You can get "bore scopes" for well under $100 on ebay or amazon. They always come in handy. Make sure you buy the kind with two camera's; One sticking out the end, and one sticking out the side. Another thing I often do if I can fit it in there is: Just push record on your phone and stick it in there and slowly pan around at different angles to see what you can. It usually takes several tries to get the right shot, but it often works out well with a little patience. Also, even though all those hoses are in the way-- you can typically unbolt the things they are mounted to and move them around a bit; even if they only move an inch or two, one way or the other-- it can sometimes get the job done.
I’m assuming you searched TH-cam for answers.. guys like you make great answers for the rest of us! Hoping you find the magic wrench to help. Looks tough..
I found a couple of videos, but the really challenging part is just the details of actually getting at the heater, what hoses need to be removed in what order to get at it, etc. I can certainly see why there aren't videos of the details of that as there's barely enough room for a hand in there, let alone filming!
My wife and I both have Gen 1 Volts, and the heating is terrible in both, at least when running on electric. I had my heater replaced under warranty a few years ago (for which a bill of around a grand went to GM I am told) and it worked great. For about 3 weeks. Then back to the old issue of hardly any heat coming out even when on high on electric mode, even despite the fact that it seems to suck down mad electricity. I don't know where that heat is going, but it's not into the cabin. Now I have a 1500 watt sine wave inverter hard wired to the 12v battery. While I did this to mainly power things in the house during power outages, I bet a small space heater plugged into it when driving would get the cabin nice and toasty, and use less wattage than the crappy OEM heater. Just an idea. :)
The local GM dealer quoted me $3300 to replace the heater. (Part and labor). That was AFTER they already charged me $1200 to replace the heater core, saying that would fix the heat! When the heat worked originally, it was great.
@@BenjaminNelsonX Ugh. Guess they just want us to install woodstoves in these things! I am going to test out an space heater in my Volt now to see how it performs.
If you have a 220 charger you can pre heat the car with the remote, or press the hold button for the first 2 or 3 miles this will heat the car up inside and warm your battery up for more miles.
The 2012 model year doesn't have HOLD mode. Pre-heating the car still runs off the electric heater. Unfortunately the car has a very complicated heating system, including multiple pumps and valves.
@@BenjaminNelsonX Same thing happened in my 2015 Volt -- it won't make heat in full electric mode-- it only will make heat if the ICE is running. They wanted over $3000 to fix it, I just said forget it and use heated seats and /or run the ICE. I've really liked the car, but my Chevy dealership experience has been horrible. I'll keep driving it as long as nothing else major fails, but I have as soon as one of the expensive electrical parts goes out, I'm sure I'll part ways w/ the car. Thanks for your video.
Jist a thought, I have removed a Volts engine before, not really that hard. It only has the 2 side engine mounts, and I believe 2 lower mounts. So if you can rent an engine puller it might be easier to lift and move the engine1-2 feet forward. You do have to take out the 2 CV axles and the front bumper and I think you can just move the radiator enough to move the engine. After that you will have to add trans fluid and radiator fluid.
Agree, but the Chevy dealership in California gets 200 per hour labor. Maybe they designed it to make money. Have you tried to remove the hoses on the passenger side to get to the other bolt, not sure about the bottom bolt, good luck to you
You'd think with EVs that they would put all the HVAC stuff in an easy to reach space now that you don't really need a firewall. Oh this is a Volt, not a Bolt...
Holy Moly! That is a *nightmare*! Some sort of endoscope? Attached to a 90 degree impact driver? If you can see the one nut, you can get a size? And then have one position where you can see the other two nuts? How about a small video camera on a stick that has a view of them, and then the 90 degree impact driver with an extension on it?
What were your issues before replacing the heater? Whether mine is on engine or electric the heat only blows for about 10 minutes before blowing cold again, also only happens when temperatures hit around 35f or lower. 2013 volt thanks👍🏽
Hi, Ben. From your struggles, did you figure it all out in the end? Does the gas engine pump hot coolant to the electric heater? One of my Volts has no heat whether I run it in EV mode or with the gas engine running.
I've still never figured it out. It's a GREAT car, EXCEPT for the complicated HVAC system! Sometimes the heater core gets hot, sometimes it doesn't. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason!
@@BenjaminNelsonX mine acts similarly; sometimes hot, sometimes not. I'm suspecting the aux coolant pump. Found a youtube video describing checking and swapping pump.
Oh dear, another bad design, I had the one changed on my Leaf and the garage said it wasn't too bad. Looks like you will end up replacing coolant and re gassing your AC. Good luck on your car Ben.
I would LOVE if modern cars were designed to be easier to access everything! Unfortunately, they are designed for manufacturing, and squeezing everything in there! CANOO seems to have a neat design for their delivery van, actually making it with future users in mind! I also liked my old Chevy S10 with the 4-cylinder engine. It was the same space under the hood as the V-6, but there 4-cylinder was smaller, so there was lots of space to reach in with tools and get at all the various parts!
@@BenjaminNelsonX Canoo has so many good ideas, I hope they can get to production soon. I haven't had to do much work under the hood of my LEAF, but there's lots of space in there since it has the whole crumple zone of a sentra, but just the electric motor in there. Seems like Nissan wasted a bit of an opportunity for a frunk, but whatever. I also loved my inline 4 S10, it spoiled me for space and maintainability. The only problems I ever had was the dumb starter failed multiple times (probably because I repaired it with junkyard starters) and the 4 cylinder exhaust was wrapped around the starter, making it difficult and the 4th spark plug that's almost inside the firewall.
Dang. That sucks. I'm pulling for you. Stick with it! These stupid car projects just always seem like tasks in stick-to-it-ness!
You can get "bore scopes" for well under $100 on ebay or amazon. They always come in handy. Make sure you buy the kind with two camera's; One sticking out the end, and one sticking out the side. Another thing I often do if I can fit it in there is: Just push record on your phone and stick it in there and slowly pan around at different angles to see what you can. It usually takes several tries to get the right shot, but it often works out well with a little patience.
Also, even though all those hoses are in the way-- you can typically unbolt the things they are mounted to and move them around a bit; even if they only move an inch or two, one way or the other-- it can sometimes get the job done.
I’m assuming you searched TH-cam for answers.. guys like you make great answers for the rest of us! Hoping you find the magic wrench to help. Looks tough..
I found a couple of videos, but the really challenging part is just the details of actually getting at the heater, what hoses need to be removed in what order to get at it, etc.
I can certainly see why there aren't videos of the details of that as there's barely enough room for a hand in there, let alone filming!
good luck Ben!
That's why you should have a mechanic on you design team for new car's. This is proof they had none!
I will say that the Volt is a GREAT car for oil-changes! The designers made that part easy!
Oh man, good luck. Mine doesn’t need that yet.
My wife and I both have Gen 1 Volts, and the heating is terrible in both, at least when running on electric. I had my heater replaced under warranty a few years ago (for which a bill of around a grand went to GM I am told) and it worked great. For about 3 weeks. Then back to the old issue of hardly any heat coming out even when on high on electric mode, even despite the fact that it seems to suck down mad electricity. I don't know where that heat is going, but it's not into the cabin. Now I have a 1500 watt sine wave inverter hard wired to the 12v battery. While I did this to mainly power things in the house during power outages, I bet a small space heater plugged into it when driving would get the cabin nice and toasty, and use less wattage than the crappy OEM heater. Just an idea. :)
The local GM dealer quoted me $3300 to replace the heater. (Part and labor).
That was AFTER they already charged me $1200 to replace the heater core, saying that would fix the heat!
When the heat worked originally, it was great.
@@BenjaminNelsonX Ugh. Guess they just want us to install woodstoves in these things! I am going to test out an space heater in my Volt now to see how it performs.
If you have a 220 charger you can pre heat the car with the remote, or press the hold button for the first 2 or 3 miles this will heat the car up inside and warm your battery up for more miles.
The 2012 model year doesn't have HOLD mode.
Pre-heating the car still runs off the electric heater.
Unfortunately the car has a very complicated heating system, including multiple pumps and valves.
@@BenjaminNelsonX Same thing happened in my 2015 Volt -- it won't make heat in full electric mode-- it only will make heat if the ICE is running. They wanted over $3000 to fix it, I just said forget it and use heated seats and /or run the ICE. I've really liked the car, but my Chevy dealership experience has been horrible. I'll keep driving it as long as nothing else major fails, but I have as soon as one of the expensive electrical parts goes out, I'm sure I'll part ways w/ the car. Thanks for your video.
Jist a thought, I have removed a Volts engine before, not really that hard. It only has the 2 side engine mounts, and I believe 2 lower mounts. So if you can rent an engine puller it might be easier to lift and move the engine1-2 feet forward. You do have to take out the 2 CV axles and the front bumper and I think you can just move the radiator enough to move the engine. After that you will have to add trans fluid and radiator fluid.
Well, maybe...
But having to remove the engine to fix the heat on a car sure seems like bad design!
Agree, but the Chevy dealership in California gets 200 per hour labor. Maybe they designed it to make money. Have you tried to remove the hoses on the passenger side to get to the other bolt, not sure about the bottom bolt, good luck to you
You'd think with EVs that they would put all the HVAC stuff in an easy to reach space now that you don't really need a firewall.
Oh this is a Volt, not a Bolt...
Holy Moly! That is a *nightmare*! Some sort of endoscope? Attached to a 90 degree impact driver? If you can see the one nut, you can get a size? And then have one position where you can see the other two nuts? How about a small video camera on a stick that has a view of them, and then the 90 degree impact driver with an extension on it?
What were your issues before replacing the heater? Whether mine is on engine or electric the heat only blows for about 10 minutes before blowing cold again, also only happens when temperatures hit around 35f or lower. 2013 volt thanks👍🏽
Hi, Ben. From your struggles, did you figure it all out in the end? Does the gas engine pump hot coolant to the electric heater? One of my Volts has no heat whether I run it in EV mode or with the gas engine running.
I've still never figured it out. It's a GREAT car, EXCEPT for the complicated HVAC system!
Sometimes the heater core gets hot, sometimes it doesn't. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason!
@@BenjaminNelsonX mine acts similarly; sometimes hot, sometimes not. I'm suspecting the aux coolant pump. Found a youtube video describing checking and swapping pump.
Oh dear, another bad design, I had the one changed on my Leaf and the garage said it wasn't too bad. Looks like you will end up replacing coolant and re gassing your AC. Good luck on your car Ben.
Coolant is no problem, but I really don't want to mess with the A/C!
You might want to replace the intake manifold while you're at it. If it has a pcv check valve in it like the Chevy Cruze, it will fail eventually.
Cruze is different this is not turbo.
First rule before buying anything, how easy is it to repair, service, and pay taxes on, if you have a choice. great video though.✨
I would LOVE if modern cars were designed to be easier to access everything! Unfortunately, they are designed for manufacturing, and squeezing everything in there!
CANOO seems to have a neat design for their delivery van, actually making it with future users in mind!
I also liked my old Chevy S10 with the 4-cylinder engine. It was the same space under the hood as the V-6, but there 4-cylinder was smaller, so there was lots of space to reach in with tools and get at all the various parts!
@@BenjaminNelsonX Canoo has so many good ideas, I hope they can get to production soon.
I haven't had to do much work under the hood of my LEAF, but there's lots of space in there since it has the whole crumple zone of a sentra, but just the electric motor in there. Seems like Nissan wasted a bit of an opportunity for a frunk, but whatever.
I also loved my inline 4 S10, it spoiled me for space and maintainability. The only problems I ever had was the dumb starter failed multiple times (probably because I repaired it with junkyard starters) and the 4 cylinder exhaust was wrapped around the starter, making it difficult and the 4th spark plug that's almost inside the firewall.
Excuse me sir, can you make the Dodge Challenger 2010 model in Tesla swap or Nissan leaf swap or conversion kit until next video please, thanks
eleven years old, so 220 000 miles. Nothing last forever!
Around 170K miles.
Great car otherwise!
Is that the heater for the battery
No, the cabin heater to keep the driver and passengers warm.
@@BenjaminNelsonX do you have any videos for the battery
@@chrisbane7022 I have a video on taking apart a Volt battery. Chevy Volt Battery
th-cam.com/play/PLmHss3DBZUilw_omOyxJe-7vAHrWSlmO6.html