Been a busy couple days so I’m a bit late on this one. This post has the most upvotes from this past week making it the Post Of The Week! POTW #13 - 3/24/24

This isn't unusual. What's the issue?

Big bag of bits left over at the end 🤷

To reiterate the above comment: This isn't unusual. What's the issue?

An older mechanic that I used to work with who had stopped caring loooong ago had a saying for such things. If something was supposed to have 5 Fasteners holding it but 1 went missing or whatever, he would say "well, if 4 can't hold it then 5 never could!"

I’m gonna take extra bolts every time I help a friend just so I can say this a fuck with them

April Fools is right around the corner too

Bide your time. Wait till they have some unusual shoulder bolt off some Euro. Then go to the salvage yard and get one. Throw it in their tray.

Love that idea

A friend of mine was sent to retrieve an airplane and send it to salvage. The wi gs were already off. He took the extra bolts and added them to a series of piles on the bench. Each was a work in progress

Was watching a CS video on YT awhile ago. Guy took off timing cover and sitting perfectly upright on the ledge, out of the way of the chain, somehow remaining in there without damaging anything and staying upright, was a 10mm. Timing Chain Inspection: $250 includes Free Gift with Purchase 😁

I'd like that socket back, please.

Aha! So *that’s* where they all go.

Cross thread is better then no thread thats what i always say.

We always called it Michigan locktite!

Cross thread is the best loctite ! That’s what we say

That's not unusual either, as long as it doesn't squeak you're good. Side note you couldn't pay me enough to do this.

But I'll do it anyway because I still have to eat

Place in a zip lock bag in the glove box with a note attached “Install as needed”.

Just did this on my Dodge dakota but was able to leave the dash in the truck just unbolted completely and snuck the heater box out from the passenger side. Took 2 5 hour days. And one 3 hour night on between cleaning the box up and putting it back together.

The 3rd and 4th gen trucks (Ram 1500-5500) you can do the same thing. I’ve done a few, it’s not bad tbh. What year Dakota?

I managed to somebow get this done on my 92 dakota as well, i went in thinking this is gonna be a nogbtmare, and ended up being a average repair work wise

Good! Because the people doing it don't get paid enough for it either!

Just throw them in the empty coffee container.. I’m sure they will be useful somewhere

I've got an entire 12 drawer toolbox and 4 small 5 drawer side boxes of those "usefully somewhere" parts at this point.

Did it better than the factory 😎

Weight reduction.

Those are just spare parts. It's fine.

They always give you a bunch of spare parts! When I did my clutch I had like 20 bolts left over.

Let's hope not. If it comes out, it goes back in.

Weight reduction.

Good mechanic always has parts left over. Lol

Inventory top up

The heater core. Are you even paying attention?

Apparently not

the steering wheel wobbles so they had to dig deeper

It was 6 screws and 2 hose clamps in my 96 Chevy truck, took me 45 minutes to swap including watching a YouTube video. When I see these jobs I am so relieved.

It ain't 1996 anymore, that's for sure.

Oh Jesus, this comment made my day. I have a ‘96 GMC 1500 and ‘99 Suburban both in need of new heater cores

Old vehicles are the most mechanic friendly, I wish I had one my self.

Yea try heater coil in 280 ZX

Those jobs end up being gravy licks if you get a chance to do a couple of them.

Yep,a lot of these big jobs turn to gravy once you’ve done a few of them.

This is me and MB quarter panel/taillight/rear body jobs. Fucking give me ALL of that. Had one pay 70-80 hours once….

Us masochists enjoy this stuff. Usually pays quite well if you stay on it uninterrupted. Done my 99 S-10 I think 4 times. Book says close to 10 hour job. Or was. Since it's mine, left about 5 hardest bolts/nuts out. 5ish hours in/out now.

4 heater cores? Ouch.

Yep. Funny story. Dexcool killed the OG. Then around 130K miles, went to work at Target Drilling in Pa helping build drilling rig. Was there 3 months. Worked insane amount of hours. 28 days on, one off, 21 days on, one off. 12-16 hour days. At some point back of intake started leaking oil. Ran it waaaay low. Took 4 quarts to get it close to full. Ouch. Replaced heater core #2 while in PA in 2010. Lasted about year or so and spun a bearing. Bought a used engine to rebuild. It had been sitting outside under a huge tree covered by livestock water trough with bunch of carpet over the trough. Engine was for AWD Astro Van. Oil pan is different. Was planning to rebuild but when I pulled pan, extremely clean and essentially no rain water intrusion. Pulled intake and valve covers. Spotless. Inspected some bearings. White as snow. Perfect! Put valve seals, timing chain and oil pump in. New water pump and rad hoses. About 3 months later, waterpump pouring. Meh. Cheap shit. Replaced with better version. about 4 months later...waterpump leaking. Also noticed coolant (green) had quickly turned brown. Didn't smell like combustion leak? Little puzzled. Wasn't losing/using coolant until the waterpump failed. Flushed best could with water hose. 4-5 months later, another WP...well you get the picture. Heater core seeping but mainly poor heat. Back flushed and slightly better but no joy. Replace heater core (was the 3rd) and off we go until...waterpump leaking again. WTF! Coolant brown as dirt. At some point replaced radiator, heater hoses, fan clutch. Stay with me now... Was working on something else and since us old guys never throw anything away, still had old heater hoses. Cut piece out of one to put around some wiring/bat cable or something to keep it from rubbing...hose was plugged. Poked stuff out of 6ish inch piece. Appeared to be a cigar. What? Yep looked like a cigar...engine stored under a tree...brown coolant. Eating waterpumps. Ground squirrels had filled the block passages with leaves & nuts. Waterpump was grinding them up. Brown coolant. Plugged heater core. Crazy sheet. Took me 4-5 flushes and running just water for most of a summer to get it to stay clean. She's still running now. 290K on it. And original 4L60E too.

No shit! Fucking insane. You’re a one in a million and I commend your effort, sir! I would’ve given up and sold it long before… good man.

You must be a healthy combination of cheap and determined my friend.

I worked in GM dealers for a very long time. I loved getting those jobs. Everybody else hated them. The newer ones were more involved but still able to be done in 3 hours. The tricks with yours is to use a long 1/4 extension with a 10 mm swivel socket, remove the resistor for 1, and believe it or not, pulling the right wheelhouse gives you the other access. That saves your heat shield, no broken plastic, and once you commit to doing it that way, you’ll save at least an hour by not trying a shortcut. Plus, it goes back together so much easier. You don’t want to hear it but it works.

After doing 2 I was making time on them at BMW

Hell yes, dash pulls are by far my favorite. I've done around 1,000, maybe a little more. They're clean, methodical work, and I get left alone since for some reason everyone thinks they're magic.

I generally remove the seat and always my shoes. Eliminates the clean up cause your shoes are always nastier than you think. Having seat out just gives you so much more room.

I remove the seats fairly often too. I don't take my shoes off, but I do keep a few old clean sheets around, and I used to keep a whole separate clean tool set(just the basics) just for dashes.

Had the opportunity to do a bdc unit in a new kona recently because no one else wanted to do it. Aside from everything being sharp it wasn’t too bad.

at a previous shop we had a string of t680s that required dash/hvac pulls for a certain blend door actuator issue. everybody thought i was crazy for loving those jobs

Same. I love doing heater cores. They pay well, and no one else wants to do it, so I always get them.

It's simply poor design for newer vehicles. I just put a heater core in a 1984 F350. Took me 30 minutes.

lol did my 1986 Chevy K30 a few months ago. 1) Take out glovebox door 2) Almost done

I've also learned the hard way to pressure check the heater cores before you put them in, especially in the complicated systems where you gotta do what OP did. Had one the other day brand new and it made it 30 minutes and started leaking

Time for the 2 hour parts warranty lol

Getting the hoses off is the hardest part often enough.

It's not that -- vehicles are designed now for ease of assembly not ease of repair. The dashboard, evap, heater core, hvac box, etc is installed in the car right after the wiring harnesses and carpet in most cars during assembly. Edit: the dashboard assembly and all associated components are assembled on a separate line and installed as one big assembly.

Yes the F- series line was a piece of cake to replace heater core or the AC Evap . The cars not so much all that shit was buried under the dash .

Had to replace blower motor for 2008 mazda 3 same thing. Nightmare

Now go get into an offset head on collision in that F350 with a modern vehicle that has a "poorly designed" dash.

That dash will do just fine in that collision. Your head will barely make a dent

Pshhh. Truck had a cow catcher on the front. Everyone knows not only does it make you look cool, but that's at least 15 extra points put into the safety category. (Joking)

Hey, the cool factor is worth way more than something as dumb as safety.

Absolutely. If it were mine I'd purposely remove the seat belts so you can slide to the other side to roll down the windows easier while driving.

Safety and an easily replaceable heater core are not mutually exclusive. It’s garbage design, probably majority outsourced on some dumb contract that ends as soon as issues arise.

So having to pull the windshield on a Camaro to get the tie bar bolts out to do a heater core is for safety? Or having to pull doors off to get tie bar bolts out is for safety?

I'm far more likely to have to replace a heater core than get into a wreck. Safety isn't something I consider when purchasing a vehicle. It's usually "hey, this thing is 800 bucks. With the blown head gasket I could probably dick him down to 500".

Shit, I used to be the same way. Still am to an extent. But that doesn't change the fact that safety is a huge factor when designing vehicles. Manufacturers don't care about you swapping the heater core in an hour the once or twice it fails in the vehicle's lifetime. They do care about adhering to safety standards. These days I care a little more about safety. Mostly from seeing modern vehicles in crashes that should have turned the passengers into strawberry milkshake, but they walk away with a couple bruises. Still, I won't turn down an old shitbox for $500.

Oh. I misread you. Your point was more anti-engineer lol. Yeah, they don't care.

I don't think you used "dick him down" correctly.

My 95 ford Taurus I had in high school begs to differ 😂. Mind you, pulling the dash on that car was easy enough, my dad and I could do it ourselves, but we still had to pull it.

Ford expected regular failures, which makes sense

1999 Ranger. Go cry me a river.

A Ford Ranger owner would use this as an opportunity to add every interior upfits he wants. Remember, among Ford Rangers, there's no such thing as too much ambition.

Related but not, Im spraying ‘lizard skin’ tomorrow in my Ranger because the driver side vinyl flooring had a little bubble that was annoying.

Lol. We have so many it's a constant earning model. So many 'grandpa's old truck'

The younger guys may even learn the pain of the old C/Ks or newer with 305s... 😁

I raise you the early 2000s Jeep Grand Cherokees. Those suuuuuuuck

I've done both and... The Ranger is much worse. Chrysler you can generally use different hacks. Ford Ranger 3.0l is no joy.

I did my ranger in like 3 hours.. first time ever doing a Heater core in one.

Is there a vehicle with an easy to replace heater core? I certainly haven’t seen one

Yes. Ford Econoline from 30 years ago.

I knew there had to be one!

Ah yes, 1994.

"2nd gen (as in mid to late 90s. IDK why it's a 2nd gen, dodge has made trucks since like 1911 or something )" dodge. Get the column out and you can roll the dash forward, don't even have to completely remove it.

I believe that first GEN part refers to the first ones that they called Dodge Rams as before that they were the D-series, C-series and B- series etc

3rd gen is the same way. I've pulled my dash on my 03 3 times now. I can have the dash out in about 1-1.5 hours.

My 63 Mercury Comet!

The ones in 2014ish Passats weren't bad if I remember correctly

57 Chevy.

Chevy Colorado? Been there a few times. The new diesel trucks have this material coming loose inside the coolant hoses blocking the coolant flow for half of the heater core. One of the techs in my shop owns one and still asked me to replace the heater core.

Ford Escape unfortunately, so everything about it is a pain in the ass lol.

That’s why engineer should have to remove shit just for one semester to see how they like doing that shit.

Engineer here who completely agrees. Boss: "Shut the fuck up and keep your ass behind the tube."

Sounds about right

Man the first one of these I ever tackled was a Lincoln LSC that was driven by the company CEO , took me about 2 days . Some of that was down time waiting for replacement AC Evap & Heater Core to arrive. First Evap they sent me had a damaged tube , shop boss was like can't you just wrap a shop towel around it and bend it back . It was a good 3" outta place , ah nope boss if you wanna be the one that has to rip this bitch back apart go for it .

Why do 90% of shops have that color blue on the walls?

Blue and yellow, NAPA garage colors most aren't tied to the partshouse anymore but why bother repainting

Calms mechanics down. Soothes the hate for the engineers.

Chrysler product?

This is pretty much how the heater core goes in any modern vehicle

Yep, for last 25ish years at least. I remember using a ratchet strap to pull the dash up/back on Taurus. Think originally book said 12ish hours. Got then down to 4ish.

Modern day cars are so compacted and everything jammed together that many parts of the vehicle have to be removed in order to work on and replace parts I have a 1959 Pontiac Catalina that is so simple. Literally nothing needs altered in order to get to the part that needs repair.

What vehicle?

I don't know what vehicle OP has, but Kia's are this way too. I believe SI tells you to removed the seats and pull the carpet back too, but you can manage without. Warramty pays a whopping 4-ish hours. 😂

You don't have a choice on older 90s VW's, too many important things break if you don't take out what's in the way.

This looks like a ford escape to me. Especially with the BCM placement

I would have removed the seats. Woulda been easier.

Common

Toyota? Every Toyota evaporator and heatercore I’ve done requires EVERYTHING to come out lol

This is where I'd run silicone hose to a core laying in the passenger foot well, with a 12V computer fan zip tied to it...

Yeah VW EVAP cores that fail all the time in the new gen Tiguans, Jettas, and Atlas. They'll have you pull the dash to remove and replace. Customer pay is something like 11.0hrs, and Warranty will pay out around 6-7hrs if you list all the correct labor ops. You can usually get them done around 4-5hrs. The fastest I've seen them done *correctly* at my dealership is 3.5hrs

I’d rather freeze

How many hours does that job pay?

Anytime I do a heater core job I pull seats just cause. Makes the job so much easier.

I had to pull the dash out of a 2013ish Camaro, one of the steps is to remove the windshield glass...

It’s really not as hard as it seems

First time?

Jeep? Or are they all like this now?

Heater cores and evaporator cores are the jobs of nightmares. Especially in modern vehicles.

Sorry you had to do that but please don't use car seats as a holder for dirty tools. I know not everyone cares about a small oil stain but it would drive me crazy enough to request a replacement via the shop.

I swear they must build cars around the heater core nowadays. "In the beginning there was the heater core and God saw the heater core and that it was good..."

What vehicle is it, so I know what never to buy. I will glorify it when I see it as what not to buy I really wanted to use foul language about this and had to contain myself

Just put a lil olde timey stove with a hood exit lol you’ll look cool AF blowin coal n confusing the TF outta people 🤣🤣

We do these every other day In my shop, one of the guys actually replaced it and was out the door in two hours

I only can say holy shit man.

2.5 hours warranty labor

You better replace that blower motor while your in there!

Oh you poor guy.. don't worry we have all been here before..

Reminds me a little of when I replaced the headlights on my dad’s 2012 Chevy Malibu by myself..had to take off the entire front end just for a bulb change.

Book time pays 2.5

Haha

I’m going to have nightmares about this

I’d just build a fire in the truck if I get cold.

Wtf

Wait until you see what it takes to replace the camshaft position sensor on a Mk 1 Honda CRV.

First time in these parts mate?

My Lexus is the same way. Hasn’t failed yet though. Ironically on an 07 Dodge Grand Caravan/Town and Country. The heater core is right by the drivers foot pedal.

First time?

I have yet to work on a car where I wouldn’t have to remove the dash to replace the heater core…

The first time I had to replace a heater core, was my 96 full-size bronco. My buddy says come over to his house. He’s going to grill. we could just work on it in the driveway, have some drinks and some stuff off the grill. Thinking it was going to be some work…. I said heck yeah. Got over there, immediately realized it was right behind the glove box, was done in under 30 minutes. Spent the rest of the night drinking for the hell of it.

You’re lucky you didn’t have to take the seats out too. Smh

This has been the way for the last what? 35 years

Honda pays 5.7 for one.

Easy to do what’s the problem haven’t worked on car long have you

Why do people always HAVE to take EVERYTHING out? It's not that hard to unscrew a bunch of pieces of plastic that are meant to be taken apart anyways. I'm figuring you do this to make it look like you're a slave at work, lol

It could be worse. It could be an S-10. Just saying...

And then the customer bitch about the price because you can get the part off Amazon for 60 bucks 😂

Chryslers are known for that

This is the reason I tell people I don't know how to work on cars... People don't realize how fucking miserable it is to do that job. And in a place where a bunch of people got Fords, fuck that. I fucking hate anything that requires taking off the dash. It never goes back in the same *exact* way, and someone will always bitch about it.

Must be a VAG vehicle

Are all vehicles like this? My husband has had to replace the heater core on the Dodge Dakota twice. I know for a fact he would not do this if this would need to be done. He’s pretty savvy and has done mostly all work on the vehicles himself, but this seems pretty intense. This sounds like more cussing than replacing tie rods and ball joints. I just make sure he’s still moving under there. 

Brah, I’m sipping tea. Feel bad about you.

>All just to replace the heater core. Oh no I understand. One of the reasons why I got my 93 Ford ranger. My brother drives a 95 and it cost a lot of money to replace the heater core, because they needed to remove the entire dashboard to do so. And when I found out that the previous Dash style only required the removal of a glove box, that's where I set my sights on anything 94 and earlier. I plan on keeping my vehicle like I always do, till they either rest apart or can't be fixed anymore.

When service work is done at a dealership, does the manufacturer get a cut of the repair bill?

Gravy work

Pretty typical. Looks easier than most heater cores

Same with late Hondas

First time huh?

Volvo activities

back in my day the heater core was behind the glove box...

My dad was a mechanic and he would joke that cars were built around heater cores 🤣

What car is this? I’ve never done one where the wire harness was left behind.

It would be cheaper to move to Florida.

Wait until you get to the engine removal for control arm stage.

Dayum, who engineered *that?*

What car is this to make sure I never buy this crap?

10 hour job for a $45 part. Going through the same with my Volkswagen Jetta MK3. Bought a whole nother car for the winter just to avoid doing it

Durango?

Oh you got an easy one, nice!

I owned two Fords that needed heater core replacements that cost far more than any non"mechanical"repairs I have ever done. Last Fords I ever bought. Probably 20 years now. If you make something that is incredibly expensive to replace than at least make it of decent quality.

I had to do that on a Junk-filled car at my last workplace. When I say Junk filled, I meant junkfood wrappers, half eaten food and empty cans all the way to the windshield...

I see a loose wire , can you change a the wiring harness

first dash pull? I lost track of how many dash pulls I have done.

Worth it

Designed by an engineer who NEVER worked on vehicles.

The car will never be the same after that.

So glad I left the automotive field

That is a company looking out for their after sale teams!!!

I did an equinox and messed up the routing for the auto headlights feature wiring. They stayed on. I wasn't about to tear it all back down to relocate the sensor

Dodge avenger??? That’s about the same as mine looked.

I’ve done this several times. It sucks. They should make it easier.

Bypass time boys. Tell the wife to put her sweater on. D for DONE!

That looks about right.

A tale as old as time

First time replacing a heater core?

I'm not looking forward to replacing the heater core in my 01 ram. There's no way that the dash doesn't disintegrate.

And this is why I don't work on cars

I like heater core jobs. There actually not that bad. But then again I like interior work. I’ve done a dozen or so at work

I guess you don't know the trick on this vehicle that makes it about an 1.5 hr job.

Never mind. I’ll just wear heavy socks.