[Pete Munroe]

Old Dog,

My Mercury Sable, about 96, had a new heater core installed...of course at that time the price a shop charged was total about 400-500...the car died in 2001.

The 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee I replaced it with needed a new heater core, and air blend doors, over the last year or two.

The dealer wanted about 1200-1500 in labor to pull the dash, and replace the core...I assume that included recharging the AC and did NOT include replacing the cheap plastic parts that break in the airdoor assembly.

Did the job my self...this was the most intensively difficult job I have done...and I pull trans, clutches, rebuild engines in my Cobra and Corvette.

Spent LOTS of time on line trying to find YOUTube video of the job being done...then found an online manual service with CURRENT factory manual info to perform the ops...

The heater core I bought at O'Reilly's did not fit the heater box...the exchanged unit did not fit...finally bought a SPECTRA brand heater core at Pep Boys that fit perfectly...

The car was down for 10+ days...I had cleaned the garage and organized stuff to facilitate stuff...took HUNDREDS of digital photo and stored them on the computer...that was essential...

Local gas station, very good and helpful garage said he had in the book about 900 to 1200 labor alone.

My goal was nothing would be damaged as the car is prefect inside...and it would WORK and NOT RATTLE when it went back together...

I had another car to use to pick up part...my Cobra...hadn't blown the engine yet, that is my current project...ouch.

Also had help from a car buddy for rides and the mechanic at the garage as helpful...he discharged the A/C, gave me credit for the freon to apply to the recharge...

The entire dash assembly ended up on the coffee table in the living room...heater box was removed, cleaned to remove anti-freeze stink, resealed...the air conditioner core looked dry and clean so I did not replace it...

In short...lots of planning, lots of HELP to lift the instument panel and not drag and scrape the front made it possible...

Had the O'reillys heater cores fit, even REMOTELY, I would have been done 4 days earlier...(the two that did not fit were put BACK IN STOCK...!)

You could do it, I saved in the case of my Jeep at least $ 1000+...and it works PERFECTLY, no leaks.

Best of all, my friend that would help out, an ex-airforce aerospace engineer and Model A fanatic...said, when he saw the Jeep gutted, all the parts in plastic bags, parts all over the house...thought to himself...HE WILL NEVER GET IT BACK TOGETHER...

So do it if your OK at planning, have a place to do it, another car you can drive if something goes wrong...it will...and you want it perfect.

Other wise budget for it and have a good shop that has done the job, and will back it up, perform the work...

Your time or your money...

Pete