Five Minute Jobs

[Oaktree]

I've had this happen backwards too. Wife had a Mustang with a leaking heater core. I looked under the hood and figured it was going to take hours. Started the job by looking in the glove box, where I discovered an access hole to R&R the heater core. Ten minutes.

Had a mid-80s Escort that was the same way. I think it took more than 10 minutes, but was pleasantly surprised how accessible everything was. Hardest part was getting the hoses off...where it came thru to the engine compartment was kind of cramped and could only get one hand in there.

back in the day, heater cores were the WORST job.

"Back in the day"?? Have you tried doing one on 'most any vehicle made in the last 25-30 years? By comparison the old cars were a piece of cake.
The upside is that the cores seem to last better now...both of my vehicles (an '06 and an '01) still have the originals.

Agree on lack of accessibility on bulbs. Most, if not all makes/models seem to have at least one bulb that's inaccessible. Clearly it never occurs to the designers that bulbs burn out.