Hubby and I are new to the site and this is our first post, so Hello all!
We recently purchased a 2013 Grand Caravan and have noticed hot air coming in from the 3rd row speaker area on the drivers side. It is producing enough heat that our children and/or other passengers say it feels like the heater is on.

I know that Chrysler/ Dodge vans seem to have brake issues and problems with the rear calipers dragging or sticking and considering the placement of the rear speaker grill, I'm wondering if this could be the issue, perhaps a caliper is sticking and the friction is causing heat?

Also, when visiting an auto parts store for a price check on pads, rotors and calipers, we were asked if our van had regular or heavy duty brakes and told we would need to know prior to purchasing the parts. How do you tell this? Are they referring to the brakes that come on models equipped with a factory tow package upgrade?

 

If your van has a 3 zone climate control I would suspect a problem with the heat blend door actuator for the rear zone.

In 2013 Grand Caravan with 17" wheels came equip with the heavy duty brakes.

 

Thank you for your reply. I have dual climate controls in front and separate in back, is that 3 zone? Please forgive my auto ignorance. Ours has 16" tires.

 

Yes that the 3 zone climate control. The rear heater A/C unit is located in the right rear quarter panel the blower unit has 2 blend door actuator motor on it the top one is for the mode selection the bottom one is the heat and cold control.

 

Thank you for your insight. I have actually read about the blend actuators, but had no idea it could potentially lead to this. My husband is a A/V tech by profession and pretty all around handy, but not a mechanic. Is it a fairly straight forward process to check and repair? Would he would be able to do it or would I need to take it to our mechanic?

 

No as long as he has some mechanical skill set and handy with tools he should do fine. I would recommend using the OEM Mopar blend door actuator versus any aftermarket brand you can get them on line from Mopar Parts Giant cheaper than any dealer. The reason is that the characteristics of the Mopar brand actuators are identical while the aftermarket brand could different in travel needing dealer re-calibration to insure proper operation. I'll post a couple of links to similar repair one for blend door actuator change out while the other is more to show how to proceed for the trim panel removal.

1 2

 

Thanks for all your help, it is very much appreciated, we would have never known to look in this direction. Thank you

 

Easiest way to tell is to look at the front brake caliper. If it has two pistons its heavy duty, if it has one piston it's not. See images.

Two piston caliper.

Single poison caliper.

 

For your rear brakes to heat up inside the cabin ....they have to be on FIRE !!! - you would have noticed it ..... Definately a rear heater blowing on the top from a stuck actuator - OOOOOR .... you have the AC ***** setup wrong - you can control the rear AC/Heat from the console on the ceiling in front of the second row seats .....AND ... the front console for the driver ......And the Driver console is the main one - overrides the back controlls ....