So I decided to join this forum after being on landroversonly.com for two years and having limited feedback from other members.

Winter is around the corner and I am debating on whether or not to do the blend door motor & heater core swap myself or fork up $2000 to have it done. Heat was never 100% on my truck and last year the only heat that I had (passenger side) cut out at the end of the winter.

Can anyone post any helpful tips or suggestions on conducting these repairs? I have reviewed the RAVE cd and Rangerovers.net writeups. Would be great to save $1000 on labor charges.

 

There are plenty of threads regarding shortcuts for this repair. The blend motor on the drivers side is easy to access. Just pull the lower panel and cut/pull the rear duct oout of the way. On the passenger side, you need to pull out the glovebox and attack the rear duct in the same manner. Put the duct back together with Gorilla tape and you're good to go:
Blend Motor Diagnosis and Replacement

 

I believe this is one of the most active and informative Land Rover Forums in the English language. With that said:
Here are two links on a website everyone working on P38 should bookmark.
Blend Motor Diagnosis and Replacement
Heater Core Replacement (Range Rover 4.0/4.6/P48)

Careful, after looking at these pictures your confidence may go up a notch.

 

Indeed after reviewing the rangerovers.net website I decided to tackle the job on my own. The job will undergo as soon as the $1000 in parts arrive. My only remaining question (for now) is if I need to drain the coolant before pulling out the heater core? The write up and illustrations show a rag underneath the heater core while being extracted but do not mention if so. Will it come pouring out as soon as I pull it out of their?

 

You can use hose pliers to clamp the lines closed in the engine compartment but you will still make a mess with the coolant in the heater core. You need to move it around quite a bit to get the thing out. You can also disconnect the hoses in the engine compartment and blow the coolant out before you do the work to help keep the job a little cleaner.