As its name suggests, the Dodge heater core is at the core of your Dodge heater. Unlike the air conditioning system, the heater on your Ram or Omni doesn't draw extra energy from your car or truck's engine. Instead, it uses the Dodge heater core to extract heat from the engine coolant that otherwise would have been expelled into the surrounding air. That means you get heat for free, so crank it up and let your Dodge heater core take care of business! Of course, in the summertime heat is the last thing you want in your car. That's why there's a water valve under the hood that controls the flow of hot coolant to your Dodge heater core. When you turn the heat off, the valve closes and no hot water passes through the Dodge heater core. In wintertime when you need all the heat you can get, the water valve is opened allowing the Dodge heater core to warm up and pass its heat on to the air provided by your climate control system's fan. But, as with everything, your Dodge heater core can occasionally cause problems. For one, if the coolant isn't changed in your car's cooling system for a long period of time, rust and corrosion can clog the tiny passages in your Dodge heater core. Sometimes the clogs become so severe that pressure builds up in the Dodge heater core, causing it to spring a leak. Of course, the Dodge heater core can spring a leak pretty well on its own if it's allowed to rust from the inside out. Either way, you end up with coolant all over the inside of your car or truck courtesy of your Dodge heater core. Not fun. Depending upon where the engineers decided to place your Dodge heater core, a Dodge heater core replacement can be easy or it can be unpleasant. If you're contemplating your own Dodge heater core replacement, make sure you have a good service manual to guide you through every step of the process. Also, review the manual before you start your Dodge heater core replacement to make sure you know what you're getting into.