I got a used 1999 Durango a few months ago and on day one,, I noticed it had no air from the vents. That was ok for winter time, but the heat was not good either. I knew I would be spending time on climate controls and now that summer is here (Alabama) I gotta have some A/C or at least a breeze from the vents, or something other than the weak heat from the floor area.

I followed the tips for checking the vacuum supply amd the multi-colored tubes to the diaphragm actuators, which all seem to be working as the mode switch is selecting the different positions from floor... max AC.

The blend door on the cable seems to be working also, with a nice shutting sound, sealing at either extreme.

So I watched some YT videos on A/C and heater core repair and found the dash has to come out. After checking back here on the Dodge Forum, I found the Common A/C issues stickie, and decided to go for it.... ripping the dash apart in a couple of hours.

With the dash out, I found the air vent door was not moving all the way, so most of the air was going to feet or defrost.

I found a piece of the white plastic arm from the top of the door was broken in two places, so the linkage was just flopping back and forth. I could see the bottom part of the door near the lower hinge was really cracked as well, so the door was interfering with the heater core for quite some time, causing stress cracks when under constant vacuum calling for vent air.

What was blocking it???

I pulled the air box out in another hour... the AC lines had one puff of pressure left since it had a damage front bumper and the condenser was bent up.

I took the top off the air box and found the vent door was actually hitting the heater core.. Not sure if the core is an OEM core or if the core was replaced or installed shifted, but the air vent door has a seconaary flapper piece that was hitting the heater core, preventing the door from diverting maximum air to the vent.

Now I have parts on order, except for the little plastic bits that are broken.. Planning to plasti-weld them with my low power soldering iron.


Air vent door hitting heater core

Air vent door hinges and arm damaged

 

Check with Blend Door somethingorother. They are a sponsor on this site, and I think they'll be able to fix ya right up.

 

It is surprising that the ADMINISTRATOR of this site can't remember our name" BLEND DOOR USA " , but i want to inform you that we only have the rear vent fix completed and are working on the front boxes now.

Sorry we can't help you today.
jim

 

I am an unpaid volunteer here, and haven't had any direct dealings with you folks. I just see your ad here and there on the site. Not something that sticks in my mind though.... I chalk it up to lack of interaction, and senility.

 

...senility ?

I got it all back together and noticed one part was left on my desk....


I took this off so I could do the plastic welding and epoxy in the shop, and forgot about this part.

I noticed the air coming from the vents is not as strong as I would like for all this effort, so I'm blowing it apart again to make it right.