Monday project's galore! I'm tired...

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Put in a full 13 hours at the shop today. I'm short a tech and hate getting behind, so the 8-5 nonsense got thrown out the window today.

First project: 2011 Jeep GC with the 5.7. The customer overheated it due to a leaking radiator and the head gasket popped. They elected to go with a reman unit, I'm not sure where we got it but it came out of Dallas. The shipping crate is beautiful, and the long block came with new MDS solenoids, a new VVT solenoid, a new Melling oil pump, and all the gaskets necessary for install. I'm also replacing the MDS harness, as the old one was frayed as many of them are. It's a $36 part, which is cheap insurance for something that's hidden under the intake manifold.

The engine itself slipped out without any issue, I pulled the radiator/condenser/trans cooler module and she slipped right out the front. I managed to get the old engine completely torn down, tomorrow I'll pull the new one out of the crate and start dressing it.

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Second project of the day is a 2014 Honda CR-V with a clogged heater core. 85k miles. I have no idea why it clogged so early, but apparently it's so common that Honda has a TSB about it and shipped special flushing kits to dealerships. I don't have one of those fancy setups, but I CLR'd and power flushed the core 3 times and I couldn't get better than a 30 degree difference in temp from passenger to driver's side, and I could only get about 105 degrees from the driver's side regardless.

I have a new OEM core coming in the morning, I really wanted to get the thing apart so it would be ready to smash and grab when the parts came in. It was actually very easy, I had the dash out in about an hour and a half. Here's a few shots of that project:

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My back hurts just looking at those pictures! All in a day's work, right?
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Originally Posted by spasm3
Wow, How did you get the crv dash out so fast? That looks like a job! Have you done it before on a crv?
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Nope, never had one of these apart before. This is my first one.

Like I said, it really wasn't that bad. The center console comes out with 5 bolts, pull the steering wheel, 4 bolts an the pinch-bolt for the steering column and that's out. Disconnect the shift cable, unplug a handful of well-located and easily accessible connectors, pull the a-pillar trim and out she comes. As you can see, most of the dash stays together: the cluster, radio, shifter, fuse panel, airbags, glove box, duct work all stay in place and attached to the assembly. It's heavy, probably about 80 pounds but not awful. I didn't even have to pull the front seats (although I may pull the driver's seat for install, getting it out was a pit of a squeeze).
 
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Originally Posted by P10crew
You must pull the entire dash to change a heater core? Wow


That's the case on many vehicles, same with the AC evaporator. I need to install a new evaporator in my old Jeep XJ in the spring and will need to take the dash out. Fortunately the procedure is well-documented on Jeep sites for the do-it-yourself crowd.
 
Thanks for the post. That's really cool. I wonder if you can come straight out the front on the 2007-2014 GM trucks. Part of the engine is under the cowl. Just curious.
 
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GMT-900 engines come out without removing the radiator as does the K2XX platform.....They're not really much different than the GMT-800.

I do remove the intake & install a pull plate over the valley cover though. It also keep you from pinching a harness connector in the bellhousing during install.
 
It would be really sad if after the whole thing goes back together, something doesn't work because one harness was accidentally left unplugged LOL
 
Originally Posted by P10crew
You must pull the entire dash to change a heater core? Wow

Depends on the vehicle, I guess. I had an '04 Jetta and when I found out that it was a matter of when and not if on the heater core I decided to let it go. Something like 8 hours shop time to do the job--who knows how long for me.
 
Interesting. I find that most vehicles are made to pull the dashboard/steering wheel/column as an assembly. Not common to drop the wheel and column when removing the dashboard.

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We let the A/C go in my wife's '93 Grand Cherokee when a dash pull was required for the leaky evaporator. I won't pull a dash in modern vehicles and the dealer/indy costs were way up there.
 
That 5.7L looks reasonably clean for what I assume was "standard" maintenance. Will you guys just be sending it back as a core?
 
Definitely clean, but the hemi doesn't like being overheated. This one will be headed back as a core as soon as I'm done.

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
That 5.7L looks reasonably clean for what I assume was "standard" maintenance. Will you guys just be sending it back as a core?
 
Originally Posted by 14Accent
Definitely clean, but the hemi doesn't like being overheated. This one will be headed back as a core as soon as I'm done.

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
That 5.7L looks reasonably clean for what I assume was "standard" maintenance. Will you guys just be sending it back as a core?



That's a case for a lot of engines unfortunately, not overly tolerant of over heat events. IIRC, that became increasingly common with the switch to aluminum heads, it was the old iron block/iron head units that could do it and most of the time be OK.
 
Well, the heater core is in and done. It actually went back together about twice as fast, but I forgot to plug in the power feed to the blower!

Of course, the connector was dead square in the middle of the dash on the back side. I had to remove the throttle pedal and that silver module in the picture to be able to get my hand up and reconnect it. Argh.

Oh well, she's all set and the heat will roast you out of the cab. I'm just waiting in new A-pillar clips from Honda, I didn't realize that the upper clip on each side is one time use due to the nature of their design. They release when the curtain airbag goes off to allow the A-pillar to fold away from the ceiling. Kind of neat, actually.
 
Definitely hustled for those hours. Nice work. It's nice that a lot of late model carriers come out that way, the fords I work on come apart the same way.
 
Originally Posted by 14Accent
Well, the heater core is in and done. It actually went back together about twice as fast, but I forgot to plug in the power feed to the blower!

Of course, the connector was dead square in the middle of the dash on the back side. I had to remove the throttle pedal and that silver module in the picture to be able to get my hand up and reconnect it. Argh.

Oh well, she's all set and the heat will roast you out of the cab. I'm just waiting in new A-pillar clips from Honda, I didn't realize that the upper clip on each side is one time use due to the nature of their design. They release when the curtain airbag goes off to allow the A-pillar to fold away from the ceiling. Kind of neat, actually.

You must be talking about the clips with the metal head and stud with the plastic expanding base.
We run into that fairly often in the collision repair business. If the techs arent paying attention during disassembly, it will cost them a day waiting for them to come from the dealer.
 
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