2 months ago I paid my dealer $750 to replace the broken plenum door on my 2004 dak.

This evening - it broke again.

It is still under warrenty - but I am just frustrated with the shoddy work being done by this dealer.

When they fixed it - they damaged my air bag harness & didn't tell me. I noticed this immediately & didn't leave the lot with the truck until they agreed to fix whatever they broke.

Now 60 days later & the darn plenum is broken again - air is blowing hard out the defrost - & only minimally out the front vents.

I hate dealing with these guys.

 

Sorry to hear of the new problem. Defrost is the default position when the blend door breaks. The blend door actuator is on the driver's side of the dash, up above the gas pedal. As you now know, the blend door is on the inside of the HVAC housing. But the actuator that controls it is on the outside of the HVAC housing and it can be replaced without removing the dash and the HVAC housing again. So it should cost less if it needs to be replaced.

I have a hunch here that the dealer replaced the blend door but left the original actuator installed on the HVAC housing. It could be that the blend door is still OK, but the actuator has broken, or its armature may have come loose from the blend door open/close lever. Either way, it should still be covered under the 12 month/12,000 mile parts and labor warranty. You can take it back to the dealer and they should check it for you for free. Maybe take a look at the repair order and see exactly what parts were replaced back when the dealer did the job the first time around.

If it needs a new actuator, they don't cost a lot. Around here they run about $35.00 at retail at the Dodge dealer. You can replace it yourself but you have to be able to get up into the dash and work by feel to remove and replace it. If the dealer replaces it for you, I would guess it runs an hour or hour and a half labor time.

If the blend door is bad, the dealer will have to swap it out for you but that should be covered under the parts and labor warranty. Either way, once the actuator or the blend door is replaced, the blend door will need to be recalibrated with the DRB scan tool, and the dealer is the only one who can do that.

Sorry to know you are having this problem again. The blend door and/or actuator failure is a pretty common problem on Dakota's. Let us know how it turns out.

Jimmy

 

i remember you dealing with that crappy dealer this is why I never take my truck to a dealer haha only to the trusted garage that we have gotten to know

 

^What he said! and only IF i can't do it myself.

 

I went to the dealer because I knew how deep this job was into my dash. I didn't want a hack in there messing things up. I went to THAT dealer because he is a couple blocks from where I work.

I actually went to a different dodge dealer when I had a CEL for a leak detection pump failure. I had just had my shoulder rebuilt & couldn't mess around under the hood. That dealer told me it was the gas cap & didn't charge me a dime. Wish I could get that one to do this repair - unfortunatly he is close to where I live, not close to where I work.