So should I be concerned about the slight smell of antifreeze every now and then? It's a faint smell, usually the passenger doesn't even smell it, no visible leaks or puddles when I park... I had the oil changed and they mentioned something about it taking some coolant but it is "common"

(sorry if my questions seem basic, I don't know much about cars and still learning about the durango on top of it.)

 

I wouldn't really worry about it but I would be prepaired to add antifreeze if needed. If a failure does apear, you can simply take the hose off the pump and directly install to the intake which will bypass the core. So I'm not TOO worried about it as I can bypass it in about 4 minutes but then again, I know how to do it.

 

How do you know if your heater core is going? Is it astronomical to replace?

I ask because the heat in my truck has been a little bit of an issue since my dad has had it, but I just figured that has something to do with the fact that it's a large vehicle with a small heat source.
The truck heats up after a little while in the cold weather and I haven't seen the typical wet rugs and stuff liek that that I heard are symptomatic.

 

Search under "heater core" in the Durango 1st generation in the advanced search option.