Today after driving only five minutes to the store I smelled coolant. Looked down at the tunnel in front of my floor gear shift and found coolant dripping inside on the tunnel. Must be the heater core. Fortunately, here in Baja California Sur, Mexico, no need for a heater. Just need to bypass the heater core now and hope the disappearing coolant problem will be over and done with for now.

 

Eventually you might want to replace the heater core if for no other reason than to defog the windshield.

 

Not a bad idea to replace a heater core (like to keep everything in perfect order). However, most times it's a nightmare to perform such a task (don't know in the case of a '96 Dakota).

 

I do. I replaced the core in my '97. Supposedly, you just need to drop the steering column and rotate the dash backwards, then remove the heater box.Instead, I removed the seats to give myself room to work. Then I removed the steering column completely. Then I removed the dash assembly all the way. I then had a HUGE amount of room to work. A little more time to disassembly and reassemble, but the actual work on the heater box was a breeze. It also gave me a chance to clean everything. I replaced the a/c expansion core while I was in there.

When I got it bck together and charged the a/c, it would condense moisture on the glass outside on humid days. (Normal in S.Indiana)