guys

Going to give this a try tomorrow. Wish me luck! Getting cold here in Wisconsin!!

After watching that it gave me a nightmare I had to go and pop a few Xanax to calm me down I did not look easy there’s more wires on there than a 747 jet

GREAT VIDEO!!!!! Thank you Sir:)

worked great thanks for the video it saved my hours

SUPER THANKS! It made job alot easier!!!

Thanks for your video man! I did a perfect job.

Wow. Thanks for the knowledge.

My grandfather's friend and I replaced a heater core in my truck it was a huge pain in the ass

Nice video looks like I will be doing this to my mother’s car . The video help a lot very nice job . 💪

That is awesome ... Fantastic! 👍🏼

Many thanks for this video. This help me a lot. But there are some difference with the european model. The main one is with the outside fuse box. There are 2 fuses 50A & 80A with their support to unplug (ref:8a0937530) but for now i dont find the way to unplug the pin.

you, my friend, are amazing. thanks for the great detail in this. helped me out a ton today

Great video helped me greatly although mine was right hand drive 👍👍

wonder if this would work on a B5 S4/A4? the dash looks mostly the same, center counsel is a little different.

This is obviously neither fast nor easy, but thanks for sharing this video.

Happy New Year! Finished mine yesterday... thanks again for the great video! Have you got a paypal account? Would like to send you some money for coffee & donuts!

I did try to to remove a dash in a Jetta - Unsuccessful becuase of one bolt that holds the dash support to the top of the firewall. On the Passat the bolt points up and is easy to remove from under the cowl. With Jetta the same bolt points down and the windshield is in the way preventing it from being removed.

I did this once a few years back after not having heat for 3 years or so. My mistake was using a plastic replacement. Now i have to go in again but this time it will be all metal OE VAG. Hoping not to do it again on this car. I do look for passats for sale with no heat hoping for deal knowing this method. Oh, it took me about 3hrs by myself the first time. I think i can get that down to 2hrs, not including having the freon evacuated and replaced.

This weekend I plan to do this myself. I just need to ask, what tools I need? Something special? Some unusual torx/wrench size or type? Something I need to prepare before I start beside of draining A/C? And main question, am I able to do this SOLO? Pulling out the dash a putting it back. Anyway, THNAKS A LOT for video like this, very good!! Best regards from Czech republic, Passat Varianr ´03 1.9TDI owner.

This is genius! I am going to do it this Saturday. I would definitively buy you a beer/coffee/donuts no joke! if you send me your paypal

my god you saved me a ton of work thanks so much from Baltimore ,Md.One note keep your key out the ignition or you will need a vag.Come on winter I'm 4 motion with great heat ready for you.....

Good video.

I think it's a little bit complicated will see if I can do it thanks for showing us the best way to do this

Thank you!

Did another one today. It didn't go as smooth as last time. This was a 98passat wagon not sure if it changes things but the bolt under the cowell Wasn't there also there was a 20 gauge wire next to the series of red wires I didn't disconnect when I removed the dash I broke it. It was an easy fix. Also the connector the wires under the Ecm connect into I broke that when I rested it against the door. You removed the blower motor connector and 2 10 mm bolts above. I'm not sure why there is no need. On this car the heater core was very hard to r and r. The dash was in the way of lifting it straight out. I believe I folded the plates over. It works good in 70 degree weather but soon it'll be 14 degrees hope it don't come back.

Thanks it helped.

good video jobs done thank you

Hey guys, so far so good, thank you for the great video. I just need to remove the steering column bolt and then slide the dash out. Just wondering, what star socket size did you use to remove that bolt on the steering column. Mine has a star on one side and nut on the other. I can probably get it off without it, but just wanted to see if you remembered what you used? Thanks again!

I didn't notice any air conditioning connections in the video - unless that was them at 0:27 beside the battery?

AwesomeDYI...OR TWO IS BEST!

thanks that was really helpful

Greetings! Just got a 2003 Passat that needs heater core replaced. Do you have a step by step guide that goes along with this video?

Thank you for this video. I am going to attempt this soon on my 2002 Passat. While I have the dash removed to change the heater core, I'm thinking about replacing the various Climatronic servo motor parts that control the flaps and temperature blend in the HVAC box assembly. Does your technique provide access to those parts or not?

Good point Autotech. Thanks. Let me get your thoughts on another thing. When flushing the HC is there a possibility of damage w any chemicals used or the air pushed in to clean it.

Where is your shop, I need to change my heater core on my 2005 VW Passat 2.0 TDI

Is there an easy way to remove the electrical plugs with the two snaps on the sides like in the ECU box and under the side kick panels? I have been using two small screwdrivers on each side of the plug, but this become tedious with so many of them.

What a great alternative to the other method of complete disassembly. What is the make and part info for the core you used with metal tubes? Thanks

I have a friend with a 2003 Passat with a leaky heater core - and no money. I was looking for a replacement core on line and came across this video - it's given me the courage to give it a go! I've watched the video several times and read through the comments, which were also helpful (have a Torx50 socket on hand). I have a question on the air conditioning. In the video, the first frames show hoses hooked up - is that to drain the A/C? If so, do you then disconnect any hoses going through the firewall? On the heater side I can see where the hoses were disconnected - but don't have a clear understanding of what happens on the a/c side. Any help there is appreciated!

FFS I hope I don't have to do this! Maybe I'll just move out of Minnesota to a warmer state before it gets cold again! This looks like such a pain to do! I'm sure I can pull it off but it would take a couple days I'm sure.

Anyone knows if this method shown in the clip applies also to Audi A4 B5 2000? thanks

good job

Can you tell me what make the new heater core was? if i'm going to the effort of replacing mine i would prefer an all metal one like the one you fitted. Thanks.

I cant find the 10 mm bolt under the wiper cowling only something that resembles internal hex bolt on 2000 b5, is that it? Why do you have to unplug the wires by the ECU, are those sockets attached to the dashboard? Is replacing evaporator doable the same way or you have to detach and take apart the HVAC box?

Great video although di you have to remove all the red wires? aren't some just to the dash itself?

I followed the instruction of this video I used my phone to keep the video on pause and as I worked mine was an automatic that had a shifter cable I had to deal with also there was no instructions about the order of red wires on the drivers Side. They all separate when the dash is removed. It doesn't matter one post is different size the rest just need to go on the red post. It went very fast was done in about 10 hours include valve cover gaskets and tune up. The heater core doesn't quite clear the dash. This car was an old beater so I trimmed the dash back an eight of an inch the windshield trim covers it up. Great video. Need a how to on tundra front wheel bearing 2wd.

Thanks for the awesome video! Makes a daunting job seem much easier. My only question is: how much of the center console needs to come out? I'm working on a 99 a4 2.8L 5spd if that makes a difference. The "piece by piece" write-ups I've seen involve taking the entire center console out from the rear ashtray forward, is that really necessary? Any help appreciated!

Any trick to getting the bolt out of end of steering shaft? I took off the 16mm nut and using a T-50 star bit on bolt head; won’t budge. I assume it rusted, currently putting penetrating oil on it. It’s the last thing to disconnect after spending all day tinkering. Thanks for the video!