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Tramper
Dodge Dakota
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3/11/2006
01:53:40
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 Subject: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Looking for a little help here. My 98 Dakota pumps out very little heat even after tooling down the Hwy for many, many miles. I just replaced the thermostat and still very little heat. I tested the old one by placing it in a pot of boiling water for a spell and it did open, but barely (my wife wasn’t happy that I used her good pot) :)
I thought that would fix it, but I was wrong. I’m going to flush the radiator out tomorrow to see if that helps, but if it doesn’t, I don’t know what else to try... Is there a sensor or something somewhere that I don’t know about?
Any help or advice anyone can give me would be great!
Thanks,
~T
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Scott C
Dodge Dakota
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3/11/2006
13:46:30
|  RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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check to see if you have good coolant flow moving through your heater core
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Tramper
Dodge Dakota
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3/11/2006
16:21:32
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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The top hose on the heater core is pretty warm. Not so hot that I can't hold onto it or anything, but it's pretty warm. The bottom hose is flat cold. Now, I don't know much of anything about heater cores. Which is the intake and which is the return, if both should be warm, only one, etc. I know nada about them.
I flushed the system by using some Prestone Radiator Flush. Drained the radiator, added the prestone flush, filled with water, ran for 15-20 min with heater on high, let cool, drianed again, filled with water again, ran for 15-20 min again with heater on high, let cool, drained, and then filled up with antifreeze.
It didn't help. I've read about reverse flushing. What is that and how does it work? Is it something I should try?
Once again, any and all help is MUCH appreciated.
Thanks guys.
~T
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Scott C
Dodge Dakota
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3/11/2006
16:39:11
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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the hose you felt that was warm is your inlet hose.... now if the other hose was cold then your heater core is clogged.... now disconnect the 2 hoses from the motor leaving the hoses connected to the heater core.... now take your garden hose and apply pressure through the hose that was cold... your gonna reverse flush the heater core.... might get alittle wet but it works... if dont get water coming out the other hose then the heater core is done for... the contaminants have sealed it shut... dodge is known for having its cooling system create electrolises and they eat away at aluminum and cause the coolant to gell up or form into hard crust and they form blockages mostly in heater cores and also attacks the a/c evaporator and causes them to leak freon... now replacement of those two peices calls for removing the dash completly... thats the only way to do it.. so be prepared to have a expensive bill from dodge or a local repair shop... reverse flushing has its goods and bads... you can open blockages with reverse flushing but also you could have a leak that was blocked off and reverse flushing can reopen that leak and cause it to leak coolant which in return make ya have to replace something so its a toss up whether you wanna do that or not...
Scott C.
Royal Auto
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Tramper
Dodge Dakota
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3/12/2006
01:39:04
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Scott,
Thanks for the info. I will try the reverse flushing tomorrow and see how it goes. If worse comes to worse, I'll just save my nickels and dimes (and dollars) to have the heater core replaced at the shop. The winter is pretty much licked here, but I will be moving to northern North Dakota come fall... would really like to have heat when facing a North Dakota winter.
Once again, I appreciate the info you gave me! I'll let you know how it goes after I get a chance to flush it like you stated.
~T
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Tramper
Dodge Dakota
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3/12/2006
22:46:11
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Being the backyard mechanic that I am, I have to work when the weather permits it... today was not a good day. I did get a chance to look at the hoses more closely today, though. The one that attaches to the water pump will be a piece of cake. The one by the T-stat will be a bugger. However, I noticed that that hose has a splice in it prior to the T-stat. I'll probably pull that splice, as it looks a thousand times easier to get at.
Hopefully next weekend will present a better set of days to tackle the project... there's always the next weekend as well... just so long as I don't procrastinate it until next winter.
Thanks again for the help.
~T
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schmidtmike
Dodge Dakota
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3/13/2006
00:20:22
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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this is an example of "take care of the damn cooling system"
Yeah dodges are known for the heater core issues, but that just means one has to do better maintanence on the cooling system. I think if you flush the cooling system and fill it with fresh antifreeze (not filtered antifreeze from the flushing machine), you shouldn't have any issues beyond thermostats or rubber hose deterioration. And for the good of all people, don't put dexcool in your cooling system. Ask any GM V6 owner about intake manifold gaskets and you'll know why.
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Tramper
Dodge Dakota
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3/13/2006
15:29:09
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Mike,
You're probably right. I haven't done a good job of taking care of the cooling system. It probably got neglected more so than anything else. Oil changes, tire rotations, hell even changing the tranny filter are all done pretty religiously, but I’ve never done much to/with the cooling system (aside from changing the T-stat and water pump).
Hopefully I can unclog the core by eventually reverse flushing the system and take better care of it from here on out… I need to wait until the foot of snow we just got melts away, but until then I’m holding out hope that it can be salvaged. The heater does blow some warm air, just not to the point were you would need to take your coat off.
Thanks for the lecture, though. :) Hopefully others will read and learn to flush their systems regularly to avoid the same issues.
~T
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Wendie
Dodge Dakota
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3/08/2007
12:03:09
|  RE: 98 V8 dakota getting little heat...
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Hi
My name is Wendie and I have a 98 dakota and read all the articles about little or no heat and was wondering what is this reversable flushing. How do yo do it and does it work.
If someone could answer this I would greatly appreciate it as I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario and this year so far at -40 it is cold with no heat.
Thanks
Reply to recept@tbaytel.net
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legendracer97
Dodge Dakota
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3/08/2007
12:43:39
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Message:
If your heater core ends up alright, another thing you might want to do is have your radiator flow tested. Pop it out and take it to any radiator shop, if its partially clogged you'll have the same outcome as if heater wasn't working right and engine overheating. If those are all good, go to napa, by a block tester for 40 bucks, use it on your radiator and it will tell if you have exhaust gases leaking tnto your water jackets, if so then blown headgasket. may also want to check out the declutching fan...
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J and J Auto
GenII
3/09/2007
04:45:46
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Heres an easy way buy 2 3' pieces or hose remove
the hoses at the core put the 2 pieses on and
with both hanging over the fender blast a garden
hose threw go both ways back and forth to really
clean that baby out
the new radiater flush stuff you get these days
is not that strong we used to have a good acid
avalible you put in wait 15 min than flush it
worked very well but as with all good stuff you
can not get it anymore
if both hoses are hot suspect control cable or
a vac pot on heater box
Also fill cold leave cap off start and let warm
to operating temp you can see the fluid flowing
in the rad and also this will alow any air pockets
to escape
Larry
J&J Auto
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Wendie
Dodge Dakota
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3/09/2007
15:29:23
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Thanks everyone I will try all that on the weekend. Here's hoping something works.
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Mandi
Dodge Dakota
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3/12/2007
11:05:15
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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I have a 1998 Dakota with 90xxx miles on it. So far, I have had to replace the heater core and the water pump. In both cases the mechanic thought it was something simple and it turned into a huge deal. Good luck!
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Tramper
Dodge Dakota
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3/13/2007
11:49:37
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Last summer I back flushed the heater core. Was pretty easy to do and improved my heat output a thousand times. So far, no problems. Good luck Wendie and thanks again to everyone who helped me out last spring.
~T
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Wendie
Dodge Dakota
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5/08/2007
12:40:53
|  RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Removing heater core any suggestions for a 98 Dakota. Does the air bag come out or the dash. Please help.
Send suggestions to recept@tbaytel.net.
HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
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fotodak
Dodge Dakota
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5/08/2007
16:17:04
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Electrolysis in the cooling system affecting the A/C evporator? I didn't know the coolant flowed into the A/C system....
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Flippy
Dodge Dakota
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5/08/2007
23:25:33
| RE: 98 V6 dakota getting little heat...
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Wendie, the passenger side air bag is connected to the dash, when you remove the dash it all comes out in one unit, all you have to do is disconnect the ground and the main wiring harness and bingo, theres more to removing the dash than that, but i would have to really get into detail with you on that one, kinda easy if your mechanically inclined but if your not then do not attempt it yourself, took me about 5 or so hours to completely remove it because i wanted to label everything and make digrams so i knew how to install it back properly.
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