Help, 97 dakota sport with 243,000 miles. Still runs great but no heat. We have the dash out but still can't find our way to the heater core. WHAT IS THE SECRET? Need heat, this will be my 3rd winter in the UP without heat if I can't replace the core.

 

Whoa. 3 winters without heat? I did the core in my ram (granted it's an 86) and it only took about an hour's worth of work. Newer vehicles are a lot harder. In the ram I had to take nuts off on the firewall side, not sure about the Dak. Do you have a shop manual?

 

Pull the WHOLE DASH out (or set it on the seat).

Then teh heater box is visable.

Disconnect the ac lines from under the hood (if applicable).

Then remove 5 or 6 nuts from teh engine side of teh firewall and the heaterbox comes loose.

take heater box and unscrew the top lid.

remove core and replace.

installation is reveresed.



Look forward to at least 8hrs of fun doing this.

Why dodge designed it this way is beyond me. Heater cores SHOULD NOT TAKE ALL DAY TO REPLACE. Should be at most an hour.


BTW I've been through 5 in the last 2.5 yrs with my 98. I found out that these trucks can have electrolysis problems with coolent cooroding the aluminum and brass tubes. I guess flushing coolent and refillling it every year isnt enough to prevent it.

 

hmm. Dissimilar metals stuff. Great. I wonder if tossing a filter on the hose would help.

 

Thanks guys! It is someplace to start and I was warned this would be difficult. What your'e telling me is that I am not going to get this done before the husband gets home or between canning batches of pickles! Sure hope it's done before the snow comes next week. I'll keep you posted.

 

Please do and have good details.
I need to replace mine also.