Hey everyone, I have a 1994 Dakota Sport and I've been reading this forum furiously ever since I got it. Well anyway, the heat in my truck is sub-par to say the least, the hottest is gets is room temperature. So I figured I'd try flushing the heater core. But when I went to disconnect the hoses from the water pump and intake manifold, I couldn't for the life of me get the rubber hose to slide off of the fixed metal hose. I even tried the connections on the firewall. Anyone have any suggestions as to how to get those two stupid hoses off?

 

Just cut it off as short as you can. Use a razor blade to cut it down the middle of the hose.

 

+1 to what Crazy4x4RT said. I have new hoses because I had to cut mine off and I just went ahead and replaced them... may as well after all these years.

 

Hey, thanks for the info. I should have figured that out myself . Anyway, I bought new tubing but I had enough after cutting off an inch, so I re-used the hoses that were already there. I'll probably replace them come summer. My heat is fantastic now, took my ten minutes tops to flush once I got the lines off. What an easy job!

 

Cool I'm Glad you got it!

 

next time, grab the hose over the tube with a set of big pliers. the kind that have the round cut out jaws (with teeth). twist to break the seal, then they will slide right off. dont crush the tubing.

 

That's how I do it too.

For the heater hoses though I just cut them in the middle and put flushing tees in there. I wasn't so lucky, flushing it out didn't fix my problem. Probably going to have to do the heater core soon.

 

I probably should've mentioned that was the first thing I tried after they didn't just pull off. These things were stuck, even after I cut a line down the middle of the tubing I had to get pliers to pull them off the metal.

 

i replaced my heater core a couple months ago. its not fun if you have ac and leave it hooked up. manual says you need to have a shop disconect it, but i was able to work around it.

on hoses that are really stuck, grab them at several places working the rubber a bit, then twist. sometimes a very small flat head screwdriver can be used to pry in and break the seal(usually a bent one)

 

Well that's a good idea, thanks for the info. I'll probably try that come spring, as I plan on replacing all the coolant lines.