Here’s a fun one!:

I’m just about through the list of major problems with my, new to me, 98 Dakota (Pass-side turn signal being the last one that I’m aware of keeping me from passing inspection).

This is not a serious problem and it won’t keep me from passing inspection but it would be nice to have corrected.

The defrost and floor vents blow air but the vents in the dash (from driver to passenger-side) vents do not blow air. I took it back to the upstanding citizens that sold me the truck but they are telling me that there’s a missing door-like piece that directs the air flow between the upper, mid, and lower vents – they stated that they cannot help me with this issue since Dodge no longer has this part available. I called around to all of the Dodge dealers in a 50 mile radios but they all need me to bring it in so they can look at it. The dealers that I’ve dealt with charge just to look at it and it’s usually a LOT of money.

It’s a mighty obscure issue but I figured asking around here would be my only real option.
If there actually is a “missing door-like” part that I need, I could probably make one but I’d need to see a picture, diagram, tracing, measurements or something to go on. The Haynes manual doesn’t really have anything to offer me.

Hoping for some leads here. If there’s any additional info needed or ANY questions PLEASE don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks!

 

If it is a missing door in the plenum you'll have to drop the dash to fix it. If the dealer doesn't have the part, try a boneyard.

There are actually 4, if you have a/c. A panel/defrost door, floor/defrost, recirc, and the temperature blend door.

I can't imagine why they'd take the door out in the first place.

 

I'm not looking forward to doing all that but I'm gonna have to if I don't want to roast come summer time. 2nd gen Dakotas are surprisingly hard to come by as far as the boneyards around me. I drop a line every two weeks or so to see if they got one in...no luck yet but I'll keep trying.
I do have A/C. I'd probably have to buy the whole heater-A/C housing anyways so as long as the all of the door are there, I should be in good shape.

Why the door is missing: I'd love to know how that happened myself; my truck had been merclessly screwed with and I guess this was another poorly handled repair/ augmentation and a really annoying one at that.

Thanks for extra info!

 

Try http://www.car-part.com it can help you find a heater assembly.

If you do open it up, change the heater core out, cheap insurance.

Good luck!