The 1993 Dodge Dakota has a heater core underneath its dashboard with the sole purpose being to warm up the air from the blower. It is essential for heating the interior of your vehicle and if it begins to malfunction, you will be unable to use your truck's heater. In addition, a malfunctioning heater core may continuously leak coolant out into the interior of the truck, therefore you replace it as soon as you can.
Drain the Dakota's cooling system before doing anything else. This will prevent any coolant from leaking when removing the heater. Position a pan underneath the radiator plug and open the plug with a socket wrench. Allow five minutes to pass before re-tightening the plug.
Lift up the hood of the truck and manually disconnect the negative battery cable with a socket wrench.
Remove the dashboard cover from the Dakota. The dashboard cover is held in place by several clips. Remove all of the clips with a slotted screwdriver and lift off the cover.
Remove the glove compartment from the Dakota by uninstalling its two securing screws with a Phillips screwdriver.
Remove the two side bolts from the Dakota's side panel with a socket wrench. Remove the two securing bolts from the lower right-side of the dash. Pry up the dashboard as high as you can with both hands. This will allow access to the heater core. You may need someone else to hold up the dashboard while you remove the heater core, unless you can hold the dashboard up with one hand and remove the heater core with the other.
Pull out the two coolant hoses from the heater core. Uninstall the heater core case screws with a Phillips screwdriver and pull off the case.
Uninstall the four securing bolts from the heater core and pull it out of the truck. Install the new heater core into the truck and secure it by reinstalling the four securing bolts.
Reinstall the heater core case and the two coolant hoses. Reinstall the dashboard bolts, the glove compartment, and the dashboard cover. Reattach the negative battery cable and pour the coolant back into the radiator.
