I found it, bought it ands installed it. Replaced on Tuesday on Saturday the top spped already isn't working. WTH?

 

did the connector look at all melted, and were the contacts inside the plug loose? some people have had the connector overheat/melt when their resistor went and needed to replace that with it

 

Yes it did look melted. Does anyone have a part number for the plug? So is the new resistor garbage now? It did work on high for the. Short time.

 

not sure, but you probably had a couple of the contacts short out in the connector which could very well have blown the resistor, i do not have the part number for the connector but if you go to a junk yard you should be able to cut one out of a durango or dakota, and solder it in in place of the bad one, just make sure to cut as much wire off with the donor plug as possible so that you have something to work with

 

I am copy/pasting a thread from a recent post. This is from a 2nd generation post but the idea is the same. I went through this last summer and fall, and once I completed the repair described it has been (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!) NO issues since the repair.


This is my post from a 03 model remove/replace. The resistor looks the same, and I dont know first hand but I would venture to guess that the wiring is the same. I completed this repair in mid October and so far so good. This is definitely something you want to take care of fairly soon. In addition to the air conditioning this also controls the defrost for ice and rain protection, well past winter so more rain than ice but you get the idea.

DISCLAIMER: THE WIRING SCHEMATIC REFERENCE WAS FOR A 2001-03 DAKOTA/DURANGO GEN 1. ALTHOUGH THE SCHEMATIC AND WIRING COLOR CODES COULD BE THE SAME PLEASE CHECK YOUR APPLICABLE YEAR/MODEL FOR VERIFICATION

"When I disconnected the resistor from the wiring harness, I noticed that the plastic was melted on the resistor around one of the metal prongs and also around one of the contacts on the harness... "

Which connector slot was melted? I will refresh everyones memory and this is from the schematic in the Chiltons Manual (20500) 2001-03 Dakota/Durango repair manuail Chapter 12 page 51.

OFF-- BLACK
LOW-- TAN
MED1-- LT GRN
MED2-- LT BLUE
HIGH-- BLACK/TAN

MOTOR-- BLUE/YELLOW (RESISTOR-MOTOR)

MOTOR-- DARK GREEN (MOTOR- IGNITION, ACCESSORY/RUN)


With that said, YES I ditto, concurr/ +3 or however many yes answers there are!!! Here is what I did 1. Find a salvage yard, my donor vehicle was a Dakota, but just make sure remember the color coding, take photos etc...

It took me two tries but here goes. On the donor vehicle splice the wiring harness as far against the firewall as you can, get as much wire as you can. Once you cut obviously you are buying the resistor and harness, depending on the yard they may not sweat the extra wire, but thats between you the salvage yard, security cameras and the junkyard dogs. I kept my bad resistor and junkyard resistor for troubleshooting with the new one. Once I got the harness into the resistor, I was able to keep the resistor for troubleshooting. Once I was able to verify the resistor worked with the new harness splice I replaced the junkyard resistor with the dealer resistor and workd with full power all modes,/temperature/and fan speeds. As I write this I remember it was the power wire that had shorted and grounded out. The power wire between the resistor and the blower motor (DARK BLUE/YELLOW) Once I removed/replaced the harness it worked fine, I will caution you there could be a lot of extra wire to tuck up but at least it will work, I ziptied and electrical taped mine up under the dash. The key thing to remember, is cut on the firewall end for the harness that you are removing, and on the floor end of the vehicle you are splicing into, that way you have some slack.. I tell you this because I almost ran out of room for splicing because of bad splices and having to redo the connectors, I tell you this so you don't make the same mistake. The harness is a poor design, but we can't cry over spilled milk now. Dealer resistor was about $15 I believe, so that, $20 for a salvage yard harness, about $15 for wiring terminal connectors, electrical tape, and combination cutting and crimping pliers total $50

Good luck and once all my parts were in place, it took me about an hour but that was ops checking after each splice completion and taping/ziptie of more wire than normal.

FYI, Even though the Dakota is a different schematic, if you look at page 12-49 of the Chiltons manual the wiring color codes for the blower motor/resistor are the same. Please feel free to check for yourself especially before heading out to a salvage yard on my say so. [quote/]


FYI Dealer does sell the harness, but there is a catch. As of last summer/fall. The dealer harness comes as a kit, as in wiring, backshell/connectors.etc. Kit is a generic wiring kit that could be used for many applications and basically you have to match the new wire to your existing harness and assemble the connector yourself. I believe the cost in Pittsburgh area was $60. Simple solution, Donor Dakota $20/resistor and harness. Since I knew mine was coming out, I cut it and brought the bad connector and harness into the salvage yard with me to get a good match of the new harness. Good luck, but again dont quote me on the Dakota Donor working especially since the Durangos changed styles in 04 but the Dakotas werent until 05.

Good Luck!!! [/quote]





POST2

FOLLOW UP:

I found a reference for more troubleshooting info.

CHILTONS DODGE DURANGO/DAKOTA 2001-03 REPAIR MANUAL BOOK #20500

CHAPTER 3 SECTION 8 Page 3-8, 3-9 Has detailed instructions and photos.

Also search 1st GEN DURANGO KEYWORD: BLOWER MOTOR RESISTOR plenty of threads.

FYI HAYNES MANUAL, I am guessing Haynes bought Chiltons but Haynes manual same info, with the following exceptions

1. Haynes manual goes back to 2000.

2. Haynes manual #30022

3. Same chapter and section but text begins on page 3-7 with Haynes manual. Both or at least one should be available at your local Advance, AutoZone, Napa, O'Reilly or PEPBOYS.

Again since you specify no power to fan, I would start with checking the motor-resistor wires (DK BLU/YLW) mine was shorted at the resistor side, and caused arcing but if you jiggled the wire just right you could get power; again I recommend this just for troubleshooting, it is a fire hazard. Don't rule out shorts in other parts of the wire or other wires but based on the symptom this sounds like a good starting point. Read the previous post correctly, there are some good hints.

Good luck, and keep us posted on the results.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS!!

 

^ he beat me to it, but there ya go

 

I also forgot to add.....

1. Purchase the new resistor but don't throw out the old one yet.

2. When you splice in the new harness, use the already bad resistor for troubleshooting, and testing. Once you get a good repair then remove and replace the resistor with the one you purchased.

3. Basically if there still is a short in the wiring you dont burn up another brand new resistor costing you more dinero$$$$$

 

WOW, thanks. There is alot of information there. I have been calling the scrap yards in my area, but no luck on the harness. And forget about pulling it myself the yards here don't allow it. I can't believe my luck on this. I just hope I can get through the rest of winter with this one and try in the spring or summer to fix it. Thanks guys.

 

You got some shady scrap yards, try ebay or LKQ and don't give up the ship. Worst case is you might have to suck up and hit a stealership but since this is also the defroster and ice/rain removal and affects visibility, it is something that shouldnt be taken lightly. I am not sure what area of the country you are in, but keep up the search.

 

I have a 2003 and have the same exact problem. The blue yellow (to resistor motor) wire shorted/melted at the connector and resistor. I went to the dealer and bought the kit at $76. 2 feet of snow at the junk yards. The kit come with multiple wires and no instructions and 4 different wires and NOT color coded (same color). Dealer said it was 1 hour to fix. Not sure I want to try this. This is the second time I have replaced this resistor. What I really need is a wiring diagram.