I just bought an 90 Dakota convertible.

The HVAC controls don't appear to work. The fan works but it only blows on the floor. Also, the display doesn't light up at night.

Is this a common problem? Are my HVAC controls cooked? I tried last night to swap it out with one I had laying around from an 89 Daytona but the vacuum connections appeared different. Also, the Daytona HVAC controls have a bulb in them, I could not find a bulb in the Dakota controls for the life of me.

Any help appreciated!

Scott
90 Dakota Sport convertible
and a bunch of turbo Dodge junk
Walkersville, MD

 

First off, congrats on buying a rare-breed truck. Up until about 5 months ago, I never knew a convertable Dakota existed, and ever since, I've wanted to see one in person.

Anyways, as for the blowing only towards the floor. I would test the vacuum lines. It kinda weird though, because by design, if the system goes bad, its supposed to blow out of the defrost vent (to provide a clear windshield, safety reasons). It could be the doors that open/close for the air to move though is stuck.

As far the display light being out... I have no idea how to get to the light.

 

Thanks. I was actually looking for a 95-96 Dakota Sport 3.9 or 5.2 short bed 5 spd, but I couldn't resist the drop top. I bought my Dakota convertible from the original owner, it has 191k on it but is in good shape.

I think I've found the problem.

Someone on another board I'm on (www.turbo-mopar.com) told me to check the gray and black vacuum lines. The gray line goes from the heater control valve, the black one from the brake booster.

Sure enough, the black line had melted and was split in half. I'm going to fix that tonight and see what happens.

As for the illumination issue, I'm still a bit stumped on that one.