I recently purchased a 96 Dakota, 6 cylinder. It runs good, good enough to get me around, will need a few things done but otherwise no major issues. I'm not familiar with these so will be learning.

Two things I would like to tackle;

1- At some point many years ago, it was wrecked in the front end.That was replaced and there are no problems with it wanting to pull to a side, wheels wearing odd, etc.... Only issue is the steering wheel was not centered. It sits at , say 60 degrees clockwise when driving straight. I thought maybe disconnecting the shaft from the wheel itself (under the hood) and simply rotating to align the steering wheel better would work but this thing seems to be keyed with a slot. Is there any other way to align the steering wheel correctly without redoing the front end? or, are there details or a video for this exact vehicle? I truly do not want to take this to a front end shop and spend the money on this. It is aggravating but not worth money to correct. Oddly, doing a quick search results in others with this same issue with the same vehicle. no posted solutions.

2-The AC unit works, works great. It did not have Freon in it when I purchased it, so I put two cans in just to see. One can had the orange dye in it. Compressor comes on, very cold air comes out. pressure was a little low, not sure how many cans it takes to fill these up, I assume three but two would be enough just to see if it worked and if it leaked.

Doesn't take long to leak down, say, 30 minutes to an hour. My thinking, the leak is bigger than a bad seal or something to leak down that fast. Anyway, I looked around with a black light and tried the yellow glasses to see if I could not find the leak. Never could find anything obvious under the hood. My thinking is it is either in the dash, whatever is in there, or part of the radiator or what ever that is the line goes to. What is in the dash that the lines go to? easy way to check? what is the coil on, part of, or around the radiator? easy way to get to? I want to look in these areas for the dye before adding more freon and find or eliminate things.

 

1) I would pony up and take it to a shop for a proper alignment. Even off a little will cause front tires to wear prematurely. That will also tell you what, if anything, requires attention from a suspension/steering standpoint.

2) 96 should be R-134A refrigerant. Are you actually trying to add Freon, which is R-12 and almost impossible to get unless you are licensed, to the system? The under hood label (provided it's still there) will list the type and quantity of refrigerant required for a full charge. Check under the dash (where the evaporator is) to see if you have liquid leaking. Also check the front of the vehicle where the condenser is (looks like a small radiator)1)

 

The alignment is spot on, I see no need to take it for a realignment just for a steering wheel adjustment. Just the steering wheel is off. I wanted to realign the steering wheel without adjusting anything that has to do with alignment. Again, I've see many stating the same thing,steering wheel is off, alignment is good. Easy way to adjust without realigning it? Other vehicles this is straight forward, maybe I'm missing something....
Yes,it uses 134a, and,yes, I did use 134a. I simply used my gauge to see if it was low, good, or too high. With two cans, mine read good but a little on the low side,so, guessing three would do. Evaporator easy to get to? What about the condenser? just curious what needs to be removed to access these so I'll know how much time to guesstimate before starting.

 

You're just looking for a leak right now, so it is not hard at all to get a flashlight and start looking at the underside of the dash (except some extreme back bending) to try and spot leaks. Evaporator is up under the dash. Condenser is in front of the radiator like I said.

 

First off, if the steering wheel is at 60*, it's not spot on; part of a competent alignment is centering the wheel. And yes, what you do is crank the toe adjusters equally opposite directions on the two sides to center it. But hey, that's part of the alignment! Take your choice ...

For the A/C, you'll need to find the leak; good news (relatively!) is that you don't have to take the whole dash out if it IS the evaporator. But here's a hint: Most of the aftermarket receiver/dryers for the Gen1 Dakotas suck for sealing, and I went through probably eight before I gave up and paid the price for a Mopar unit, that DOES seal. GPD would hold vacuum, but no pressure.

The lower half-dash comes out; to take that out you drop the steering column. There's some minor wiring, but it's fairly clean. There's a plug where the vacuum hoses connect to the HVAC control head, so that gets unplugged. Have the R134a recovered, then disconnect the hoses from the thermonic expansion valve (and remove the valve also), remove the heater hoses, CAREFULLY disconnect the two vacuum lines (one for vacuum to the HVAC head, one to the heater control valve so it can shut the hot water off on RECIRC/MAX), remove the drain diverter, and four bolts later, you're ready to start wrestling the HVAC box off to get to the evaporator. Pro tip: While it's out, do a proactive heater core swap; replace ALL the sealing weatherstripping; and consider a new blower motor while it's apart (it's a LOT easier to do while it's apart than doing it in six months later.) Use a hand-held vacuum pump and make sure all the actuators are in good shape.

Pick up a factory service manual for detailed instructions.

For the condensor, I pulled my radiator to make it easier to get to (and also because I upgraded the cooling system at the same time!); YMMV.

When putting it back together, don't forget to replace the thermonic expansion valve and the receiver/drier or accumulator so that both start new; you'll need to pull a hard vacuum on it; and then charge it with some oil to replace that lost in the evaporator/condensor and then charge it with the proper weight of R134a.

RwP

 

Just because the wheel isn't centered doesn't mean it's not aligned. Someone could have taken the wheel off long ago and not put it back on centered. If the wheel is that far off and there's no obvious suspension alignment issues, the alignment is more then likely fine. Just someone's screwed up pretty decent somewhere some time ago.

 

I dunno, the ones I've seen in the yard are all keyed; they don't GO back on not turned right.

FSM also states so for 1988 at least.

RwP

 

Could be, don't know about how our steering wheels are. But, at 60* off, if there was something wrong with the actual alignment, it'd be very easy to tell with the wheel Being that far off, I suspect something else is serious wrong.

 

as a former alignment guy myself, yes you can set the alignment perfect as in won't pull or won't wear the tires with the steering wheel in about any position. but no, just because it seems to drive straight and doesn't pull, does NOT mean the alignment is "spot on".... it is unbelieveable how many vehiocles I used to get in complaining about a "pull" that didn't but if you forced teh steering wheel so the spokes were straight, you would actually be steering the truck in that direction but if you let the wheel center where it will going down the road, it may well actually not be "pulling"

and on the subject of putting the steering wheel on the column in a different spline than it is supposed to be, yes it is sometimes possible to "force" it to go on in a spot besides the double wide tooth being lined up on the shaft and the wheel, but it will go on HARD. in the old old days it may have been more common but even in the 1970s steering columns were splined both where the wheel goes onto the column and where the column connects to the steering box (or rack) with a "master" spline.
but yes I agree that the OP should find a shop he can trust and pony up the money for a PROPER alignment.