Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
Meat might have seen this one coming. 
Soooooo I get tagged for various auto repair jobs around here, help someone out, make a little money. Brake jobs, minor engine repair, that kind of thing. The pastor of the church I go to asks if I could do a heater core replacement in his '93 Oldsmobile Achieva. Earlier in the summer, it blew, and I bypassed the heater core. So I look at his Chilton manual, looks like a minor PITA, but doable.
Famous last words! The heater core is under the center of the dash, and getting to it entails removing:
Shift knob
center console
all under-dash trim
the diagnostic connector
what looks like some kind of secondary fuse block, pass. side
8,000 screws ( I only had 2 left over! YAYS!!).
the ductwork, which is folded, and then wedged in by powerful hydraulic robots. They are conspicuously absent during reassembly though.
Much of this could be avoided if GM had seen fit to do the following:
Make the under-dash trim panels about .5" narrower
Make the lame console cubbyhole thing removable, instead of riveting it on. It is this that is in the way of removing the heater core, and it is this that requires removal of the entire center console.
A word here: plastic things that snap together with barbed tabs can kiss my ass!!!! I hate them. But I didn't break any.
ANyway I get that all installed. He was going to put the heater hoses on while he was doing the oil, but changed his mind. Not having planned for hose installation, I was in Emigration Canyon all week, while the car sat.
Today I run down and get some 3/4" heater hose, and plenty of it, thinking that I could sort of loop it into position. OH NO I CAN"T!!!!!
No, this POS requires either 42.8' of regular hose, or the special, factory-molded, special order, won't get here until Tuesday hoses. And I am sure that because of this, it will either be raining, snowing, blowing, or all three.
So I could have it all done but now I get to wait..... some more.
Soooooo I get tagged for various auto repair jobs around here, help someone out, make a little money. Brake jobs, minor engine repair, that kind of thing. The pastor of the church I go to asks if I could do a heater core replacement in his '93 Oldsmobile Achieva. Earlier in the summer, it blew, and I bypassed the heater core. So I look at his Chilton manual, looks like a minor PITA, but doable.
Famous last words! The heater core is under the center of the dash, and getting to it entails removing:
Shift knob
center console
all under-dash trim
the diagnostic connector
what looks like some kind of secondary fuse block, pass. side
8,000 screws ( I only had 2 left over! YAYS!!).
the ductwork, which is folded, and then wedged in by powerful hydraulic robots. They are conspicuously absent during reassembly though.
Much of this could be avoided if GM had seen fit to do the following:
Make the under-dash trim panels about .5" narrower
Make the lame console cubbyhole thing removable, instead of riveting it on. It is this that is in the way of removing the heater core, and it is this that requires removal of the entire center console.
A word here: plastic things that snap together with barbed tabs can kiss my ass!!!! I hate them. But I didn't break any.
ANyway I get that all installed. He was going to put the heater hoses on while he was doing the oil, but changed his mind. Not having planned for hose installation, I was in Emigration Canyon all week, while the car sat.
Today I run down and get some 3/4" heater hose, and plenty of it, thinking that I could sort of loop it into position. OH NO I CAN"T!!!!!
No, this POS requires either 42.8' of regular hose, or the special, factory-molded, special order, won't get here until Tuesday hoses. And I am sure that because of this, it will either be raining, snowing, blowing, or all three.
So I could have it all done but now I get to wait..... some more.
