I was wanting to ask if anyone replaced there own heater core and if so how difficult is it and or is it worth doing myself or takin it to a mechanic to do?

 

I have not done it but have been told that it is a PITA to do. The entire dash has to be removed. Mine needs to be done but I am just not willing to pay the 1200 bucks to have it done. Also the a/c evaperator is under there and that was the estimate to have both done. I am hoping that my a/c will last the summer, I can live without the heater because of where I live. The dealer said it was a 5 1/2 hour job or at least that's what they charge you for. Someone on here has said that they work at a dealer and his guys can have the dash out in 45 minutes.

 

My best friend is a Dodge dealership service manager and on Saturdays they do side work. I helped him change out a cracked dash ( mine is next) and it wasn't as bad as I thought. He first took the "U" bracket off the keeps the steering column up and the hold assemplby sat on the driver's seat. Then , after removing the upper kick panels and the pillar covers by the windshield, he loosened the bolts on each side of the dash down on the lower sides. He dissonnected the battery for a few minutes because off the airbags then there are screws on the side that has to be removed, he used one the those "Z" shaped screw and phillips head screw drivers to get to these. Once these were removed he went back down and and loosened (or you can remove them) the bolts and the whole dash asembly just rotated forward and wa-la there was the heater core and everything else the dash was covering. Now we weren't replaceing the heater core but the procedure was the same.

 

Well, I just replaced mine andit was a huge pain! Taking out the dash is a pain and it does take a while, but the fun part is that once you get the dash out you have to pull out the entire heat/ac assembly from the firewall.I got two quotes, the dealership wanted $1,046 and a local shop was going to charge $650 and have it done in 5 hours. On a more positive note, I was able to do it without having to vent the AC system. Overall, I guess I saved alot of money, but itsucked.