Heater doors broken on 03

[KLauber]

The floor and window heat quit working one cold morning. AFter a few trips down the road with freezing feet, but warm torso, I decided to toake it in for a repair. Dealer wanted a grand to replace the broken doors that open and close upon electric command. The doors are made of... . fiber! Not plastic. But the re-designed doors are plastic, of course. Sounds like a manufactuer defect. We'll see how Dodge responds to a request that they pay for a re-design of a component. Hopefully before they go bankrupt.

 

[Mr.Goat]

Mine is an 03 as well. There has been previous chatter on the TDR about this problem.



My doors have never broken (yet) but at times when switching from the mid dash vents to the defrost vents the dash vents do not close al the way and you can feel cold air from them.

So far switching back to dash and then back to defrost has solved the issue.

I will keep my fingers crossed I don't end like yourself with broken flap doors.

Your point is a valid one, Dodge maybe no more very soon.

 

[JVolpe]

Mine stopped working yesterday. Won't change from middle vents or from outside air.



I have read all the posts and seen the tear down to get where you can replace whats broken. I don't know if it will ever get fixed.

 

[Blue Ox1]

I just did my truck and it was not as bad as I thought,Turns out it was just the coupling on my 03 defrost door that stripped . I changed the door and coupling with the revised one . You can probably do it in about 6-8 hrs . I messed up and when I went to unhook the ac lines one of the flares pulled off the evap. so had to buy a new one . Plus good time to change coolant and hoses if you're near 100,. 000

 

[Briman]

I just finished mine as well. I had the same problem as Blue Ox, except on two doors. I did all the other parts that the rebuild thread shows and added the panel door and coupler as well. The tab broke off the couplers and then stripped out the notches inside the door shaft on both the floor door and panel door. I think all these little tabs that break are a crappy design. I didn't think it was that bad a job either. I'll go in on Monday morning to recharge the AC.

 

[DE Jeeper]

Mine finaly broke. I figure I was luckey it lasted 165k. I'm going to suffer with cold feet until spring because it is too cold to spend the day outside fixing it.



Aaron

 

[Jeremiah]

This happened to me as well. Repair necessitated pulling out the entire dashboard to get to the offending doors. Design flaw? I'd say so. My cost -- $600 labor plus parts... total a grand or so -- was covered by the extended warranty. In my case, the warranty was a good deal. Bought at 40,000 miles and good for 100,000 miles, I've gotten my money back. My truck is an '03 and the warranty is good through November of 2009.

 

[RVTRKN]

Add me to the group, but Dodge's extended warranty won't cover it. I'm contemplating doing it myself, but will probably pay Dodge.

 

[rbattelle]

I don't know whether this works, but here's my method for changing vent positions:

1. Make sure you really really really need to change positions.
2. Put the fan on the lowest setting.
3. Pause for several seconds at each position as you work your way to the final position you want.

I'm at just over 79k and so far mine is working fine. I pretty much leave it on defrost mode from October through April and dash/floor mode April through September. Trying to minimize the cycles.

Ryan

 

[Jeremiah]

Add me to the group, but Dodge's extended warranty won't cover it. I'm contemplating doing it myself, but will probably pay Dodge.

Dodge's extended warranty certainly covered mine, but I bought the best warranty they had to offer ($2700). As I recall, there's a difference. Given the heater door issue, plus ball joints once, u-joints twice, etc. , I've gotten my money back. Good luck with your problem!

 

[RVTRKN]

Jeremiah, The policy I bought was the one less than yours, but I was never told about the second option and to make matters worse, the 07 C&C has the same extended warranty, and again, I was not told about the better policy

 

[Jeremiah]

That's really too bad. The business manager at Perkins Dodge in Colorado Springs sold me mine. He gave me the poop sheet/flyer that showed all the options, what was covered, etc. It's basically bumper-to-bumper except for consumables -- oil, filters and such. He let me make up my mind. I wondered about it at the time and later found out I could have negotiated it downward some. But no complaints, now that I know what gives out on these trucks. Rbattelle has a good idea: cycle it twice a year and forget about it the rest of the time.

 

[JRMora]

Mine quit 40k miles ago. I am lucky enough that if I close off all the dash vents I get enough air through the defrost vents to (slowly) clear my windshield. It was a B**ch when I lived in Denver and routinely saw temps below -10°F. Even in the humid south I do OK if I give it a few minutes to work. $1000 quote from my dealer. I'll get around to it.



Someday.



Juan

 

[Regcabguy]

I read the exclusions on the Maxcare and to me it indicated that the blend doors were not covered for breakage. Spending thousands of dollars to cover a $5. 00 part seems pretty pitiful. You'd think Dodge would beef up a part buried to the hilt.

 

[Jeremiah]

snip

h when I lived in Denver and routinely saw temps below -10°F. Even in the humid south I do OK if I give it a few minutes to work. $1000 quote from my dealer. I'll get around to it.

Someday.

Juan

I hear that on Denver. I live 30 miles west of Colorado Springs at an altitude of 9000 feet. When it's below zero the inside of that windshield needs heat, otherwise, it clouds over. It's clearly a design fault. Maybe a class action lawsuit over this and the dim-a** headlights would get DC's attention. Yeah, I know: first there has to be a wreck, then a death or injuries attributed to the reason for the wreck, the reason being faulty heater doors and dim-a** headlights. Condolences on living in the humid South. I was raised there and that wuz a nuff fer me.

 

[Regcabguy]

I read the exclusions on the Maxcare and to me it indicated that the blend doors were not covered for breakage. Spending thousands of dollars to cover a $5. 00 part seems pretty pitiful. You'd think Dodge would beef up a part buried to the hilt.

Correction: Maxcare covers it. I try and have the fan speed on low when making adjustments.

 

[JRMora]

By the way, those $20 cigarette lighter plug in defrosters from Pep Boys don't work.



Ask me how I know.



Jeremiah, while I do like the South, I miss the Springs. Lived there for 8½ years and if I get an opportunity after the kids are grown and gone, I'll be back.



Juan