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Blend Door Breakage

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Extended warranty??

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This (and other) threads helped me figure out the problem & solution (I hope!).
So maybe this will help someone else.

**FYI** - if you suspect the blend door problem, test your temp/s with an A/C thermometer (available at any parts store - looks like a tiny "meat thermometer" on a stem about 4" long).

I failed to do that the first time in to the dealer - they didn't do any "repairs" except on paper.
(I had about 4 days left on the 36K factory warranty for my '05).
Caught the problem on a VERY hot day, with the wife in the truck. My side nice! Hers, not!
It was a cool day when I dropped it off and when I picked it up - even rained later, so didn't catch the (nothing fixed) for a day or two. Brought it back a week later.
(And - yep, had a thermometer in my garage tool box).

Check the temp on the driver's side, then the passenger side.
For me - there was about 20 degrees difference - 42 degrees on driver's side. 62 degrees on pas side.
Told the service rep that - pretty hard to dispute, so no hassle.

Here's their write up (spelling errors are theirs):

"Customer states the AC is not cold on right side of dash. Passenger blend door is partially stuck open. Removed dash. Discharged A/C system. Removed evaporator housing out of vehicle. Inspected and found all 4 door in heater case an D panel mode doors have been loosen by wearing hinges. Discharged A/C system. Removed dash and evaporator housing. Replaced heater case with 4 blend doors. Replaced mode door (panel door). Reinstalled everything. Recharged system with dye. Calibrated all doors. Tested A/C performance. "
(End)

No charge for repairs. Both sides seem to be cooling the same now (by thermometer - about 42 degrees).
However, the outside temp was only about 75 degrees.
PITA for the time they had it (one week) - two parts were back-ordered.
Only have driven it about 10 miles - so the jury is still out on how long repairs will last.
JC
 
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How is it that there are 4 blend doors? Is your truck a Laramie with dual zone air?

(see my previous post #44)

Motorhead - sorry for the delay with a reply. (Yes - '05 Laramie w/ dual zone)

Had no reason to come back to this thread . . . . until today.

Sure wish it wasn't a dual zone!
Never use that feature - but the darn thing does it's own "dual zone" thing!

Today - driver's side cold - pas side = no A/C (only about 82 degrees outside)

"The Fix" lasted a bit over a month!
JC
 
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are there any "symptoms" to this issue that anyone has noticed, prior to the blend door breaking? i was coming home from an 850 mile round trip last week, when all the sudden, 4 miles from home, all airflow stopped. fan switch all the way up, and still nothing coming from any vents. a few miles later, it seemed to correct itself, and now it seems to work ok.



in a related matter, are the fans on these 3rd gen trucks really that poor of a quality that they can barely move any air, even when turned all the way up, or is it just mine??
 
This same problem happened to me last week. I called chrysler customer service and they said they could help. Suprise suprise when it came time to help they said they couldnt do anything about it. I think thats what they said anyway b/c nobody I talked to spoke very good English. Calling customer service might help someone else but all it did for me was get my blood pressure up. Just thought I would give yall a heads up. Everyone should thank chrysler for standing behind their products. Ha
 
This same problem happened to me last week. I called chrysler customer service and they said they could help. Suprise suprise when it came time to help they said they couldnt do anything about it. I think thats what they said anyway b/c nobody I talked to spoke very good English. Calling customer service might help someone else but all it did for me was get my blood pressure up. Just thought I would give yall a heads up. Everyone should thank chrysler for standing behind their products. Ha



Seriously now, you didn't really think they would do anything, did you??:rolleyes:
 
Just fixed mine - $33 and 1 beer later

I have been reading about the problem for some time, waiting on mine to break... it finally did at 42,000. Took the truck the the dealership and they quoted me $800+ for the repair and also informed me that my Chrysler ext warranty would not cover the repair (this is another story). Long story short, I purchased the new re-circ housing, removed the blower motor, pulled the broke door out, removed the new door and keeper from the new housing and installed through the blower opening, less than 20 minutes start to finish. mine is a late '06 and the housing was identical to the new one. From what I have heard they added stops to the housing to prevent over-stressing the door hinge; my housing already had these stops. I also noticed that the actuator motor continued to run until it met resistance. sounds like they need to re-write the motor program to stop at the end of the door travel. The moral of the story... don't fall for the $800 out of warranty repair that the dealers try to sell, it is total BS and they need to issue a TSB or recall on this.
 
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mine is busted again. . the dealer has fixed it once but i don't know if they did the tsb on it when i had it in last... i need to get it fixed or rigged up before winter comes. . definitely need air to the defrost
 
This is the exact reason that once Toyota builds a 2500 and 3500 diesel truck, the big three are screwed. I love the Cummins, but there is no reason, except dollars, that DOdge wont fix this problem.



BillD

Pensacola FL
 
Just lost my blend door today. I removed the blower motor, took out the damaged blend door, and re-installed the blower motor. The system seems to blow more air out the dash vents than before it was damaged. Everything works fine but stays in recirc mode which is fine.
 
Just lost my blend door today. I removed the blower motor, took out the damaged blend door, and re-installed the blower motor. The system seems to blow more air out the dash vents than before it was damaged. Everything works fine but stays in recirc mode which is fine.

With your fix, have you limited yourself to dash vent air?
 
With your fix, have you limited yourself to dash vent air?



This is more of a band aid to get through the summer.



The dash, floor, and defrost vents work as they should. With out his door, I have a combination of outside and inside air. It will not recirculate only. It does seem to blow more air from the dash vents than it did before the door was operational. I did notice the engine fan operating more late yesterday.



I will try a full fan speed cool down today and see if that has been lost.
 
Having gone through this problem once is there any way the part can be beefed up such that it will work with out breaking again. When it works it works very well but when it breaks, what can I say, we all know what happens when it breaks. So the real questions is, not how to replace the existing part again, rather how can it be fixed so that it does now happen ever again in our life time??!!
 
Just lost my blend door today. I removed the blower motor, took out the damaged blend door, and re-installed the blower motor. The system seems to blow more air out the dash vents than before it was damaged. Everything works fine but stays in recirc mode which is fine.

That is not blend it is recirc... ... ... ..... you now can not shut off outside air. :-laf you are not in recirc mode.



Bob
 
I was blessed today with a broken recirc. door.

Im in waranty but i dont want anyone pulling the truck apart for another inferior plastic part.

I was able to remove glove box and cut plastic mesh and remove the blend door without taking anything else apart. I think i can fish a new one in there and just pull the electric accuator to seat the new door in?

If not i may just jam the door closed so no outside air can come in.

Was testing with it jammed closed to exterior and all seemed to work fine.

The more I think about it a couple of sticks jammed in against the old door will be fine . :)
 
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Mine died on 7-22-2008 at 31K miles. Went into the dealership on 8-04-2008, they verified it was broke, had to order the complete housing assy PN 68004226-AB. Called this past Friday (09-05-2008), parts in, took it in yesterday, got it back today. Took them 2 days to do the r&r.



I have to say that the system is less noisy overall, used to be quite loud when the fan was on high even before the door went, then it got much louder. Used to hear the doors switching, now very quiet.



Truthfully it IS a safety issue, windshield can fog up quite easily when driving through the mountains and the temps vary a bit. Probably if someone called the gov/fed hotline and this was investigated, the feds would force a recall. That might be a good idea for all who are out of warranty to check into.



CD
 
are there any "symptoms" to this issue that anyone has noticed, prior to the blend door breaking? i was coming home from an 850 mile round trip last week, when all the sudden, 4 miles from home, all airflow stopped. fan switch all the way up, and still nothing coming from any vents. a few miles later, it seemed to correct itself, and now it seems to work ok.

in a related matter, are the fans on these 3rd gen trucks really that poor of a quality that they can barely move any air, even when turned all the way up, or is it just mine??
I had a bad ignition switch and would turn the blower on and off at will. It would even turn the blower on without the key in the ignition. I replaced it, no problems since.
 
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(see my previous post #44)



Motorhead - sorry for the delay with a reply. (Yes - '05 Laramie w/ dual zone)



Had no reason to come back to this thread . . . . until today.



Sure wish it wasn't a dual zone!

Never use that feature - but the darn thing does it's own "dual zone" thing!



Today - driver's side cold - pas side = no A/C (only about 82 degrees outside)



"The Fix" lasted a bit over a month!

JC



I have an '05 Laramie without dual zone that will do the same thing. It just started this summer when it was 100deg high 74 deg lows around here. The passenger side vents will blow hot air, and the drivers side will blow real cold air. Is this a blend door problem? It just doesn't make any sense to me since I do not have dual climate control. Darn $50k truck. Just out of warranty at 39k miles.
 
The #1 reason for different temps side to side is low refridgerant level ;)



The dual zone systems have 2 blend doors so 1 can fail to operate correctly due to either the controller or motor,I have also seen quite a few where the gear on the door itself starts to strip and can show intermittant





Bob
 
great im in this boat again at 37k miles. i had warranty fix the lack of air issue 20k miles ago and now this is going to be on my dime. dammit whats next.



i have hot air on pass side and cold air on drivers side. looks like i am going to tear it apart and see what falls out.
 
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