unhook both heater core hoses and take the item bellow shove it in one hose run water through it till turns clear. do the other hose. go back and forth till there is no more dirt water coming out (could take 10 plus back and forth). hook hoses back up and turn truck/ heat on. to start with i only open valve about half way or less (all the stuff in the heater core will slowly dislodge. gradually opening it more and more each time till complete. NEVER OPEN VALVE MORE THAN 3/4 OPEN probably would be fine but you never know. done this on about 8 dodges over the last few years for friends/ self. it will be nasty just so you know.

 

yeah, gotta be careful with that kind of thing. Cooling system is designed to run at 16-18 PSI, water pressure from your hose can easily hit 50 PSI on a well, and north of 80 if you have city water...... don't wanna blow up the heater core.

 

agreed with ^^ hence dont open valve fully. there is a decent chance you need a new heater core anyways so if it works great if it don't put in a new core but like i said i have saved 8 using this method. including 2 of my own one was an 01 and one was a 1988

 

Dang, that looks like a nifty tool.

I use a water pressure regulator for RV's. The adjustable one...


https://smile.amazon.com/Valterra-A0...ater+regulator


Even, then, don't open it all of the way. Too much flow OR pressure is a bad thing.

 

Not to disparage any insights here, but my truck has never had a problem with bleeding the coolant system. I've had several t-stats installed and never bled, plus this summer I put on all new pump, hoses, and t-stat with a full coolant flush including heater core. Just closed it all up, filled it, and ran it til warm. Added coolant and was good to go. And this was on a flat driveway.

Maybe your t-stat is weak or heater core is so clogged it can't flow?

 

Yeah, well, rub it in...

 

dodge heater cores get clogged over time. all heater cores do but saw it more in dodges than others when i was mechaninking my way through college (Don't really know why). like i said though i only have done 8 of these all worked out with the tool in my post on city water. some of the mechanics that taught me this blew up heater core from time to time but they were always in such a hurry they probably WOT that valve so ya be careful and that tool works great

 

Ok, now you guys are just plain showing of your fine landscapes now!!!!!!!! Lol

 

Anyone tried blowing out the lines/core with air, dumped any CLR, or equiv. into the core, let it sit, and then flush? that method worked ok on my 95 Cherokee.

 

I have. The biggest problem is getting all the air out of the heater core. Heater core is the highest point in the cooling system, which makes it an ideal place to trap air. (and it does a very good job of it....) Finding a way to purge the air is the *hot* ticket.