my bro has a 94 Dakota with the 3.9. he has barely warm heat so we changed the stat.here is where it gets weird...the bottom rad hose gets hot until the stat opens then the top hose stays hot along with both heater core hoses but the bottom rad hose goes cool. it's not losing fluid....its not overheating(according to the gauge) it runs fine.it has a new radiator installed by previous owner.the truck does have high miles. is it possible the water pump fins could not be pushing enough water? any other ideas?

anyone? it's getting cold out. and my brother is

What (temp) is the gauge showing and what temp stat is in there

it's a 195 stat and the gauge in the dash is just a C to H...no temp read out

you said "scratchin"

open the cap after fully warm and stick a candy thermo in to see what the wter temp is

put a flush tee in and back flush it,the heater cores plug up easy on them,IMO

if it cold enuff thats what it will do,hold water in the engine till stat open then close when the rad is cool again..cycling the water

might try a piece of cardboard in front of rad to help with the heater also

also check flow after fully warm and running,you want to see water moving in the rad

feel by had the whole core of rad after fully warm looking for cool spots..thats where the clog will be if it not flowing full capacity

cowls not full of leaves and in the duct work around the heat core is it??

that would block heat from the fan to inside

Yup, sounds like a blocked heater core/vent. Maybe try pulling both heater hoses and running a garden hose through 'em, see what kinda flow you get??? Cool Coronet, any more pics of it?

did the whole garden hose to the heater core thing...got water out clean both ways...not shooting out running out steady. tomorrow we'll put a piece of clear hose in the line and check flow. i'll also check the rad for cool spots..thanks p.s. i'll try to put some more pics of the coronet up

Sucks...But... sounds like you're gonna have to dig in under the dash. If everything is flowing coolant at operating temp it sounds like it's heater/ac box related. I've had insulation from the box come loose and cause similar problems and have heard of pesky rodents stuffing crap in there. Also possible that the control doors aren't working properly due to the above or switches/vacuum lines going bad. Definately not an easy place to access but sometimes you have to.

If your water is definately 190 degrees. Then most likely the heater core is plugged up.

Back flushing usually helps but new heater cores are the only way I've reliably found to fully restore the heat.

Do not take the cap off when totally warm unless you have very good hospital/Dr. insurance. Warm up with the cap on the first catch so that it will build no pressure idling with the cap off, whatever but don't take a cap off a warm/hot radiator.

so we put a piece of clear line on the heater core and no circulation!!so i guess the next step is to try and flush the system out. would it hurt to put a little air to from the compressor to try to force the water through?

got it fixed. it was the water pump.

why the pump?

was it not pumping water out the heater outlets?

vanes rusted off?

spill the beans