ChevyHeavy

One of the best things of working on a car is doing it yourself and saving money.

Heater:
In October, the heater in my mom's 2007 Uplander was not working at all or barely working, which was the big issue since we got the van back in 2015. I checked the coolant levels and even with the coolant full to the max in both the radiator and the coolant tank, the heat would work for a while and it stopped working again. I thought it was the blend doors that were stuck, but the blend doors are fully functional. Before I fixed the heater, I had the cooling system flushed out 2 oil changes ago. The day after my brother's dance and the next day after that, I decided to work on the heater issue along with my dad. I put the vehicle up on ramps and disconnected the battery along with the removal of the circuit box above the battery so that I can remove the battery.

I then cursed and swore at the thermostat housing as it was a pain in the butt to remove since it's alllllll the way down at the bottom of the engine. Why they put the thermostat below the engine is beyond me. After draining some of the coolant and replacing the thermostat, I added some coolant and put everything back the way it was, but the coolant level wasn't sufficient enough yet. Since it was getting late, I decided to work on the cooling system some more the next day and added more coolant to the radiator, ran the van for 30 minutes to get rid of air in the system with the heater on full blast, and instant heat. Then, the electrical was acting strange. First, when I turned the headlights on, the car shut off and found out the battery was loose. Then after fixing that, the high beam on the driver's side was on and flashed along with the right turn signal activated (and flashing faster than before). I then took the circuit box out under the hood after disconnecting the battery and fixed the 2 bent pins and all was well. The front HVAC controls for the front vents weren't working, but the rear/center vents were working, and I discovered the circuit box wasn't pressed in all the way, so after that, everything started to work, minus the rear windshield wiper.

Rear windshield wiper:
Fast forward a month or so, the rear windshield wiper motor stopped working all of a sudden and I thought about replacing the motor with a new one, but I decided to repair it by taking it apart, cleaning the electrical contact points on both the shaft and where the electrical contact is at, and spraying in white lithium grease into the shaft, gears, and teeth to help lubricate it and to get the motor to work. After the repair, it was almost perfect, except it got stuck again and I realized the windshield wiper arm was out of alignment as the bolt that holds it in was a bit too loose since the rubber washer that goes into the nut that keeps the plastic trim in place was in the way. After fixing that, the wiper started to work a lot better than it did. Simple fix, yet painful in some cases. The wiper still works and it's time for new wiper blades for the front and rear.