I need to do the heater core on my 01 Ram. I know it's a good idea to replace the evaporator core while in there and while mine is fine right now, it is 8 years old. I used an OEM one last time I did it and have no complaints. The thing I'm struggling with this time is that it seems like I'm going to have to pay around $350 for an oem one now. That seems crazy for what it is. I can get an aftermarket one from Rock Auto for around $50. That's a huge price difference. Have any of you guys used one from Rock Auto? Any issues? How was the quality? Am I that much better off paying an extra $300 for an oem one? At $350 I'm honestly thinking I may not replace it. At $50 I'd have no problem throwing another one in.

 

If it is only 8 years old, and isn't causing a problem, why replace it? If its OEM, then it should last quite a few more years.

 

I think that's the route I'm going to go. Especially since the dealer says the OEM one is backordered.

The thing that worries me is how often these fail. When I worked at a shop in high school (10 years ago), they had 2nd gen Rams with a leaking evaporator core on a weekly basis. They seem to have a short life on these truck and since you have to pull the dash to change it, they are a pain to do. I don't want to pull this dash again next year which is what made me think changing it now might be a good idea.

Since I can't get the OEM one and mine is fine, I think I'll just reuse it though.

I've about decided that I'm going to go with the OEM heater core though.

 

I did both the evaporator(my oem one sprang a leak) and the heater core. Got them both at napa, The heater core took a crap about a year later the evaporator is still in there. Guess it's going on 8-9 years so far.