So it looks like I'm yet another victim of the infamous blend door issue. Luckily I've got about 200 miles left on warranty. For those that have had it repaired, did you get charged for the AC drain/recharge?

Damn it. I just remembered the warranty I've got left is powertrain only. Guess this'll be a weekend job.

 

I hope it's not the job it is on a Grand Cherokee. Everything has got to come out, including the whole freakin' dash. Luckily on the Jeep, when I bought it, the original owners bought the extended warranty to make it 7/70 bumper to bumper instead of just powertrain. So for the $50 deductable, it got done. Would have been like a $1500 repair without it (if I had them do it)...

 

When I swapped out the heater core it was a total dash removal, a/c discharge/recharge mess so this'll be the same ordeal. Fun fun. I talked to a service guy at dodge and he said first thing to try is just give the unti a smack under the dash to see if the door is just stuck.

 

I know they make a fix for Grand Cherokees called a "Heater Treater", I looked into it before I got the "OK, it's covered" from the dealer on mine. About a $100 fix with like an hour labor you can do in the driveway. Might be something for you to check into.
Do a Google search for it...

 

No warranty coverage = OUCH ! The dealer told me the same thing the folks above had said, it's a complete tear appart to replace that. However, when I had the issue rather than the "blend door issue" it turned out to be the "HVAC Control Head" according to the service print-out. They replaced that which didn't require tearing appart and now everything works great. It might be worth taking the truck in and having them at least diagnose it ?

Good luck...

 

SLCHemi, what were your symptoms?

Hammer, Googling the heatertreater I can only find jeep appilcatons, but I'll keep looking.

 

It's very possible it's only available for the Grand Cherokee, since I had the issue with mine and was directed there by guys on the Jeep forums. But according to everyone there, it's cheap andworks perfectly and takes no time to install. I just figuredit would be worth a couple of minutes for you to search if it was available for your ride...

 

My symptoms were what sounded to be classic "blend door" - basically I could turn the selector **** to whatever setting (feet / feet + front / feet + defrost, etc.) and the air would only come out the front vents (those in the front of the dash - like by the head unit). The temperature **** worked (could get cold > hot), and odly when I'd turn the selector **** for feet, etc..to defrost it would kick in the ac stuff (you could hear it kick on and smell it a bit) - but no matter what it just blew out the top vents.

I'm not certain how it factored in, but there was a dramatic difference in how much air came out of the vents before / after the service (it blows allot harder now). The service manager said it made sense and was a symptom of the problem as well. I had always just thought the blower was kinda wimpy..

If it helps, the description on the paperwork from the service tech says "21098 Found air coming from panel vents only will not change to other positions. Found no response condition from HVAC control head. Temperature will switch from hot to cold. Performed no response test power and ground circuits ok. No lights flashing. Replaced control head, recalibrated system and rechecked vent operation"

It was only in the shop for maybe an hour, and didn't require that they take the dash appart...

 

Giving the box a good smack didn't do anything. I'll look into the price of the HVAC control head you mentioned. I have no problems doing the work myself, especially if it only takes dodge 1 hour. Might have to bite the bullet and pay labour to diagnose the problem.

 

if the vehicle is a 1500, there is no evac needed. expect to pay $600.00 + for labor. this is a common repair, there is now a repair kit for it.