1998 Dodge Dakota Heater Box Diagram

I wanted to write this up because there where a lot of questions I was never able to find the answers for before digging into this. I also have a simpler method than what the service manuals call for, total time involved for this job is maybe 4 hours for a knowledgeable person doing it for the first time. A novice maybe closer to 6 hours, but honestly this is not a terrible task.

Steps based on 2001 model year, adjacent years should be similar but may have different components.

What you need:

If you are going in because of the heater core do yourself a favor and plan to replace the Core and Evaporator, no reason to do this more than needed. I also did the Blower motor and resistor on recommendation, but both of those units (at least in the '01) are accessible without taking the dash out. Check to see if the motor on yours will come out with the dash in place, if so then it can wait till it actually fails. I am also going to need a dryer, I have had mine apart longer than a week and will now be driving it for a few weeks more with the hard lines disconnected till I can get it back in to have the AC charged.

Lastly, the 01 and adjacent years use a two part heater core. It is made up of the heater core (which you can get from multiple aftermarket vendors for around $45) and the Heater Core Tubes (which cannot be bought from any aftermarket vendors). The tubes are not considered a consumable item and are intended to be reused with the new core. The only way to get new tubes is to buy the factory replacement Core w/ tubes (it is sold with or without tubes) priced around $225. I never expected to need the tubes nor did I expect them to be a dealer only part. One of my tubes was eroded at the O-ring land on the core end, I also found similar damage on the engine side tube (V8 models have a set of tubes that cross the engine at the mid point, V6 models appear to travel along the firewall on the return side.) but this was not bad enough to warrant a replacement.

This erosion was my leak, the core was actually fine from what I could tell. I ended up pulling a good set of tubes from a JY, you have to do a complete tear down to access these tubes and I felt like I as taking a gamble, luckily it paid off the first time. There is also a tapered style O-ring that appears to be a hard to find part that seals the tubes to the core. If you buy a new core w/ tubes I would assume the o-rings are included, but i don't know that for sure. If you pull a set from a salvage yard you will end up with 4 total o-rings as I did, I had two that were good enough to reuse.

Prep:

I had a local shop evacuate my A/C and disconnect the hard lines at the firewall. I did not have the disconnect tool so this saved me time. They charged to $17 to do this, it will be around $60 to reassemble the system and recharge.

Tools needed

Based on my 2001 (I know the '00 has a different dash and the column mounts differently):
Small needle nose pliers
3/8 Drive Ratchet
Full Set of Extensions (I even ended up using two long extensions together at one point)
8mm Standard socket
10mm Standard socket
11mm Deep Well socket
11mm End Wrench
13mm Standard socket
14mm Deep Well socket
#2 Phillips Screw Driver
Large Flat Blade Screw Driver (long shank)
Small Flat Blade Screw Driver (For minor prying)
Torx Drivers (forgot size) One for For O-Sh*t handel removal, One for lower dash panel
Medium or small Channel Lock Pliers (Or hose clamp pliers if you have them)

Tear Down

-Disconnect battery, none of the main harness will be disconnected so no need to discharge system.
-Slide seats all the way back (Mine is a Quad cab so I had plenty of room, you might desire to remove the seat completely)
-Remove the kick panels (both sides)
-Remove the dash ends caps (both sides)
-Remove O-Sh*t handle (use small screw driver to remove rubber plugs, use larger Torx to remove bolts)
-Remove A pillar trim, use large screw driver to pry gently, single friction snap towards the top
-Remove the front top dash panel (closest to windshield) with Large Screw driver, pry up wards, there are two rows of friction snaps. The snaps may come off and stay in dash, use needle nose pliers to remove them and re-secure then to the panel.
-Remove lower dash panel from under column, Three Torx head screws. The P Brake release rod will be attached tot he handle, there is a keeper that rotates down and the rod slides out the side of the handle. To reassemble I found it easiest to remove the handle from the panel, install the panel, install the rod to the handle, and install the handle to the panel
-Remove center console/cup holder (remove the black rubber from the front and rear compartments, single 8mm in front compartments, two 8mm in rear compartment)
-Pull carpet back from under where console was, I had to cut mine to get access.
-Remove two rear facing 10mm bolts and single 10mm bolt in the drive side facing the driver side foot well (My truck had this, the doaner truck did not. it is a support for the column that appears to have been a running production change)
-Remove at either end of the dash, two rear facing 10mm bolts
-Remove from behind each panel, One inward facing 13mm bolt
-Remove along windshield, Five 8mm bolts
-Remove from under column, metal support bracket (Holds hood latch release and OBDII connector), Two Phillips head screws
-Remove column support from passenger (inboard) side of column mount, One 10mm bolt
-Remove Column mounting nuts, Four 14mm Nuts, will need Deep Well to clear studs
-Lay column on the seat, DO NOT DISCONNECT ANY WIRES.
-Driver side, Lift up on dash and pull towards rear of truck till the mounting brackets just clears the door jam
-Passenger side, Lift up on dash and pull towards rear of truck. Watch for harness, stop when harness is accessible
-Passenger side, disconnect Antenna and HVAC harnesses.
-Passenger side, lift and pull dash until it is sitting on seat, you should have enough room now to sit on the floor board between the dash and HVAC box. There is a portion of the main harness at the center of the dash that may catch on the vent tubes attached to the dash, lift it up to free it and gain slack.
-Remove HVAC box interior bolts, Two 10mm bolts located just below windshield
-Move to engine bay
-locate Four 11mm nuts: One behind AC dryer bracket, One just behind the passenger side cylinder head, One located on Driver side of engine near Heat hoses (V6 models will have a hose bracket attached to both of these studs), One (the worst one) is located behind the trans dipstick tube (my truck did not have a nut on this stud indicating that someone had done this repair before, i doubt you would have any excess noise or rattles if this was left off).
-Remove heater hoses
-Move to interior
-Pull HVAC box towards rear of truck till lines clear firewall and remove the box from the truck
-The box tear down is pretty straight forward, pay attention to how the mechanisms on the driver side of the box work, they have to be disassembled to split the box. Pry gently to split the box, if it resist then you missed a fastener. swap the parts and reassemble.

Reverse these steps to reassemble. There is no need to remove the gauge cluster, main dash panel, radio, heat/AC controls,center lower panel, or glove box. There is no need to disconnect any of the main harness, the harness connection noted above is the HVAC controls.

I hope this helps, if you have edits you find or more information to add for different years please let me know and I will add it as needed. The flat rate on this is anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. I see no reason the above estimated 4 hours could not be obtained. I wish I had had all my parts because I would have loved to know how fast this one have taken in a single shot. Let me know how yours go.

These instructions are specific to a 2001 and more general to 2nd Gen trucks.

Source: https://www.dakotaforumz.com/threads/how-to-dash-removal-for-heater-core-replacement.6575/

Posted by: mckinleyskiverss.blogspot.com