Well everything has decided to go wrong all at once. I just got my truck back yesterday from the tranny shop. Now the heater core is leaking on the passenger side of the truck. I hear this is really difficult to replace and cost a lot. I called one shop that said it will be $750 for parts and labor and a recharge on the AC that is required. Does anyone know a shop in the Seattle/Tacoma Area that maybe a little less. I really dont have the money to fix it since I just dropped over a grand for the tranny. Thanks for the help in advance!


Andy

 

im not from your area, but maybe you could search craigslist. in my area there are alot of mechanics looking for side jobs, or have been laid off. ive seen a bunch that would come to wherever the vehicle is, and work on it there. most of them will work for a fraction of what it would cost to have it done at a shop. possibly if that person was laid off it could help them out quite a bit too. as i said look around the automotive section, if you dont see anything post your own ad looking for someone. just make sure you check the person out to make sure they know what they are doing. just an idea.

 

Its not really all that difficult to do it yourself... just a big pain in the @ss. And its much cheaper. I think I paid under $100 for my new heater core from the parts store (may have only been 60 or 70, cant remember) and when I was done paid a local HVAC buddy to re-charge my AC for about $20.

But, if you don't have the knowledge to do it yourself (totally understandable) or the money to pay someone to do it (haha, totally understandable too), you call always just disconnect the lines to the heater core temporarily until you can afford to have it fixed (just wont have heat in the cab). Just pull both lines off the heater core from the firewall (under the hood) and splice them together and clamp it.

 

I did this replacement in 3 hrs and did not open the ac system. theres a really good post with pics to do this without totally removing the dash. lower steering colum. remove the required bolts and hang the right side of the dash from the grab handle to acsess the heater box. 5 bolts/nuts free the heater box from the firewall enough to remove the heater core from the top of the box. one helper and a supply of old milwaukee (sorry wrong region, lucky or mickeys) and your done.

 

Where?

 

where as in,where is the post or where did I do the work?

 

Yea where? 3 hours? Besides , on a 99 I would do the ac evap core also. Unless you want to do it twice.

 

Do you remember where the post is?

 

In the shop at my place of employment. Yes I had accses to my own tools and I was not working in a house garage or driveway, but it is still a reasonable repair for anyone mechanical inclined. Ac evap, I'll tackle that if needed.

 

If you search under heater core theres a post w/o pics and then the poster reposted w/pics. maybe late 2008.