Malibu 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

Reply to
Harry Face
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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.

Reply to
Jonny

Years ago I replaced the heater core in my 64 Malibu. Had to remove the right fender.

Reply to
Tim

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?

Reply to
aarcuda69062

I would consider that to be inexcusable.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

aarcuda,

Third heater core on that Malibu. Not sure what legnth of time each one lasted.

harryface

Reply to
Harry Face

Echoing "aarcuda".

This has been par for the course for many years now. Move along, nothing new to see here!

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change a heater core in about 20 minutes.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

That was before CAFE and the need to downsize vehicles

mike hunt

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Doesn't explain full sized trucks.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

Thanks Harry.

Pattern failure Ian?

Reply to
aarcuda69062

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

Reply to
shiden_kai

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

Reply to
shiden_kai

Remember the old late 70s to mid 80s 'B' bodies? You could change a heater core 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.

Reply to
Rodan

Not really. Lean mixtures lend themselves to higher NOx production. Lean was a 70s solution to "oh shit, there's a learning curve ahead." Lean pretty much died in 1980-81 with closed loop fuel control.

Smaller vehicles should need smaller HVAC systems. Smaller HVAC= pop the glove box out, remove an access panel, remove [smaller] heater core

Since there is no drive shaft/transmission tunnel, that should increase the under dash room available for the HVAC system.

Doesn't explain FWD vehicle sales in Florida.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

Do you know what the failure was? Bet it was plastic parts. I hate plastic radiator parts.

Reply to
Scott Buchanan

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)

Reply to
N8N

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

"Scott Buchanan" wrote:

Reply to
William H. Bowen

Not that I know of.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

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

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some other help.

Reply to
Steve W.

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