2001 Dodge Dakota SLT 3.9L V6 Heater Question.

25

Asked by SpyroD123 Dec 26, 2011 at 04:24 AM about the 2001 Dodge Dakota SLT Quad Cab RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I was driving home tonight when I noticed a funny smell comming from my heater.
Almost smelt like coolant. While I was driving my truck started to squeal almost
like a serpentine belt would. I figured it was my heater so I turned it off and it
stopped. It then began again. When I got home I popped the hood to notice a
major muddy looking fluid was covered through out my engine, belts, and rack
and pinion. I have been told this was a heater hose or some kind of high pressure
hose that busted. Truck still starts up and runs, but I don't want to run it to long
because I'm not to sure whats wrong. Any ideas?

5 Answers

25

Update: The water is comming out from behind my fan, guessing its the water pump? maybe thermostat seals?

13,505

grab the fan blade and see if the pump shaft moves, if so yes water pump failed horribly. Replace the waterpump, the thermostat and gasket and also the waterpump heater tube and or just the oring. Also recomment replacing the manifold to pump hose (little guy in center above water pump)

8,435

The heater core is inside the cab of the truck... If the water is coming out from behind the fan then the problem is your water pump, the thermostat is on top of the engine in the intake manifold. You should easily be able to tell if it's leaking at the tstat and running down. You won't do any damage by running the engine for a few mins to pin point the leak, if it is the water pump you could make it worse but it's already toast anyway

25

Turns out it was the water pump bearings. Replaced the pump and a new serpentine belt. All is good now!

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