Hey Everyone,

So, my trusty 88 Dakota just made it home and then I noticed lots of coolant pouring out of the bottom of her. Thought it was just a hose however it was actually this weird plastic thingy below. What is it called, and actually, what is it used for??

 

Looks like what's left of a heater valve. Did it have a bottom section with two or four ports?

 

Hey Sixtysixdeuce,

It did have a larger id pipe at one end going to a smaller id, both were plastic and just broke in to little pieces, hence the leak. It has a small port on the top for a small tube which is fed right in to the firewall, sooo, thinking about it it must be the heater valve as I have no idea what else it could be. Oh, should have mentioned in the post, it is a valve which is activated by the small vacuum tube fed in to the top.

Thanks for your help!

 

Vaccum operated and leaking coolant....not sure what else that could be but I second the vote on the heater valve theory... here is an aftermarket plastic version from Parts America's site

[IMG]local://upfiles/72216/96C940F8B7EF4659A38CB63C41875079.jpg[/IMG]

 

Plot thickens. So 100% its the heater valve, off to my local spares center to get the replacement, which incidentaly looks exactly like the one above. However the inlet port is only 1/2" and I needed something larger, even though there system was telling them that this was the exact part. I found a 5/8" to 1/2" valve, looked exactly like the one I have, and purchased that. Took it home and on close inspection I can see both pipes appear to be the same diameter. Fitted anyway, fingers crossed and nope, coolant leaking out of the 1/2" side.

So my problem is trying to find a heater valve that going to have two 5/8" ports. To top it off, my vacum tube from the heating control unit has a hole in it too

 

I imagine you can find what you're needing, but if not, you might have togo with a 4 port unit and just cap the other two.

 

Thanks for the help sixtysixdeuce!

I was able to get some new hose clamps, bit of tape, and its on there, no leaks! However, as I mentioned above, the vacum tube that feeds in to the unit is not connected, so the vavle is always open, hmmm, that needs fixed which lookes like it will be a pain.

Odd problem now though, if I start her up she overheats very quickly, I made sure there was enough coolant in her, radiator is full, as is the coolant container. I guess the thing would be to drain the system and start from afresh?

Rich

 

seems to me If she is full of water, blowing out parts its a clear sign of a bad water pump or thermostat. your systen has built up pressure and blew the weakest part of the system.