Defrost door stuck again - after TSB done

[Tony T.]

If it was repaired UNDER warranty and repaired because of the TSB I think the dealer(D. C. ) should have a look see to see what failed. ONE its a KNOWN problem and TWO they have been in there before. Service manager has the AUTH. from D. C. to warranty such again with previous repair paper work to back it up etc. They(dealer) at this time does NOT know what failed. Its only a couple of hours labor to ease dash back and see excatly what has failed. I've been in that same situation MANY times and think thats how I would be handling the situation.

I agree totally with DP and that's the way it should be. Oo.



Tony

 

[DPKetchum]

Actually to ease dash back and look and even put dash BACK is not a couple of hours for a experianced tech. Now if it needs a heater BOX thats a fair amount of work. But to take a look see is not that big of a deal. Ate(paid techs,called shop time)this type of suff several times a week as a rule. Part odf doing business and taking care of customers and work you had done previouly. Now if theres a pen,dead possum etc. in there we'd stop and SHOW customer and have a discussion about such. Same if it was a manufacture problem. But if the TSB failed again get it FIXED and run another claim with notes. These type of situations are NOT really that big of a deal to handle. PEOPLE with a LACK of brains make it a big deal. D. C. and OTHER manufactures are FULLY aware these things occur on a regular basis.

 

[ssanders60]

Heater Doors

As stated by Mr. Ketchum, call the 800 number and you are likely

to get some relief such as requiring you to pay $100. 00 of the charge,

especially since they have already repaired it once. Expect a little

static from one of the customer service agents, but if you calmly

explain the problem they are likely to repair it. It's a shame that

the dealers rarely ever do this for you.





'03 H/O quad cab, 4x4 SLT.

 

[rbattelle]

Glad to hear the dealer might step up and take care of you. These heater boxes are sort of an achilles heel for the interior of these trucks. As DP mentions, it's not a problem for an experienced tech to pull the dash. But if a repair has to be made on my truck, I'll be the one pulling the dash. Since I've not done this before, that automatically makes me inexperienced.



-Ryan

 

[RLars73]

Hey fellas. It sound like one of those hit and miss problems, some folks have them others do not. I've got 50+k on my 03' and ,knock on wood not a problem. If its the actuator that opens the flap, maybe finding one out of a junk truck and figuring out how to move that flapper the old fashioned way with a manual push pull cable set up would work out. Don't get me wrong i know it could lead to significant hair loss trying to imagineer such a device.

 

[RLars73]

Also, you guys that are having the problems. Do you change the settings alot, from dash vets to defrost etc... Not that you shouln't be able to choose the way you want the air to blow, but could that be leading to breakage or binding of the actuator. I personaly don't really monkey with that swithch to much I tend to just let it blow on the windshield, if I want air on my face I go out on the bike. Just my $. 02 My father retired from D. C. so I try to have some faith but dealers are stealers sometimes.

 

[Blakers]

Follow up

Well they fixed it yesterday and so far it is working fine. Cost $100. 00.



The service manager said it was a door on the top of the housing. The housing had been changed out to the new style when I had the other dealer work on it in March 04.



Hopefully this will be the end of my problems with it.



Just think... every Dodge pickup has the same heater with electric servo controls. There are no cable controlled manual heaters available. So eventually there are going to be thousands and thousands of trucks with heaters that fail and will need to be fixed.



Thanks for your help guys.



Blake

 

[rbattelle]

Just think... every Dodge pickup has the same heater with electric servo controls. There are no cable controlled manual heaters available. So eventually there are going to be thousands and thousands of trucks with heaters that fail and will need to be fixed.

Great.

 

[JThiessen]

Well then make me #xx of the thousands... . mine just quit working (55K on the ticker). I'm stopping at the Ford dealer on the way home tonight - Over the last 9 years of owning Rams, I've only ever been to the dealer for items that are TSB's, or later turned into TSB's. But I've dumped a LOT of money into these repairs - same old story about "sorry, out of warranty" - except for the steering one where I paid half the cost - still ran me 400 bucks. My kids are actually getting too tall to travel long distances in the 03 style cab, and Dodge wont let me have a long bed, so they are going to loose my $ too.



Ok, I vented, off my soap box now..... !

 

[SGBARRACUDA]

My 04. 5 has a little different problem. When I put the control on dash only, it blows out the dash and the floor. When you switch from dash to recirculate, the fan noise in creases but the volume out of the dash remains the same. Mine has the standard air system not dual. Does this ring a bell with anyone? Thanks

 

[DPKetchum]

The only problems I've heard about are the TSB((heater door issue)SOME failure's at the control head(where the control knobs are) and the ac freezing,poor cooling etc. Yours MIGHT be a control head problem.

 

[Blakers]

My 04. 5 has a little different problem. When I put the control on dash only, it blows out the dash and the floor.

Yes, that is one of the optional symptoms. I know they can fail in different combinations of door positions.



Blake

 

[Blakers]

Well my cousin's heater/AC just failed again. They had it out 8 or 9 times under warrantee and now want the 800-some bucks to fix it again. I sure wish they'd put a recall on these.



Mine is doing ok, but my truck is now a weekend truck since I got my new job.



Blake

 

[DPKetchum]

If THEY had it out 8 or 9 times under warranty call D. C. or ask for service manager. If it is THE same issue its still on D. C. dime.

 

[nickleinonen]

i've had my blend door replaced once already too. . if i am out of warrenty when it break again, dog poop will hit the fan. to me it is an item that should be a safety recall. when it was broken, and i was working nights, driving home in the morning sucked as it was winter, and the inside of the windshield would fog up. no air from the dash vents and you can not get it cleared.