I purchased a 2002 Dakota and have had a hard time ridding it of all the dog hair from a previous owner. I thought that the heater core was leaking and getting the passenger side floor wet, but it’s the overflow for the evaporator under the dash. The drain must be plugged. Will I have to remove the dash to pull the heater unit down far enough to clean it, or does anyone have any other ideas. I don’t think I can do much from under the hood…too tight !!!
Gary
Unbend a wire hanger and (carefully) poke it up the drain from the bottom, under the car.
You will find a rubber drain tube on the lower part of the firewall, usually on the passenger side near the center of the vehicle. You can use a piece of wire, compressed air or a nylon wire bundle tie to open the port up. Often this is only temporary though, the crud will plug the hole again.
After you drain the water, you can look under the dash for the bottom of the evaporator box. The evaporator box is usually next to the blower motor. See if the bottom of the box is removable, but it probably isn’t. If it is, remove it and clean it out good, and clean the evaporator coils too.
If the bottom of the evaporator box is not removable, you can try to get to it by removing the blower motor. On some vehicles you can reach into the evaporator box through the vent between it and the blower motor compartment. If you can, clean it out any crud you can get to that way.