No heat

[dripley]

As winter wound down last year l noticed my blend was moving real slow from ac to heat. It finally stopped moving in the spring in ac mode. I was fine with that formthe time and now winter is here again and l want some heat. Figured the actuator had failed so l broke down today and pulled it out. Opened it up and found this.

Not sure it shows in the pictures but the motor contacts are not touching the electrical contacts in the box. I pulled the motor out and put a 9v battery to it and sure enough it spins. I put the motor bacK in and touched the battery to the connectors an pushed them to the motor contacts and it works just fine. Not sure why they did not do better job on the electrical connetions inside that box.

 So l am going to redo the connections and reinstall it and see what happens. If the motor is just weak I have found replacement for about $10. If the ciruit board is bad i guess l will have to by a new one. And they aint cheap. Cheapest I found so far was on RA for $115 + shipping.

[Threadzy]

Dodge definitely didn’t do any of us a favor when it comes to the electrical systems in our trucks. Thanks for the info! 

[dripley]

Well plugged it into the wiring harness and the motor did not turn no matter which way l set the temp control. Even tried it on my new to me hvac controls l got to power the heated mirrors with. I tried powering the circuit board with the 9v battery and still. Though l have admit l was not sure if l was doing that right. Might stop at the junk yatd tomorrow and see if l can one and try it out. Hate to spend upwards of 135 bucks hoping it works. But at least the heat is working now.

 

Does anyone know whether or not the blend door can fall out of place without the motor in place? It does not want to move up and down  as it is but it does wiggle around at the bottom some. With the blower on it is held in place quite well in either ac or heat.

[Dieselfuture]

So it worked at first with a 9v battery and now it doesn't? Maybe brushes in motor are done. Sorry I don't know on blend door as I haven't messed with mine yet, great now that I said it probably be next thing I'll be fixing 

[dripley]

1 hour ago, Dieselfuture said:

So it worked at first with a 9v battery and now it doesn't? Maybe brushes in motor are done. Sorry I don't know on blend door as I haven't messed with mine yet, great now that I said it probably be next thing I'll be fixing 

It worked with 9v battery every time. I was able to close the case with 2 leads out of it from the electrical connections the motor touches and made it work. But connected to the wiring harness in the truck it would not work. I guess the circuit board in it is toast.

 

I reinstalled the actuator just to be safe with the blend door. I also ran 2 leads out of the case again just in case it gets hot before I put a new one in. Going to be cold here the next several mornings. Hence the need for the heat.

Edited November 1, 2020 by dripley

[Dieselfuture]

I see, like you said you got 2 wires extended out to the motor, just use your 9v for now till you find a used one or decide to get new.

[That Guy]

If you are at all handy with a soldering iron, a lot can be gained from just reflowing the connections with some good lead based solder. 

 

That is assuming that there is nothing blown on the board. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

Funny thing, last time I was in Chattanooga, I had to run the defroster in my old Chevy. It went to heat and stayed there. Its an electronic panel. 

I pulled the glove box out and manually turned the shaft to assist the motor to get it back to cool. It was the night before I left to come back to Louisiana.

 

Fast forward 16 hours, we are loaded up in the 2012 and in the heat of the day just cruising along, it starts blowing hot without any input whatsoever. Tried moving the dials, turning off the truck and restarting, ect. After fooling around with the actuator in the dash for 15 minutes at a truck stop, it decided to start working again and has worked fine since. 

 

 

As far as the blend door "falling", I don't think so. Its pretty well entrenched in the case and it should be in such a manner that the case has to come apart for it to move from its mounting holes. The only difference in the 12v and 24v is that they got rid of most of the top bits, and installed a motor on the end on the shaft on the bottom.

Edited November 1, 2020 by That Guy

[dripley]

2 hours ago, That Guy said:

If you are at all handy with a soldering iron, a lot can be gained from just reflowing the connections with some good lead based solder. 

As far as the electrical connects go none were soldered. Neither the contacts to the motor or the contacts to the circuit board were soldered. 

 

That is assuming that there is nothing blown on the board. Sometimes you get lucky.

Pretty much figure that is the problem

 

Funny thing, last time I was in Chattanooga, I had to run the defroster in my old Chevy. It went to heat and stayed there. Its an electronic panel. 

I pulled the glove box out and manually turned the shaft to assist the motor to get it back to cool. It was the night before I left to come back to Louisiana.

I wish the Dodge actuator was behind the glove box instead on the bottom of the hvac box almost against the floor pan.

 

Fast forward 16 hours, we are loaded up in the 2012 and in the heat of the day just cruising along, it starts blowing hot without any input whatsoever. Tried moving the dials, turning off the truck and restarting, ect. After fooling around with the actuator in the dash for 15 minutes at a truck stop, it decided to start working again and has worked fine since. 

 

As far as the blend door "falling", I don't think so. Its pretty well entrenched in the case and it should be in such a manner that the case has to come apart for it to move from its mounting holes. The only difference in the 12v and 24v is that they got rid of most of the top bits, and installed a motor on the end on the shaft on the bottom.

I put the actuator back on just to be safe since it is the pivot for door bottom. I would hate to have to pull the box just to get the blend door back in the upper pivot. Cheap insurance I figure.