I've been raped...

[bszopi]

Well, I officially hate living in an apartment now and being without my tools. I can only hope that we get a house in the next couple of months.

Our 98 Blazer has had an on and off problem with an antifreeze smell in the cabin. I have questioned the heater core as a problem for quite some time but the usual signs never showed up. Until this weekend, that is... About halfway through a 2-hr drive, it started spitting fog out of the vents. Well, since I don't have any of my tools with me at the moment, and no real place to work on it, I had to succumb to a local shop to do the work. Needless to say, I got the call this afternoon that there was indeed a hole in the core. And just like any freindly neighborhood shop, they go by the quoted time in the books. Unfortunately, I haven't lived here long enough to know any good mechanics and no one at work was helpful in selecting one. So yeah, its a 12hr job, at the good price of $60/hr. Plus parts, of course. And my wife and I are down to the Beretta until Thursday afternoon. Works great when I go to work at ~7am and get off at ~4pm, so she can go work 4:30-11pm. I know our daughter is going to like her sleep being interupted the next couple of days....

[SappySE107]

RE: I

That fucking sucks! too bad you don't have tools, I seriously doubt the 12 hour time:P We all know how that goes generally though, 12 hours for a monkey to do it. Very few cases do they quote a real time like the DOHC timing belt (which is a reason some places won't touch them, no real money for the hassle).

No other arkansas residents on the board? I know I haven't seen any but maybe there is someone on here that could have directed you somewhere better.

[korbendallas68]

No sh!t. I moved into a apartment. I have a garage that I park in, but it's with like 40 other people. Damn if I leave something in there. And I'm about 300 miles away from my air tools and other types of things. I can only have a box of basic tools.

[SappySE107]

I have a shop now...with a lift and compressor and tools and stuff:P I remember living in an apartment though and having to pay a shop to pull my motor, another shop to build it, etc. Sucks but what can you do?

[bszopi]

Well, I stopped by to see their progress on the way home from work. I'm kind of glad I didn't attempt it now. They have the entire dash out of the truck and still have some digging to do to get to the core. It is really buried in there! He seemed like a pretty cool guy. Tried talking him into a free tune-up while it was there... lol. He was like, "You're making me tear all this stuff apart to get into a little nook and then you're asking for free stuff?" I told him I had to try. He's hoping that he might get it done tomorrow evening, but they have a couple other big projects going on as well, so it might be pushing it. If I had had my camera on me, I would have taken a picture of the inside. What a mess...

[Rhedalert]

yeah a mechanic did a heater core on a '98 Blazer at my job. Indeed a mess.

[RednBlack]

Hmmm...I think an engineer for GM needs a .. No point in burying a consumable part such as a heater core. Do the GM trucks still have the same problem of pulling outside trash into the heater core? The mid 80s trucks were famous for it.

[RacerX11]

I would have got a $5 piece of heater hose and bypassed the heater core...you won't need the heater for several months...plenty of time to fix it yourself

Marty

[bszopi]

Now you come up with this brilliant idea. Didn't I talk to you about this the other night? I think I did.... Why not mention that idea then?!?!?

[StudlyCamaro]

oi , yeah heater cores on blazers suck, you gotta pull 1/2 the dash to get to it ( on the early 90's blazers anyway)

i second the bypass idea for the time being provided it dosent have an overheating problem

[Doubt_Incarnate]

i think its a little late for the bypass idea, but still, i would have done it. i carry one of those leatherman pocket pliers swiss army gadgets. probably wouldnt have needed to buy anything, clamps and hoses were there, just needed a tool. but im sure there would have been one of those messy coolant disasters if he disconnected a hose. like the one time i took off a hot radiator cap, just once, never make that mistake again.

[3100 MPFI]

I think I would rather do the heater core in a Blazer than in a Grand Am. I made the mistake of going the core in my Grandmothers 99 Grand Am. The ONLY easy part was disconnecting the lines.

The way the 99 service manual tells you to do it makes it seem like it is just as easy as doing it in the Cutlass Supreme. They just don't tell you that half of the bolts are obscured behind parts that can't be removed, and when you get all of the off of the cover, the cover can not be pulled out.

Next time, I will just save the hassel, and go to a shop, or just pull the dash to do the core.

[GPXSS]

Next time, I will just save the hassel, and go to a shop, or just pull the dash to do the core.

or buy a new car.

[geoffinbc]

BULL FUCKING SHIT

It is 8 hours in the Labor time guides. Tell him you know hes a liar. Go somewhere else or something. Thats crap.

[kill_them_all]

98 Blazer, they are not that bad, the easiest way to do them is unbolt half the dash, take a rope and rope the dash to the outter roof rack (so it holds it away from the firewall) and crawl in and change the heater core.