Took my truck in to my trusted mechanic last Tuesday. Finally found the coolant leak. Whole dash and all has to come out. I understand it’s a lot of work. Had this done in my 4Runner a few years ago. It was $6—-.

He said he will have it done Thursday or Friday of this next week. Maybe I’m getting old but $1800!?!?

My truck is the 3.5l with almost 140k. I am glad that we have the means to get this fixed but I can’t help feeling depressed about it all. So, I just wanted to vent.

I did call the local dealer and the service guy said he’d call me back with a price but never did. I was expecting that price to be around $2500.

quote:

He said he will have it done Thursday or Friday of this next week. Maybe I’m getting old but $1800!?!?

Those both sound about average. About two-thirds of it is labor. And every car and truck made in the last ~35 years is like this - you have to take the entire dashboard out, and then remove the HVAC case (contains the evaporator and heater cores and all the vents and their controls), and then disassemble said case, and then hope you didn't forget anything putting it back together.

It used to be, on the pre-Tacoma pickup (called simply Pickup in the US, Hilux elsewhere), that evaporator and heater cores could be taken from under the dash without removing it. Forget it now.

Do the man a favor and remove all your stuff (except the registration) from both your glove and console compartments. Sometimes - innocently or not - this stuff can get lost. Do you have anything aftermarket wired into the dash, e.g., a stereo? This is an additional hassle depending on how well the work was done.

Dash removals are about the most frustrating least desirable work that a mechanic will do. Accordingly, there’s not a dearth of mechanics that will give any sort of break on the price. It’s the kind of job that people generally don’t beat book rate on and as a result, you’re not likely to have any sort of savings passed on. I don’t think $1800 is out of line for this kind of work unfortunately.

Looking at something similar last week for one in a 2007 Silverado.

$1800 is about right

Thank you for the replies. It makes me feel a bit better. My truck is already there. Too late for me to empty anything. I figured it was the compressor and didn’t think to clean it out when I took it to him. Of course, when I took it last Tuesday I didn’t think he’d have it until next Thursday or Friday, either.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm about to spend nearly as much to get a new top for my Mini, but the labor is on me [diy]

A 2016 isn't that old, but most dashes I have had to take out were considerably older than that. This introduces plastic bits breaking and the possibility of squeaks or rattles afterwards into the mix. Something else that makes these jobs fun are poor manuals, even professional ones. Most of them are text-only, no pictures. Of the ones that do have illustrations, they are too vague - for example, not showing the locations of hidden fasteners - to be of any real use.

I have the same truck. Isn’t there a YouTube video or a guide on the Tacomaworld forum showing a step by step?

Couldn’t change the temperature on our 2012’s Liberty, of course it couldn’t be a mode actuator but instead the temperature door failed, the seals deteriorate and stick the door to the HVAC case. Vertical part of the ductwork, center of the I.P. Must replace, no way to shortcut it.

To do the job entails pulling the I.P., removing the Evap core so recharge the A/C and while we were in there it was suggested to replace the heater core also.

I had it done, no way was I tackling it. Parts, I got a discount, still have some contacts in the dealership world. That being said the job still ran about thirteen hundred dollars.

My defroster door went bad while I was on vacation.

I was able to pull the dash and then the HVAC case to swap it out myself.

It cost me about $100, but took three days.

My 2021 SR5 Tacoma AC compressor shredded itself and contaminated the system. I was technically outside the 3-yr warranty, but thankfully they warrantied it. I dropped it off on the 2nd of Aug and picked it up on the 16th. I don't want to know what it would have cost me out of pocket. I know they had to dismantle an reassemble quite a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by Vgex:
My 2021 SR5 Tacoma AC compressor shredded itself and contaminated the system. I was technically outside the 3-yr warranty, but thankfully they warrantied it. I dropped it off on the 2nd of Aug and picked it up on the 16th. I don't want to know what it would have cost me out of pocket. I know they had to dismantle an reassemble quite a bit.

That’s a good dealer you have there. How it used to be years ago, they’d get warranty to cover it. Unfortunately those like that are going extinct.

Yesterday, I fixed/replaced my rear passenger window motor. This is the 3rd time. It is a 2005 SUV.

Driving today, I noticed that the AC is not working at all. Blowing warm air. Reading this thread, I am afraid to find out how much it will cost to fix the AC.

Dealer never called me back. I called yesterday and left the guy I spoke to a voicemail.

My truck is still in the shop. But, he said he would have it done thursday or friday.

I would have guessed more than 1800 . Pulling a dash ain't no joke .

Looks like they all go bad.

Yeah, not good. That is one of the first videos I watched when this whole debacle began.

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Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
Looks like they all go bad.

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-hJ0hOCNnic" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

It sucks, but I don't think that price sounds out of line.

A couple years ago I had a blend door go bad on my 2006 Dodge Ram - it was over $2K. It took them most of 2 days to pull the dash and evacuate the AC to get to the $5 part and put it back together. It's a common issue for my truck. I'm cheap, so I watched plenty of DIY videos thinking I would give it a go. All looked like a PITA and were a bit of a hack job. Opted to let the dealer do it.

Try changing the Electrolux blower motor inside the console on a 240-series Volvo.

On most vehicles, the blower motor is simply mounted vertically (fan facing straight up) under the right side of the dash and is relatively easy, although you may have to remove some finish panels first. Not so with a ~2015 Nissan Versa. It is mounted horizontally, on the left side of the case, high up near the top of the dash. The pedals had to be removed to get it out. This needless stupidity turned what is normally a less than one-hour job into over four.