A/C Heater motor noise

[Mike Wenrich]

Today while driving I had the A/C on and suddenly there was a loud noise coming from the dash or engine. Shutting down the fan caused the noise to quit and after returning home I found that there was quite a bit of vibration when placing my hand on the bottom of the fan motor. Dropped the assembly and found a broken round piece of plastic in the blower cage. Ran the motor with it down and it was okay so I remounted the assembly and it's working. Although I have not cycled thru the other functions. The piece looks like a stabilizing bell shaped round grey plastic that might have been a mount for another part of the plenum.

It was amazing how noisy it was for such a small piece. I'm hoping the plenum is not beginning to destroy itself. This is on a 2004.5 Laramie. Have not had a previous problem with the blend doors but they are becoming more noisy or a bit sticky. Just an FYI for the forum.

 

[User113]

Can you post a picture? I have a hard time stringing that many adjectives together in a single mental image...

 

[Mike Wenrich]

One picture could be worth a thousand words. I am computer challenged so I will ask my wife to help with posting a picture. Looking at my post again I could not form a picture either.

 

[Mike Wenrich]

Trying to post an image of the broken part.

 

[seafish]

Unfortunately that looks like the important end of one of the flap door shafts that fits onto the actuator motor.

https://www.blenddoorusa.com/collections/3rd-gen-02-09-dodge-ram-truck

 

[Mike Wenrich]

Sorta does but the link pictures show an end part that has two steps to it. Mine is one step but might be just the OEM version. Right now I am still getting cold A/C thru the vents and I'm a little afraid to cycle thru the other functions. If it holds up I will wait until cooler weather...like November in CA.

 

[Tuesdak]

Sorta does but the link pictures show an end part that has two steps to it. Mine is one step but might be just the OEM version. Right now I am still getting cold A/C thru the vents and I'm a little afraid to cycle thru the other functions. If it holds up I will wait until cooler weather...like November in CA.

Bad Plan! The system randomly "calibrates" itself (cycles thru the other functions) and could move the broken door out of the desired position. It could also just "flop" around being broken randomly changing hot/cold or modes on you. The next calibration could snap another weak from age door.

Now you know the risks from putting the job off.

 

[Mike Wenrich]

I can hope you are wrong and procrastination works. This is not a job I want to do although I long ago made a copy of the procedure to cut into the box and replace the doors. What I do not know is if the repair kit comes with those plastic door holders if that is what broke on mine. If they are replaceable with the kit then all is not lost. Right now I'm trouble shooting an Onan 4KW generator on a motor home I want to sell. Dang thing has a choke or throttle assembly that has been out of adjustment from the factory. Hard to get to just like the dash. I wish I could get some easy fixes!

 

[sag2]

I would avoid doing the cutting into the box repair. The dash removal is not that bad and there are several really good You-Tube videos and descriptions available. But I would wait for cooler weather for sure.
FYI the choke on our Onan was never right no matter what I did. In cool weather it would not come off and to keep from fouling the plugs I had to manually pull it off once in a while. I purchased the factory manuals which were of little help.

 

[Mike Wenrich]

I was wanting to use a method that avoids discharging the freon. I believe pulling the dash requires that. Do you have a reason for not cutting the dash? I had not seen a negative review for that method. Other than maybe cosmetic?

I'm beginning to learn that about the choke. Looking at on line RV sites these are a problem considering you likely travel in different climates. You can adjust for one and then have a problem in another. Mine only has 6 hours on the gen and so was never right from the beginning. But I did not use the noisy thing. Last eve I used a mirror to see what was happening inside the carb and determined the choke is not fully closing to help with a cold/cool start. So today I will attempt to adjust it correctly and hope that works. And on this Class C with three slides I have a very small window to work on it. Almost useless access.