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Author Topic: DIY Heater and Evaporator core 2nd Gen Dakota  (Read 2778 times)

Offline 1995DodgeRam1500

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DIY Heater and Evaporator core 2nd Gen Dakota
« on: October 20, 2008, 08:48:58 pm »
Heater and Evaporator core 2nd Gen Dakota
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First step is to disconnect your Battery.
Make sure your A/C system is discharged.
Remove your two interior Kick-Panels. (They just pop off).
Then, both your A-Pillers. They also pop off.
If your Pass-side has a grab-handle, pry the two soft rubber
covers off the bolt holes & there will be two-8mm bolts holding it on.
(Remove these before the A-piller cover on that side).
Fuse-Box cover is next. Then your entire Face-Panel trim on the front of the dash will just pop off.
The Instrument-Panel is next.Torx-bit #20 will work there.
Heater-Control panel is next. 4 Phillip-head screws.
Under the very center of the dash, at the bottom, right behind where your 4x4 shifter lever is, remove
the two, 12mm bolts.
On each side of the lower dash where your Kick-Panels were, remove the two, 10 mm bolts. (remember, you gotta dis-connect
your battery BEFORE you start all this)! That Pass-side bolt is a ground! All kinds of weird things happen if that battery is still hooked
up when you remove that bolt!
Remove the two, 12mm bolts that hold up your Steering-Columm. They are about half way back to the Fire-wall. While dropping it,
support it with your knees and remove your little tiny Shift-Indicator cable. Look for it, it's real small and can be easily missed.
It won't support any amount of abuse at all so, be careful! Then, lay the columm down on the seat.
On top of the dash; remove the 8mm bolts all across the base of the windshield. Glove-Box door is next. This is a little tricky,..
Three screws on the inside come out then, if you look under the door at the area where it hinges, you'll see the two outside hinges unhook in one direction and the center one unhooks the exact oppisite of the outer two. Get one outside unhooked by twisting the door a little, reach up and use a small Flat-blade screw driver to pry the center one slightly as you unhook the other outside one.
Ok,.. Stop there,.. Time for beer ; Tacos,.. And, start looking for those Fender-Covers,.. Here's a couple of pics;.. .
 

Your going outside now,.. Don't want to scratch up that paint leaning over the engine compartment! Use the fender-covers.
Air-Cleaner Box, Tube & Carb-Air-Hat has to come off now. Washer-Bottle has to come out & un-plug it. Receiver-Dryer has a bracket around it with a 8mm bolt that needs to come off. Use your Quick-Disconnect -Tool to seperate the dryer from the hard lines. (One line is behind the Receive-Dryer & it will be a little tight getting your hand behind there to clip on the Quick-Disconnect tool). The other line is in the front of the Dryer.
Other side of the motor now,..(Driver-side). is where your Heater-Box Tubes come thru the Firewall. Take both Heater-Hoses off. I decided to change my hoses. (You know it's time to change them if you have to cut them away from those two copper tubes coming thru the Firewall to get them off).
Now, from the those tubes BACK towards the area where your Washer-Bottle  Receiver was, use a Quick-Disconnect tool to take the A/C hard line apart. (Your using the same tool you would use for fuel-line removal on fuel-injected cars). The line that came off the FRONT of the dryer.
Just disconnect it at the next fitting towards the front of the truck. Stand back and take a good look at your Firewall now. You will see the four bolts (10mm) that hold the Air-Box on the inside of your truck. (Look at the pic of the Air-Box, you will see the four bolts with white washers on them). Just look from the heater-tubes to the Evap-tubes. They are in between those. There is one factory push-on one way retainer washer (About the size of a 50 cent piece), it's gotta come off also. Two small flat-bladed screw drivers, one on each side pryiing up at the same time will work it off. Keep working at it, it will come off.

 

Ok, that hard-line you took off at both ends of the front of the Receiver-Dryer has your Orfice-Tube in it. It's gotta come out of that line and it is NOT serviceable. You can't just clean it and re-use it. Advanced Auto has them for under 4 bucks.
If it's hard to get out of the hard-line, & odds are it will be, try using compressed-air and blow it out from the other end.
I know, I know,.. THAT didn't work so what do I do now??
Get a cheap metal coat-hanger to snag it out. Put a 1/8" bend at 45 degrees on the end of it using a pair of plyers.
Feed the coat-hanger down the tube until you come to the Orfice-Tube then, twist the coat-hanger to grab the tube and yank hard on the coat-hanger to get it out. Once you 've got it, use brake-clean to completely wash out the line the, blow-dry with compressed air.
Inspect your Orfice-Tube; if it's wet, black, & caked with goo on it, your Compressor is probably starting to go bye-bye. A re-man is about 260 bucks so, let's hope yours is good! Some people say if your Receiver-Dryer is opened up it should be replaced,.. I. (You will see why later on). Save yourself 70 dollars and re-use the old one.
Ok, time to head back inside,.. There is a small 6 inch bracket shaped like a lazy-S and silver in color that's got to come off. Two 8mm bolts hold it on. it's slightly off-center towards the pass side a little bit.
Driver side now, 4 phillips-head screws to remove your Head-Lamp panel. Once the screws are out, just let it hang there by the wires.
Air-Bag-Plug by the yellow red thingy near center on the floor has to be pulled off. Next, those two 12 mm bolts at the bottom center of the dash has to come out. And, next to the driver side 12mm bolt is a small ground that has to come off, (I think it's a 3/8" nut holding it on.


One person on each side of the dash now. It's time to pull back on each side about 6 to 10 inches. Dead center up top by the windshield
is a plug that has to be disconnected. Pass-side again! Wiring harness on the extreme back top edge of the dash has two maybe three Phillip-head screws that have to come out. (Look in pic 6 or 7) and you'll see if you look carefully one of the holes for a screw. This will instantly give you more room to pull the dash back on the pass-side even further. Look for the two white wiring harness plugs to be also disconnected on the pass-side near the center middle.
Remember those two-12mm bolts you removed under the dash by the 4x4 shifter? There is a mounting-plate that the dash has to be lifted up over as you pull back for even more room. At this point, you should have about two feet on the pass-side and, at least a foot on the drivers-side. That's all you need. Blend-Door-rod now comes off.
Your 4-tube Vacume-hose plug get's unplugged. It's a soft clear-yellow rubber piece; it will pull off easy. The two-plug-line you can leave on the Air-Box. It will just come out from under the dash with it. (Pic#3 or 4 at the bottom of the Air-Box). There is a small black-plastic air-tube that also needs to come off You won't miss it. It comes out of the Air-Box & goes right thru the Firewall. It's right below the tubes coming out of your Heater-Core. (Pic#3 or 4 at the extreme-right you can see it). If it breaks, and it might because of how brittle it is, don't worry, another trip to the parts-store will fix it. Get SMALL diam-windshield washer hose (they sell it by the foot I think and it will fit nice and tight over the vac-line to fix it). (About two bucks).
Time to pull the entire AIR-BOX out from under the dash,.. A little antifreeze might come out from the Heater-Core when pulling back on the Air-Box but don't worry, there isn't much in there.
Now, I don't want to disappoint you but, I'm sure I've missed a few brackets and bolts, screws along the way that I just can't remember. But this will get you 95% of the way thru it.
Set your Air-Box on top of your work-bench and start to take off the top cover to access the Heater-Core / Evap-Core. (This is also where you can now get to the Blower-Motor is you want)...

If your using a Non-OEM Heater-Core / Evap-Core you want to re-use the foam-rubber wrap that goes around the Evap-Core.
Just peel it off carefully and apply some 3-M adhesive to put on your new unit in the same way. The Heater-Core should come with about two feet of one sided sticky foam rubber. Just cut it by copying the way the old Heater-Core was wrapped apply.
Vacume out your Air-Box once you have top off  both cores are removed. Odds are there's quite a bit of happy-crap in there.
Clean and use Sil-Glide on the pivot points for your different blend-doors. Put a little on the ends of your actuator-rods too where they pivot. Inspect all your foam-rubber and replace with new stuff you can get at any hardware store in the A/C section. Odds are it will be fine though. Follow the instructions that comes with both cores. The compainies that make them know of the slight differances and will tell you exactly how to modify the Air-Box to make them fit. Inspect all the little green O-rings on the lines you took off. If they look bad in any way, replace 'em. You can get complete O-ring kits at the Auto-Parts store for under ten bucks.

Ok,.. Time for more beer , Tacos,.. Eat some more Tacos,... Your gonna need it!..
Time to put it all back together again! (Your on your own)!!
During the assembly, DON"T flex those tubes coming out of the Cores!! I can't stress this enough!! If you do,.. They're gonna leak!!!
Got it all back together now??
How many spare screws or bolts do you have? Under 3 is ok. The gods deem this to be just fine to have a few spare parts after a job this big. Any more than three, I'd start looking around for where they go.
Really, you have to be a person that LIKES to take stuff apart to tackle this job. It has many, many things to come off to get it done. It's unreal!
You now need a gaget that will pull all the moisture out of your system. It hooks up to your compressor and you hooh it up to the low-side port. Your compressor needs to hold, or run at a steady 60 psi or higher with this Air-Dryer hooked up. It needs to run a solid 15 mins to remove any moist air out of the system. Don't worry, you can rent this magic box from Auto-Zone. Using it will make the difference of about 4 to 10 degrees when your air is on. (And that is a LOT in a vehicle)!
Next, start your truck, burp the air out of your system. (Remember, you opened up or changed your Heater-Hoses). Keep your truck running,Re-charge time,..
As for re charging the system; I used InterDynamics Auto Air-Conditioner Refrigerant-134a Oil Charge with Leak-Sealer. Get two 18oz. bottles.They come with built in gauges attached to the can so your can monitor how much your putting in. You need another 4 oz. bottle to go with that also. 20 bucks a bottle for the 18oz.  6 for a 6oz. bottle. You need two pounds total. You can buy cheaper 134a but, you don't get that nice built in gauge with them. Also, you might have to buy separate conditioner sealer so, the cost is a wash.
Remember, Low-side to load your Freon.. My port is directly on top of the compressor. If yours is like mine, you want to feed your system slowly because your port is so close to the compressor. (it doesn't like to take the Freon fast). If your port is located on a hard-line away from the compressor, stick your can of freon in warm water before you charge the system. Also, hold the can up-side down when charging. But, you don't need to do all this if your port is on top of your compressor though.

Your done,.......... Check make sure your Selector-Switch is functioning correctly. Check for leaks. Check the temp coming out of the vents for the A/C. 38 to 40 degrees is great for 134a.
Check your heat now. A great temp for heat is 148 to 156. But, 140 or higher will get you thru the winter also just fine. Heat temps seem to vary with these trucks.
Now, AGAIN, remember, this is what I remember from the job. I'm sure I've missed some stuff. Also, this is for a "99-318 4x4 SLT.
I'm sure it's gonna be a little different for different models and years. Hope this helps you if you deceide to tackle this job on your own!
Total cost for me to do it was about 275 dollars. (Not including the beer and tacos). Get it done at the dealer;.. Well over 1100 bucks. You choose!

Good-Luck!!



If you wrote this you left it laying on the floor at another site. I just picked it up for you.

Slàinte

Ian

Offline Tom Courtright

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Re: DIY Heater and Evaporator core 2nd Gen Dakota
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2008, 11:15:08 pm »
I cant wait!...lol

it aint low till it scars asphalt

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