[quote name='flwbyu' post='27810' date='Nov 11 2006, 03:01 AM']Well,
My Mechanic/tuner told me that the leak is coming from the heater core. I am not exactly sure what that is but I assume it has to do with the AC/Heat. In any event, @ $450 for the parts and $1,000 for labor. I was told that the heater core is located in the center of the car and that the entire dash would need to be removed thus the cost of labor. It will take several days to finish barring no other issues. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/sad.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />[/quote]
... just read this now, almost 9 months after your post, and so it's probably of no value for you anymore... But maybe someone else gets the same problem:
I replaced my heater core last weekend (same symptoms: coolant in passenger foowell), and I can definitely tell you for sure: The dashboard doesn't need to be removed!!! You have to remove the glove box and a few air ducts behind it as well as some plastic parts covering the coolant lines. After that, you can disconnect the two coolant lines at the heater core (beware of about 3 liters of coolant coming out!) and pull the whole thing out!
The hardest thing was locating the screws which hold the air duct parts together, as a few of them are rather hidden and hardly accessible. Everything can be removed without brute force! If a part won't come out, there is still a screw in place! The whole work took me around 4-5 hours, but now I think I could do the same in about 1-2 hours. The only tools needed are one medium size philips screw driver, a small mirror and a small flashlight, and later, after coolant refill, a wrench for the bleeding valve.
The price of the new heater core was 320,--EUR here in Germany, but probably the old one could have been repaired with a blow torch as it was leaking at a soldering connection, so a DIY repair could be rather inexpensive...
Wolfgang
