Merry Christmas everyone and happy new year....
now about the dodge....2002 grand caravan ES, with climate control...My rear heating system almost always works without fail but this front system is very random....sometimes the blower motor will not turn on regardless of the setting....speed, temp, and location of heat....when it is not working I have to turn on and off multiple times and can usually reduce temp to 60's and the blower will turn on, then I can slowly turn temp up to keep it on, sometimes it will turn on for a second and then shut off....never have an issue in summer with a/c. only in colder weather...I have no clue where to start with diagnosis....the blower motor resistor for this one is 10 times the price of the normal one without climate control.......so I am hoping for some suggestions before spending 120 bucks on a resistor........thanks for any help and suggestions.....battery is fully charged and also sometimes the re-circ function doesn't seem to work as it just flashes then disappears when pressed, sometimes it actually turns on and seems to blower much harder....so many bells and whistles on this thing...too bad they all seem to fail.


thanks for any help

 

so an update.....I did the climate control calibration and everything worked right after, and the whistling that I used to hear on certain speeds is now gone....finger crossed it did the trick...I will keep everyone updated

 

update......it didnt work, however i noticed when i turn the engine off the blower motor will always work...so must be electrical related.....i will check my alternator amperage output to ensure it is charging properly....

 

I also swapped front to rear blower motor rely tonight to see if this helps too....I will test tomorrow I am trying to avoid throwing parts at this thing without verifying a failed component because it is always taking new parts regularly.....I am wondering if its the resistor?? it is so intermittent and will not work on high either when its not working....and might have to wire in light to blower motor wires and watch if it is getting power when it is not working too to eliminate blower motor

 

so far nothing has worked, still completely intermittent, after work today I will check to make sure the blower motor is fine and it is running while it is getting power...I am noticing it turns on for a second or two as soon as I power on the heater.....I am thinking its either computer, blower resistor......hopefully today I can narrow it down more.....any suggestions would be awesome....thanks and happy holidays everyone

 

still no solution...blower motor works fine, when I power it manually, still completely intermittent, I ordered a blower motor resistor as per dealership advice, and I am going to wire in a power wire on a switch to power the blower motor temp....I will temp steal power from my trailer brake module with a switch to temp run my blower motor.....this van is the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned....I am sure it was a good idea but execution was terrible.....am I the only one that has a bill every month from tpms to heater on a monthly basis....I have had it 3 years now and atleast every second month I am putting parts in it.....and I still have no traction control or abs.....was told I needed a new abs module since my scanner is giving me several codes....it starts and gets mewhere I need to go 99% of the time.....just sucks at doing it.....any help would be greatly appreciated....I also notice today that if I turn vehicle off and put ignition to on instead of starting the vehicle the blower motor runs everytime....I just cant see this meaning ignition wiring as I can hear and feel the blower motor turn on for a second or two everytime I turn heater on.....as if the unit feels it has reached the proper temperature and turns itself off....wtf is going on with this thing??

 

one more update....today I finally made it out to diagnose the blower motor resistor....so mine has two wires out to power the blower motor and three wires in to the resistor...system on and the two big power wires feeding the blower motor resistor have continuous power....around 14 volts....however the out going to the motor has no power...I removed the resistor while was still hooked up and touched the metal frame around glove box with the metal cooling fins and saw sparks....this leads me to believe that there is a short within the blower motor resistor....once sparks it fired the motor right up........there is a smaller blue wire going to the resistor that I didn't testto see if it is ground or power but I assume with this simple check it is the blower motor resistor...if I am getting power in but no power out....I have a new one that should arrive within the next few days and will apply some heavy gauge wires to jump the connectors with some spade terminals to atleast get blower motor to defrost until new one comes in....I had always thought that when blower motor resistor failed it would work in high but no other speeds....maybe I am wrong and will post my results when I replace the resistor.....I can also post pics of everything if anyone is interested....removal procedure of bezel with ir sensor, and removal of blower motor resistor too.....atleast I will have heater again even if it is high the whole time until the new resistor comes in....I hope this helps some other who may be experiencing the same issues

 

okay last update.....after testing that blower resistor I decided to try to see if rear blower motor resistor would fit and solve issue while waiting for new one.....and finally....a solution....I only tested for about 15 minutes of turning off and on and up and down and seems to have solved the issue....I will post in a few days as well after new one arrives to post if it was the issue......at this time it seems to have been the blower motor resistor....acted different then other resistor failures that I have seen but then again all other were not multi zone climate control either....hope this helps someone else cuz this was a huge pita for me.....I hate just throwing parts at things without verifying first.

 

Hi josh.simon,

thanks for your updates and please keep us posted. Hopefully the new blow motor resistor does the trick!

Kathleen
Top Care Specialist
FCA Canada

 

I will almost guarantee the resistor will fix your issue. Personally I would also replace the blower motor as well. The blower motor is mounted horizontally below the fresh air intake so it is always getting water into it. The bushing for the squirrel cage get corroded and it takes more power to get it going. That excessive current draw overheats the resistor and causes the failure. It is up to you but I have seen many a new resistor not make it a week.