I have a heater core leak in my truck. Is anyone from the Seattle area that knows of a shop that won't charge me 700-800 bucks to replace a $70 dollar part? I saw one post on a DIY but I don't feel comfortable or ready to go down that path. Thanks for any help.

Andy

 

i did mine myself with no help and having never done it on a ram before and i just went by the diy.
it wasn't too hard, just tedious. there is a lot that you have to remove from the dash to get at the heater core.
some people claim that you can do it with the steering column still attached and with the dash just loosened up and pulled back but i took my dash and steering column out to make it easier.
i also left my ac lines connected so i wouldn't have to recharge the system.

if you do it yourself and hit any snags then you can just get on here and we'll help you through it.

 

lifesavin, have you fixed this yet? I may be able to help you out with it in exchange for being able to test some of your cruise control wires (I'm trying to do some retro-fitting).

 

Lemme break this down for ya:
Most shops charge around $70-$90 an hour on labor. It took me around 2 hours getting the dash out. Then 1 hour getting the HVAC box out. 10 minutes to get the heater core out and installed. 1/2 putting the HVAC box back in. Then 2 hours putting the dash back in. So it took around 6 hours to do the heater core. And the shop will probably charge you for burping the cooling system of air. Plus while you are in there you might as well change the a/c evaporator and clean the whole HVAC box (Because both are coated in 11 years of crap). So that adds 2 hours.
Your looking at around $500-$800 here.

I was talking to one of my dad's friends (Who assisted me while putting the dash back in) and he knows a guy at work who paid someone to do the job I was doing for $300 for $1000. $600 of that was just in labor and the other $400 was in parts.

I am not bashing your position on not feeling comfortable about taking the dash out, and I understand that. I was there!!! Dont take any of what I said as offense, I was just stating the facts!

 

Yeah I did mine myself and while I didn't find it all that hard it did take quite a while and labor at any shop isn't cheap. Most shops aren't going to go by how long it takes them anyway as they usually go by book time which is usually a lot higher than what it actually takes them.

I had to do my evap core which is why I went ahead and did the heater core at the same time.

I think it's going to either be expensive for a shop to do it or you will have to end up doing it yourself. It's a lot of labor involved.

BTW I don't think it's a $70 part. Now I got mine at the dealer but I'm really thinking it was $200 and some. I may be off on the price though.

 

Let me get this straight -- You don't feel up to the task of changing it yourself but what to complain that a shop will charge upward of $800 to "merely replace a $70 part"? Would it make a difference if you told yourself that you were paying $70 in labor to replace an $800 part?