Heater Core Labor ..was: Re: [Shotimes] (no subject)

[krazgeo@comcast.net]

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:23:29 -0400, ROBERT SCHIRMER wrote:

>The last time I had to replace a heater core, it took me all weekend, and it
>was not on a Taurus. How bad is it to get to the Taurus heater corer??

Jim is right....all late model cars with A/C (pretty much all late model cars!!)
have the heater core and the a/c evaporator buried under the dash together so that
it is easy to route the heated or cooled air to all the vents efficiently.  The
instrument panel and dashboard must be totally unbolted from the firewall and swung
back towards the front seat backs, so that the heater plenum (the big heater box
assembly) can be accessed.  Also, the a/c system needs to be evacuated, even if
there is nothing wrong with it, because the plenum needs to be removed from the
firewall also, so that it can be disassembled to get to the core.

It is about a 6 hour job by a professional heater-a/c shop or dealership, so you're
looking at about $450-500 to have it done.  I have a shop in CA that will do it for
$350, but I've been dealing with them for 15 years.

My '87 F-350 Pickup has the core off by itself, in front of the passenger....it can
be changed in 10 minutes, by removing a panel held in place with 6 screws!!  That
was a pleasant surprise when it failed a few years ago.

George