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Ok, so I think I know the answer to this…but I wanted to get the collective’s input.
This morning it was pretty darn cold here in Dallas (about 38 degrees). I fire up the Dakota and head off to run some errunds. After about 15 minutes of driving, I cut on the heat…to get the faint sweet, all to familiar, smell of anti-freeze.
We all know that means the heater core has decided to leak. I have been lucky in all my years, that each car I have owned never had an issue with the AC condensor or heater core, but it seems my luck has run out with this Dakota.
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I think you should make sure it is the core and not just the heater hoses that clamp on to the fire wall. When the leak is at the clamps, the coolant saturates the foam insulation and it’ll seep into the cab just enough to smell
My thoughts are this. There is a whole lot of electrical under that dashboard. It tends to not like moisture or being soaked if the flood gates open. You may make it through the winter (hey, it is Texas); but since you are going to end up doing it anyway, why take the risk of creating more problems? An ounce of prevention > pound of cure approach.
Good comment on confirming connections and hoses. All under the dash work is a PIA. I feel for you on that one. I have zero experience with Dodge, but hope it sits low on the firewall for ya’.
As much as it pains me to say it this may be a job for stop leak. Be sure to follow the instructions to the letter however to ensure a good seal if you decide to go that rout.
Quoted From bälon:
I think you should make sure it is the core and not just the heater hoses that clamp on to the fire wall. When the leak is at the clamps, the coolant saturates the foam insulation and it’ll seep into the cab just enough to smell
Good info, thank you. After sitting in the garage for a couple of minutes, thinking what would Chuck Norris do…I decided what the hell, might as well see if anything is leaking outside of the HVAC system.
So I fire it up, let it get to operating temps and cut the temp control over to hot…and start to feel my way around under the dash to check for moisture. As I come out of my cab, my wife is standing there wondering what I am doing, and I calmly say “I am about to risk a 3rd degree burn filling around the heater hoses for leaks.” Here comes the genius…my wife looks me straight in the face and says, “why? Just get some baby powder out of the bathroom and sprinkle it on there and see if it clumps.”
I have to say…that was a brilliant idea. It saved me some headache, and to my surprise, the in/outlets for the heater core are bone dry.
So I took it one step further, I decided to test for moisture in the HVAC dash unit, but taking a small “puff” of baby powder and watching the vents. Small enough not to risk clogging anything up, but nothing came out of the vents, I am starting to think it is leaking inside the HVAC dash portion.
In any case, I drove around for a bit, as I like to do on saturday’s, it’s cool to see the neighbors and find out what the neighborhood is up to, and I notice even with the A/C on I started to smell the anti-freeze… 🙁
I think I might just drop the dash and go all out…go big or stay home, right?
Quoted From TejasNW:
My thoughts are this. There is a whole lot of electrical under that dashboard. It tends to not like moisture or being soaked if the flood gates open. You may make it through the winter (hey, it is Texas); but since you are going to end up doing it anyway, why take the risk of creating more problems? An ounce of prevention > pound of cure approach.
Good comment on confirming connections and hoses. All under the dash work is a PIA. I feel for you on that one. I have zero experience with Dodge, but hope it sits low on the firewall for ya’.
Agreed, an ounce of prevention is dead on, thanks for the confirmation. I agree on the electrical, while I was in there, I noticed that if that thing decides to bust open, it’s gonna play hell on the electrical system…I might ended up parting that truck out 🙂
Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:
As much as it pains me to say it this may be a job for stop leak. Be sure to follow the instructions to the letter however to ensure a good seal if you decide to go that rout.
Thanks man, but I am with you on this one, liquid additives give me pause and a bit of a shutter. If I was the only one driving it, I would probably go that route, but with the wife’s car sitting in the garage waiting for repairs, she has been toting the kids all over the place, and I would hate to get a call one day saying that the truck is down, or worse, its 30 degrees and the kids are starting to turn blue 🙂
I will keep everyone posted as I work on this monster 🙂
I’d like to point out that burnt antifreeze is one of the most toxic gases your car can produce, so if your kids are in this car, do it up quick man.
Quoted From Beefy:
I’d like to point out that burnt antifreeze is one of the most toxic gases your car can produce, so if your kids are in this car, do it up quick man.
Thank you for this, I was wondering this myself. In fact, I am writing down a pros/cons list to witch vehicle I repair first, the Dodge or the Volvo and finding out which one is going to be less expensive. Very good point about the burnt antifreeze, thanks again!
I’d be pressurizing the cooling system first to make sure there’s no leaks under the hood before you rip the dash out. Could be a minor leak from the engine bay and causing a smell inside the truck when it’s steaming and blowing in the fresh air door…
Good call on pressure testing the system, unfortuneatly finances has me pinned in the corner, so I dont have the money to buy a pressure tester, or even rent one. Which is kinda a catch 22, any money I spend will go to parts, which after making my pros/cons list, it looks like the Volvo is going to win the repair contest.
Tomorrow morning I am going to call around to a few more autozones about rental tools, my local one quoted the deposit for the tool as the rental fee…if I remember correctly, there was no cost to renting tools, just the deposit, in the event that the tool came back damaged, you lost your depost. So I am pretty peeved at my local Autozone. But, I could be wrong, they could have changed thier rental policies…but for $80.00 to rent a pressure test kit, I would rather go to harbor freight and buy one for $49.00 and use my 20% off coupon!
Thanks again guys for the tips, I will keep you posted on my progress!
I believe you are correct in that most times they just want to collect enough money to replace the tool should you not return it, when you return it in good condition you get your money back and you’re not out any money. That said based on your description and the propensity of Dodge heater cores to go out this is what you are facing. DONT take this lightly, not only do you need to remove the dash but you will also need to evacuate the HVAC and drain the cooling system enough to remove the HVAC assembly. IF the core goes out completely don’t worry all you need to do is disconnect the hoses at the firewall and rout them together or just make a loop back to the engine with one of the hoses, this will bypass the heater core and eliminate the leak however you won’t have heat as a result but it won’t effect the cooling system at all. I’m not saying it’s an impossible job to do but by the time you’re done you will know your truck better than you ever hoped becaue it will be a significant amout of work to get in there and replace that heater core. You might also consider replacing the evaporator at the same time while you’re in there along with the blower motor and resistor. I know you say money is thight however if you have to go back and do the work again to replace any of those parts your back in the same spot needing to remove everhting to replace those parts, should be easier the second time however. Good luck.
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