Another issue with Red my '00 Durango. The fan for the hvac will sometimes cut out completely and other times blow lower than the max setting. When this happened on my '01 Durango, the fan resistor was the culprit. So I picked up a replacement one and went to replace it and discovered that it is NOT in the same place as my '01. From what I can find online, it looks like it's buried under the dash approximately where the stud for the passenger side wiper arm is. The video I found on you tube said it is accessible under the cowling after removing the wiper arms and cowling. Is this accurate? Will the wiring harness stretch enough?? Or does the entire blasted dash have to come out? Hopefully one of the resident guru's can chime in with words of wisdom tonight.

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

Found the resistor...omg the engineer who designed the location needs to be drawn, quarter, shot, hung, drown then shot again! Got the 2 bolts out but am struggling with the blasted connector! I hope I don't have to take the dash apart to simply UNPLUG the damn thing!

 

HELP!!!!!

Hey all,

Trying to get the fan resistor out of my 2000 Durango. I successfully went thru the cowling to get it unbolted, however, I cannot get the d@mn plug off. All the instructions I have found around the interwebs is to "pull the resistor out of the plenum and disconnect the wires". At best I may have about 3-5 inches of wire movement into the plenum space...no where near far enough to get the blasted thing unplugged.

Question, is there a "quick and dirty" way to loosen the dash cover, especially near the windshield and defrost vents (WITHOUT pulling the whole d@mn thing apart? From different video's of the dash removal, it appears the resistor plug is RIGHT UNDER the dash "cover" near the defrost vents....is there any way possible other than cutting the top of the dash (although it is tempting to cut an access hole in the dash cover, then plastic weld it and re-cover it with the dash cover that I already use) or full removal to get that cover back enough to unplug the connector??? Am close to my wits end here have even considered using a "can opener" (air sheers) to make the opening in the cowling larger (IF and its a BIG IF I do open the hole more, if I replace it and seal it really well, would there be any problems down the line ???? ).....at 94 degrees outside at the moment I'm looking for a Hail Mary at the point...

Steve

 

More than likely the connector is melted to the resistor. Your best bet it find a repair kit, check with your local dealer or maybe rockauto parts. If you make the opening too big, You may end up replacing the heater box.

 

Think there might be a bit of confusion. The 2001 Durango's have the resistor under the dash, unfortunately the 2000 Durango's have it under the top of the dash, just below the window.

Location snipped from youtube video of a 2000 Dakota...this is where the resistor is on the inside of the vehicle

How i accessed the resistor...note not my Durango it was from the web on a Durango with a 5.9L

The damn resistor

Plan on how I'm going to open the access point. I'll cut the green area, make my repair, then seal the edges with metal duct tape and add a piece of flat bar as shown in the orange and put 2 self tapping screws on each side of the cut piece

Just not enough room to get adult sized hands and arms in to get the plug off. So I'm not really close to the heater box.

ThanKS

Steve

 

OMG, I see what you mean now. That's a horrible location.

 

Update time...
with lots of swearing and creative positioning (and minor metal surgery) we got the resistor changed and put back in!

Now on to the next gremlin. Still don't have fan in the front HVAC controls. So I started digging into the wiring....the system has 2 main relays one under the hood and one behind the main fuse panel near the flasher. I checked the 15a fuse in the fuse panel and the 40a fuse under the hood. Both appear good. From the manual it says the under hood relay gets power from the 15a fuse and the 40a fuse on different legs of the relay. I get power at the proper points of the main relay, although one of the legs shows some sign of green corrosion. Didn't have any electrical cleaner on hand, cleaned it best I could and put in another relay. So per the wiring diagram, I should get power to the black and tan wire at the switch...nada. There must be a bad wire someplace...but where is the question. Am I missing some other fuse or relay? Had to put it all back together last night as I'm in CA for my mom's surgery but still looking for ideas.

Thanks

Steve