CarComplaints.com Notes: What the heck happened here? A year after getting our "seal of pretty good" for the 2004, Chrysler turns around and delivers this crapwagon.
The fan motor only runs on high - and all the time! Heat, AC, defrost, is all there, but the fan cannot be turned down or off. Even when the climate controls are turned off, the fan intake at the passengers feet is pulling air at high speed. Very noisy and annoying.
This was one of the problems. It was really inconvenient, because it was pouring raining that day, and my windshield was all fogged up. Could not use anything, because the blower was not working.
The problem started off during the summer when suddenly, the AC wouldn't blow in the front. the rear worked fine. Not a big deal, I just rolled the windows down to cool off. The problem was hard to ignore once the Pennsylvania winter kicked in and there was no fan for the defrost. I would have to let the vehicle warm up for a long amount of time to defog the windshield. There was always a small amount of air coming through, but without enough force to be fully effective.
I bought it at 42,000 miles with a 30,000 mile warranty. The problem happened around 85,000 miles, so warranty was out.
Higher speeds of travel helped push more air through, but that is downright dangerous when traveling on snow and ice.
I hooked up a tester to the resistor, and switch (which is located behind the glove box, so good luck getting to it), and everything checked out. Finally, I took it to the shop where they tested it and told me that the blower motor was the problem, and that it would cost me about $350.00 to fix, 150.00 for the motor, and $200.00 for labor.
I gave the okay, and the replaced the motor, only to find that it still didn't work, so they replaced the resistor, and bingo! My mechanic was very forthcoming, and told me what had happened, so they put my old blower motor back in, and didn't charge me for any of the labor. Total cost of repair was around $30.00.
For the mechanically inclined, it would be very cost effective to replace this yourself, as the resistor can be found at most auto stores for around $10.00.
Nearly a year later, the blower still works, although I have lost the highest speed. I can live with that.
Haven't bothered to have it fixed yet because it isn't prohibitive to operating the vehicle. My thing is; I don't know whether it's the resistor chip, the blower motor or the control head. Heat & A/C work fine, the fan just doesn't work. I'm inclined to think it's probably the control head, because if it were the other two I'd (presumably) be able to shut it off, but putting the knob in the off position does nothing. I would sure like to know if anyone else has had this specific issue, or has thoughts on it...
- Ron A.,
Warrensburg, NY, US
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The fan motor only runs on high - and all the time! Heat, AC, defrost, is all there, but the fan cannot be turned down or off. Even when the climate controls are turned off, the fan intake at the passengers feet is pulling air at high speed. Very noisy and annoying.
- rothp, Auburn, WA, US