Excellent.. thanks for laying this out... will be helpful if/when I ever face this.That thread looks good, ill have to check it out.
as far as tips and tricks go
************This is super easy, yes you can do it yourself, minimal tools required************************
Let me break down the process.
-Disconnect power. 12v and high power
-Remove passanger front wheel
-remove wheel well liner, its attached by 3 or 4 plastic clips. Doesnt need to be completley out, just out of the way.
-In plain view for the world to see is the fully accessible DC-DC converter.
-Two clamps from my woodworking area, one to each coolant hose.
-disconnect coolant hoses, you can do it at the hose clamp and remove the hose or the whole fitting is attached with 4 screws on each one, thats what I did is take the screws out, it was easier than discnnecting the hose as it was being difficult.
-Next remove all 4 connectors, and then remove the grounding wires by taking the nuts off the wire.
-Remove the black clips around the edges which help route other wiring.
- The DC-DC converter is attached to the body of the car with 2nuts and one bolt, once those are removed the whole thing comes out, its a little difficult as the mounting is akward, youll know when you see it what Im talking about but if you wiggle it a bit you will get it off. (I used a drill to bore out the mounting location on the DC-DC converter itself it didnt affect anything and really helped when putting it back in.)
-The hardest part is this, separating the converter, the gasket is sealed well,Remove the 6 screws around the outside of the housing then start on the gasket. Im sure there are lots of ways to do it but I used a hammer, razor blade and a screw driver to separate the two pieces, being careful to not drive the screw driver inside but only around the edges so that it would make a gap big enough to get my razor in to cut the gasket. DO this all the way around.
-after its separated the hard part is over, there are a total of 4 fuses, check them all with your meter, replace what is bad. (with an identical fuse)
- Now clean off the rest of the old gasket and replace with a liquid gasket from the autoparts store, this is very important so that you dont get water in here and develop a real problem later on.
-Seal it up and put it back in.
-turn heat/AC on and enjoy .
PS if you break the plastic clips on the tire area you can replace them from ebay, I dont know why but they are priced like gold at autozone and you can get 100 for a like 2$ on ebay.
-using the razor blade clean off the old gasket and
Tips?
DO NOT REMOVE THE HEATER. I did and it just costed alot of time, added nothing to the whole process, I had to reinstall the heater just to check it so you know, I should have just started with the DC-DC and been good
Tricks?
Dont be scared its super easy and itll save you a ton of money.
(also, in that charger replacement thread I referenced, the youtube video from Nick S is very helpful)