Hi I m new here obviously. I just took a job on a 99 van with a 5.9 and its all Heavy duty like if that matters. Well I'm pretty far into the heater core job. I was reading a step by step I found off the internet as I don't have a manual. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Dodge-Rep...m-van-1500.htm

The one thing I did not understand wasremoving the right radiator core support. I'm not sure if thats the cause of my truoble: The upper asssembly seems to be hung up on something and the lower assembly which contains the blower motor is flopping around freely. I have disconnected everything I can see and more, Is there something I canot see or do I need to separate the upper and lower units to get the upper one free. Also should I stop pussing out and just take apart the radiatot supports. thanks

 

Did you disconnect the blend door linkage that goes through the firewall?

The rightradiator support does have to come off. It's that strip of vertical metal that the two right (passenger side) radiator bolts screw into. You will also have to remove the metal strip that runs across the entireengine compartment directly above the radiator. The grill has to come off to be able to access all of the bolts. You shouldn't have to remove the radiator.

 

I believe I did. It has the black rubbercover on it right?

 

Yes, that's the one.
Hopefully you've disconnected the upper portion from the lower blower motor portion.
Did you remove the radiator mount yet? Are you still hung up?

 

There was one 8 mm screw holding things up. It was from inside the van. It looked like every other screw attaching the ductwork but this one was longer andextended through into the upper portion. once i got passed that it was a breeze. One thing I was wondering though, I disconnected the lower blower portion from the body was that unnessessary. The whole job took about 10 hours. anyone know whata shop charges for this.

 

$600-$800 depending on the shop.

 

In a 1985 Dodge Caravan mini-van, I replaced the heater-core. It took about four hours !!! And that's because I found a cheat to cut out an extra two hours of work pulling the dash apart. Plus, the old R12 AC system was too old to repair too, so I didn't worry about and banged up AC lines in the process.

Getting at the heater-core in a Ram Van that is mostly outside of the interior is tough work when the AC system is in the loop. Reading the Hayes manual just makes a person's head spin.

Shops in our area would charge a rate of $90/hr. That would be an 8-hour job for a total of $720+ tax plus the cost of a china made heater-core at the shop being $69.85.

So, you may have shaved some big $$$ doing the work yourself. About $600 in basic savings provided you got the heater-core and the cost of tools and your time. The $600 can now be put into the fuel budget to burn.

 

my dad got the core at the dealer for 310. I looked on ebay and they did not seem to have any 99 ones only up to 98 and they were only 70 bucks.

 

1999-2002/3 heater core for Dodge Ram Vans 3.9L, 5.2L & 5.9L Magnum engines ...

http://www.alldiscountautoparts.com/...p;make_code=DG

$310 seems very steep in price from a dealer. Just the rear A/C heater combo OEM made by Nippon-Denso $215.10.

The front HVAC system is made by Valeo in Jamestown, NY.

OEQ is Valeo's aftermarket division.