2001 Stratus Heat/AC All Problems

[nybo30]

At 90,000 miles the heat began to not blow when selected 1, 2, or 3. The system only blew air on position 4. This turned out to be the blower resister. Then a few months later, the AC would not blow cold. A month later the AC worked again but only blew through the defrost. Here are the symptoms: 1. hot or cold only blow through the defrost (top dash vent) 2. hot began to blow cold only as fan sounded like is was on very high speed. 3. selector switches climate control would not move air from hot to cold or dash to floor. 4. Put heat on high defrost and held down all 4 power window controls. This slowed the motor down and heat would blow out the defrost. 5. At times you could select mid vent air with the car off. When the car was started, air would actually blow out the mid vents then after 10 to 15 seconds go back to the defrost vent only. 6. Finally; when using the window trick to create hot air , the fuse under the hood began to blow out. This left no window control. Odd as this fuse is not labled for heat/ac. So this 20 Amp fuse would blow and there was no blower motor, no windo control, no indash readout for temp, mileage, and no cig lighter. Very odd all these systems tied to one fuse. Car goes to the shop: 1. Replaced timing belt 2. Replaced water pump 3. Replaced heater core 4. Of course all new fluids These are routine items as per the cars mileage but did not go to solving the heat problem. I will save you my rant of 3 Dodge dealerships, and 4 independant shops and simply say that after another $2,000 the heat/ac still didn't work. A letter and phone call to dodge coroporate yeilded a quick "buy a new car". Then shops began quoting prices for more work that involved "taking the dash apart" The last quote was $950 for a new BCM (body control module). Stated that the part is $600 and involved taking the dash apart. Lots of work they said. Some conclusions and fixes: I decided to do some work myself. I have not worked on cars in 15 years but used to build hot rods. No stranger to tools. I purchased a used BCM for $135 next day ship online. It took me 15 minutes to remove the portion of the dash where the BCM is located. It is attached to the fuse panel under the dash. I installed the new BCM and put it all back together in 15 minutes. (Of course battery disconnected at all times for this procedure). And to my amazement, everything worked. For a time anyway. Oddly enough, the controls didn't hold up. Now I am not blowing fuses. I can get hot or cold air. I just can not control which vents the air will blow out of or whether the air will be hot or cold. I can turn the car off select cold and get when started get cold air. I can turn it off, select hot and get hot air. This is not 100%. Sometimes when I restart the car, it just stays where it was when it was turned off. i.e. hot when turned off, select cold, turn on, still get hot air. At this point I am ordering a new climate control switch setup for the dash. My assumption is that this part for controlling air is the last piece. I will keep you posted and will respond to anyone what wishes to go down this road as a DIY project to fix. Invest in yourself as I have already bought this car twice at this point just trying to get some HVAC control. Hope this helps someone.

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[nybo30]

Ok, we installed another dash climate control unit. The piece that works the temperature, and selects fan speed, etc; above the radio. No go for working. We now have a AC/heat system that still just blows out the defrost area. And sometimes switches to the mid vents or floor vents.

[nybo30]

Another update: I have found the mode and blend door acutators. I have folllowed the instructions to "recalibrate" electronic door controls. They are two separate parts. One is located right by the gas pedal. I am not sure how to remove the unit as it has small screws that you have to get vertical to remove. I am not sure how to test the unit to make sure it works or doesn't work. Two Dodge people have sent me diagrams and suggested that I swap the two parts and see if one works. Both diagrams are incorrect as they show the piece that operates the door for the Max AC setting. This car only has one of those actuators. So we are still in the dark at this point. Does anyone else have suggestions?

[bugmenot]

I have a 2002 Dodge Stratus SE with the same problem. When I turn on the AC or the heater it goes to the defrost vent on top. I can sometimes make it go to the front (towards the face) by setting it to the defrost setting and slowly turn the knob to the left to change it to the AC, or by wiggling the knob a bit. I took the climate control out to see if the cables were loose or damaged, they were fine but I noticed one wasn't plugged in at anything, and I dont see a place to plug it into so im wondering what thats for. I have to buy a new climate control box thing because I broke it off of the plastic dash thing. Let me know how it goes with your problem.