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Car Forum / GMC Cars / July 2006Malibu Dash / Heater Core
I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly new Malibu on the floor by his bay. The console, steering column and the entire dashboard and everthing up to the firewall is lying all around the car on the ground. It all has to come out to remove & replace the heater core. 6 hours labor, and this is the third heater core that they are installing. Great design GM Engineers. harryface >I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about > getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > harryface 4 months ago, replaced a heater core in a 94' Chevy Blazer S-10 Tahoe. Not a pretty sight. There wasn't much left on the firewall interior. And, was using the mfrs manual for reference. Its a matter of getting away from using KISS method and slapping all the comforts of home in the vehicle in my opinion. Replacement of a heater core in a less than one year old vehicle is not only suspicious, but extremely out of the ordinary.  SignatureJonny > 4 months ago, replaced a heater core in a 94' Chevy Blazer S-10 Tahoe. Not > a pretty sight. There wasn't much left on the firewall interior. And, was [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Replacement of a heater core in a less than one year old vehicle is not only > suspicious, but extremely out of the ordinary. I would consider that to be inexcusable. Signature-Mike- mmarlowREMOVE@alltel.net > >I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about > > getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > -- > Jonny This is fairly typical of modern cars, however. I can tell you from personal experience that this is how it is on a VW as well. I am not sure why they like to make the newer vehicles so service-unfriendly; I guess I am just spoiled by my older cars. On my '55 Studebaker you can R&R the heater core by simply removing the front seat cushion and a little air deflector plate, there's nothing else in the way. nate (your friendly local retro-grouch) >>> I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about >>> getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > (your friendly local retro-grouch) Jonny, You should have asked here first. There is an easier way than the factory method to replace the core in an S-10. Dash wise you only need to remove the bolts on the right side. Loosen the left and push the dash up a bit and pull it toward you. I have done the cores on the S series in less than 2 hours. Take a look at http://www.sytyarchives.com/howto/viewarticle.php?article_name=heater_core.php&d ir=climate_controls http://www.syty.org/old/ http://s-series.org/component/option,com_tech_article/ for some other help. >>>> I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about >>>> getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > http://s-series.org/component/option,com_tech_article/ > for some other help. Have done same on older vehicles, and a more recent VW at the time I anticipated doing the job. For more info, I got the factory manual. Of which just facilitated making it more complicated than it actually was. It took me 6 days. First day and a half was disassembly. The factory manual took it down this far, I did leave the instrument cluster in place as found removal unneeded despite the manual. Saw other shortcuts after doing the job. Didn't spend more than a few hours a day to cut the frustration factor, have secondary transportation. SignatureJonny Years ago I replaced the heater core in my 64 Malibu. Had to remove the right fender. >I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about > getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > harryface > I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about > getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Great design GM Engineers. Nothing unusual. Did an evaporator on a 2000 Dodge pick up on Monday, 7 hours plus the evacuation and recharge. $$$ C, K, S-chassis Chevy trucks, same thing. $$$ Ford Escort, Crown Vic and Taurii, same thing. $$$ Just about any minivan, same thing. $$$ On the current version of ChryCo minivans, you have to peel most of the whole front fascia off to get to the AC drier. $$$ Third heater core on that particular Malibu, or third failure that they've seen on that model? aarcuda, Third heater core on that Malibu. Not sure what legnth of time each one lasted. harryface > aarcuda, > > Third heater core on that Malibu. > Not sure what legnth of time each one lasted. > > harryface Thanks Harry. Pattern failure Ian? > around the car on the ground. It all has to come out to remove & > replace the heater core. 6 hours labor, and this is the third heater > core that they are installing. > > Great design GM Engineers. Echoing "aarcuda". This has been par for the course for many years now. Move along, nothing new to see here! Ian > > around the car on the ground. It all has to come out to remove & > > replace the heater core. 6 hours labor, and this is the third heater [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Ian Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change a heater core in about 20 minutes. That was before CAFE and the need to downsize vehicles mike hunt >> > around the car on the ground. It all has to come out to remove & >> > replace the heater core. 6 hours labor, and this is the third heater [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change > a heater core in about 20 minutes. > > Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change > > a heater core in about 20 minutes. > That was before CAFE and the need to downsize vehicles > > mike hunt Doesn't explain full sized trucks. > That was before CAFE and the need to downsize vehicles It doesn't really matter.....there is absolutely no reason why GM "couldn't" have made the heater cores more accessible...but they "didn't". Ian "aarcuda69062" wrote: Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change a heater core in about 20 minutes. ___________________________________________________ That was before CAFE and the need to downsize vehicles ___________________________________________________ That's right. Automakers faced with legislated requirements to increase gas mileage changed to leaner fuel mixtures and better combustion efficiency. But they knew that the single most important factor in gas mileage was vehicle weight. They made their greatest improvements in gas mileage by simply making vehicles smaller. But a car with compressed length, width, and height would have its driveshaft passing by a driver's armpit, so the front wheel drive configuration became necessary: a transmission and differential wrapped around a sideways-mounted engine, jammed into the already tiny engine compartment. Consumers didn't object to the almost impossible-to-service arrangement because the salesmen said it was a benefit: it would make it so much easier to drive out of a snowbank. Rodan. > "aarcuda69062" wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > That's right. Automakers faced with legislated requirements > to increase gas mileage changed to leaner fuel mixtures Not really. Lean mixtures lend themselves to higher NOx production. Lean was a 70s solution to "oh sh.t, there's a learning curve ahead." Lean pretty much died in 1980-81 with closed loop fuel control. > and better combustion efficiency. But they knew that the single > most important factor in gas mileage was vehicle weight. > They made their greatest improvements in gas mileage by > simply making vehicles smaller. Smaller vehicles should need smaller HVAC systems. Smaller HVAC= pop the glove box out, remove an access panel, remove [smaller] heater core > But a car with compressed length, width, and height would > have its driveshaft passing by a driver's armpit, so the front > wheel drive configuration became necessary: a transmission > and differential wrapped around a sideways-mounted engine, > jammed into the already tiny engine compartment. Since there is no drive shaft/transmission tunnel, that should increase the under dash room available for the HVAC system. > Consumers didn't object to the almost impossible-to-service > arrangement because the salesmen said it was a benefit: it > would make it so much easier to drive out of a snowbank. Doesn't explain FWD vehicle sales in Florida. > Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change > a heater core in about 20 minutes. Yes, the "good old days". I don't "do" heater cores anymore in the shop that I work at. It's all farmed out to the "electrical/A/c" guys. Every now and then I do one or two if they are too busy, but I'm never that thrilled about being on my back under the dash for that long. Mind you....you can turn the radio up and kindof "disappear" under the dash for an hour or two. Ian Do you know what the failure was? Bet it was plastic parts. I hate plastic radiator parts. > I stopped by the Chevy dealer to talk to one of the Goodwrench about > getting my uncles motorcycle up and running, anyway there is a fairly [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > harryface Scott, I feel your pain on the plastic radiator parts. The radiator on my old 1987 Olds 98 had the right hand tank split open like an overly ripe watermelon (split was nearly 6" long!). Replaced that radiator with a "real" copper radiator and zero problems afterwards. I'm just waiting for a repeat performance from the radaitor in my 1994 Buick Regal. Regards, Bill Bowen Sacramento, CA >Do you know what the failure was? Bet it was plastic parts. I hate plastic >radiator parts. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> >> harryface |
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