Hey guys! My first post. I drive a Ford but the family just bought a Dodge. This is our first Dodge since... well, a long time! Our last Dodge was a Ram Charger with a 318. Awesome machine.

Okay, here's the problems.

A) The heater isn't blowing hot, hardly at all. We have to keep it on Max Heat to keep from freezing to death.

B)Secondly, we have a coolant issue. The truck is using coolant like crazy. We cannot find where the coolant is going. Any suggestions?

I love this little Dodge truck. It's a '98 Dakota Sport 4x4 V6 Magnum and 3.83 gears. I am impressed by how solid this little vehicle is.

Thanks in advance for all your replies! We need help! Haha

God bless

-Bill

 

Welcome to the forum and youll love the truck.

My coolant leak was my thermostat and im not sure what to say bout the heat. It could be clogged but I dont know anything bout how to tackle that issue.

I believe you can get a UV additive so you can track the coolant leak with a black light. I havnt used it (i had a nice puddle lol) but Id start there. Maybe clean the bay if its nasty like mine

 

Thanks a lot, RG!

Anybody else?

 

You probably need to flush the heater core. Dakota heater cores are sort of known for sludging up and not heating very well. If the fan isn't blowing well enough at the lower speeds replace the blower motor resistor pack. It is best to get it at the Dodge dealer because Dodge recently did a redesign with better and longer-lasting parts. Should cost less than $20.00 if you need one.

There should be posts here or on Google searches on how to back-flush the heater core. Sorry but I have not done it so I can't offer much detail but I know more than a few Dakota owners have had to do it and the heat worked great afterwards. It seems to me you could just disconnect both heater hoses and direct one into a bucket and flush thru the other with a water hose, then switch them around and flush in the opposite direction. The info should be on the web someplace, or on this forum too.

As for losing coolant, you need to find the leak. Start at the water pump, the weep hole is hard to see and hard to tell if there is a leak there. Maybe the radiator is leaking or you have a bad hose clamp or leaky hose end somewhere, depending on whether the hoses have been replaced before. If there are no obvious leaks maybe replace the radiator cap.

Jimmy

 

Okay thanks a lot Silver!

 

what do you want to bet that the leak is occuring in the line going into the heater core?

would solve both problems.

 

hmmm, I'll suggest that to my dad. It's his truck, he's the one driving it. Thanks independent. =)

Off topic but a real question; How strong are these 3.9L V6's? I floored it from a dead stop and I was very unimpressed. speed doesn't matter to me I just expected a lot more from a 175 horse engine. Don't get me wrong I LOVE this little truck, I think it's great. I'm just wondering if maybe the engine is sick? It only has 48,000 miles.

 

The v6 just doesnt have enough umph for such a heavy truck. You can either get used to it, get lower gears, or get a 5.2l.

 

the 3.9L deff lacks bottom end power.

i'd say fill the coolant back up and start the truck... let it get to operating temp and look for leaks under the hood.

the heater cores absolutely suck! they are prone to getting gunk built up and that (with the hot/cold cycles) will crack the core and cause a leak as well. keep an eye out behind the passenger front tire. if there's a puddle there... your gonna have to remove the dash to replace the core.

to flush the heater core, you need to trace two lines- one coming from the front of the engine to the firewall and the one right below it. it should flow from the top line to the lower line (can't remember off hand) but disconnect from the front of the engine and there should be a quick disconnect on the lower line (the disconnect will be on the passenger side of the engine) put the top hose in a 5 gal. bucket and hold the other hose to a garden hose. it'll make the core work backwards.... all the gunk that built up the one way, will get flushed out. 5 gal bucket is to keep from makin a mess....

but for like 4 key places to look for leaks.... thermostat, behind passenger front tire, heads, and the radiator... make sure caps are on tight and check for leaks around it.

hopefully this gets tracked down soon and quickly

 

Thank you guys. I really appreciate the help. The truck is sitting at dad's work and I doubt we'll be able to really mess with it until the weekend. I'll keep you guys updated.

Another off topic question, on a much lighter note, but have any of you heard these V6's with a short glasspack? I love the way this truck sounds stock and I was wondering if I could pull just a little more of that sound out with a pack, or would it just sound ricey?