1987 Mazda B2000

The Mazda B series is a great compact truck. It's very simple, very reliable, and some generations of the truck share most of their parts with the Ford Ranger of the same generation. That keeps parts cheap and available. This generation, the B2000, was built entirely by Mazda.

​Even though they're very reliable, earlier model compact trucks like this one are getting close to 30 years old, or even older. These trucks are typically cheap to pick up, but they usually need some bigger maintenance taken care of since they are getting older. Since no manufacturer currently makes a compact truck new anymore, keeping trucks like this running and well maintained is the only way for a person to have one. So while you can find them for a good price, it's a good idea to plan for some thorough maintenance and upkeep costs to get the vehicle road reliable.

​This particular example came in with a leaking heater core. It's not very surprising for heater cores of this design to leak after 10-15 years of use. Unfortunately the heater core is behind the entire dash of the vehicle, meaning the dash must be removed first to get access to the heater core. The truck's interior is a simple design, so pulling the dash is more basic than newer cars and trucks, but it is still a laborious job and working with 30 year old plastic components means you must take your time and work gently with some of the more brittle/fragile pieces of dash trim.

​This truck needs defrost and heat again, so let's get started! Click on the pictures below for more details.

After everything was completely disassembled, it was noted that the new heater core was slightly too tall. This was due to an error in the manufacturing process that was used by the aftermarket supplier. For certain parts there's usually only one or two parts suppliers that even offer a replacement, and in this case both of the manufacturers that offer the part for this truck make the heater core with the same design flaw. (This is what happens when parts are farmed out to overseas manufacturers with rock bottom labor rates and cheap methods. The parts are made too cheaply for anyone else to compete, and the manufacturers can get lazy with their quality control.)
The new heater core was "tweaked" to make it fit, and while this isn't ideal and runs the risk of causing a leak to the new part, there wasn't another viable/cost effective option. Below is the reinstallation gallery. Click on the photos for details.