The readers of autoevolution have spoken! You all seem dead split on whether a $1,500 job to fix an early 2000s Chevy truck is worth it. We wonder if the decision is as split down the middle about an early 2000's Jeep TJ Wrangler.
The Car Wizard must make a killing on all these early 2000s American heater cores. That said, if a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche's dashboard is like a mechanics idea of torture to take apart, the Jeep Wrangler TJ is the opposite, more like LEGO for adults.
We can't even see the mileage on the odometer or anything else on the dashboard, for that matter, because that's all sitting on a table adjacent to the Jeep. The Avalanche's innards found themselves in much the same spot when Wizard was paid to fix the Chevy.
The owner of this plucky little 4x4 must have had enough of taking apart the entire interior just to fix a leaking plastic heater core. So they asked him to do something a bit unorthodox and signed the contract with cold hard cash. He asked Dave the Car Wizard to cut an access hole into the firewall of his beloved off-roader, likely taking value off the vehicle in doing so. But at least that the inevitable next heater core replacement should cost $100, not $1,000. Some metal plates and insulating foam prevent road debris from breaching the interior cabin.
Apart from a dodgy heater core, the beloved four-liter, inline-six Jeep Wrangler TJ is a peppy, lightweight experience that's hard to remanufacture today. Yes, it does look and feel a bit flimsy, but there's no excess weight to lug around that would stop the torque of the Chrysler six-pot from getting itself over steep rocks, tough gravel, or soft sands.
If that's the case, maybe the owner doesn't give a you-know-what about resale value. Perhaps he'd just prefer not to disassemble his interior every time a heater core made of more fragile plastic than Second World War vintage sardine cans goes on the fritz.
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