Eek! What's this going to cost me?
 

I have a 1999 XL (V6 engine), and I'm getting no heat. I've read the great instructions that have been posted here for replacing the heater core and blend door, but there's NO WAY I'm going to take this on myself.

Any idea whether this problem can be diagnosed/fixed by a dealer or good shop without costing me a million billion $$? If you've had this professionally repaired, I'd be grateful to know what I'm in for cost-wise.

Thanks,

Tracey

The quote I got yesterday from a shop I know is 650 with tax. I think that is a little low though, probably would be more if they knew they had to take out the dash. My friend who is a mechanic says there book calls for 6 hours labor. So 75/hour x 6, plus the cost of the core and tax, that sounds about right. Too much for me, I am going to try and do it this weekend.

Hey, I just realized you are from Nashville. I live in Murfreesboro. If you can wait, my friend who works as a mechanic at Car Universe in Franklin is going to help me. He will see how hard it is and he might do it on the side for you for a much cheaper price.

Ooh, that would be AWESOME. Will you contact me at tracey at mccartney dot net and let me know?

Thanks!



Tracey

Hey,
I've recently joined the ranks of the "blend door" problem, too. I'm in Lebanon. Please post on how this goes, or e-mail me about your bud. I think I could do this, but if your friend can do it and save me some time, I might need to talk with him. Thanks for your help.
Rich

We should have a middle Tennessee blend door party. :)

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to have this done at a shop ASAP - my inability to defrost was a real problem this morning, and it's going to get worse.



Tracey

Mine is the same way. Yesterday I had to drive home with the windows down when it was 30 degrees outside. That sucked. Fortunately, I have another car that I can drive.

Make sure to check the cheap stuff first, like the temp control switch. Only costs about 15 bucks from the dealer, but could be the problem. Didn't fix mine, but might yours. What evidence do you have that the core is leaking? Maybe I missed something in your posts.

I agree, cheap stuff first. But in my case, went in for a/c inspection. Here's how much things costed. A/C inspection $34.95 or whatever plus a can of a/c juice, so let's say $50. They had another fee for inspecting what really was to blame, another $70 bucks, Blendor about $80 and a few hours to install. All said and done, with the cruise recall, a/c inspection and a can of freon, blendor and labour it was $330 max. Canadian $$$. I was actually surprised because I thaught it would have been alot more time= more labour $$$. Good luck to you Tracey, and Dave too for the same.

Well we did mine today. It actually went fairly well. That was until the shifter linkage broke to the tranny. :mad: But I do have heat that doesn't stink or fog up my windows anymore. :banana: Just can't shift it into gear. :eek: (actually I can for the time being, rigged up something from Home Depot for a temporary fix until I can replace the cable).

With the set of instructions provided from this site, it really isn't that hard, just time consuming.

And if you need it done and are in the middle TN area., my friend who helped me who is a mechanic will do it on the side.

$80 for a blend door??? :eek: Mine was $28 from the dealer. I get a discount, but its still not THAT big of a discount.

Ya, something like that anyways, 70 something plus tax in Canadian, I didn't care nor was I surprised so I just said do it. Didn't have time to shop around, by them telling me this at that time (I thaught the a/c was kaput) they kinda got me with my pants down, what are ya going to do?