06 Dodge 2500 Heater blower

[LwnmwnMan2]

In one of my '06 Dodge 2500s, the blower won't blow out of the dash at full speed. It will now at least go from defrost to dash to floor, as it stopped switching for a while.

I'm guessing something is blocking the deflector from moving all the way over, so can someone tell me where the deflector is by chance?

It's got 51,000 miles so I'm out of the 3 year / 36k warranty.

[Jeremy airjer W]

The blower doesn't work at all on high speed?

Check tthe switch to make sure it is gounding the dark blu w/ yellow wire. You can unplug the connector from the resistor block and use a test light connected to power to check. If the test light lights up its good, if it doesn't than the switch/connector at the switch might be the issue.

[LwnmwnMan2]

The blower blows, but the air flow acts like it's blocked, lots of sound, not much airflow, when set on dash.

It blows fine when it's set to defrost or floor.

[Valv]

There have been issues with door actuators (flappers) and servos on some year models. Unfortunately you will have to take system off to repair or see a dealer.

[Big Buck Buster]

The blower blows, but the air flow acts like it's blocked, lots of sound, not much airflow, when set on dash.

It blows fine when it's set to defrost or floor.

Check to see if you have a cabin air filter. If there is, with the filter removed,check to see if the evaporator is plugged with mildew. If that is plugged, more than likely the evaporator is leaking causing oil residue to get on the fins and collecting dust, making the air flow very low when put on vent .

[Jeremy airjer W]

The air flow should be low in all the settings if that was the case (I don't think rams have cabin filters either, if they do I'm missing the boat on a lot of gravy sales!!! )?

I had to think valv is on the right track with the mode servos. If it was a dual climate caravan with one side hot and one side cold I would have two easy things to check to tell you what the problem was.

[Big Buck Buster]

Just tried looking up a cabin air filter on 06 dodge pickup. They don't have them. Only Ford, and GM have them.

[311Hemi]

There have been issues with door actuators (flappers) and servos on some year models. Unfortunately you will have to take system off to repair or see a dealer.

Unfortunately this is a somewhat common issue, you can find more details on other forums like the cummins forum. If this is what your problem is it requires taking the whole dash off to access the small part you need to change....not a quick task. I think there was a quick fix I read recently regarding this...don't remember if it was for this exact issue. I will try to find it.

[311Hemi]

The Problem:

- The RAM is built with multiple doors to control intake source, air flow through the heater core, and delivery to defrost/vent/floor. The doors are controlled by DC servo motors. The issue with the design is that the system has to calibrate itself and find the end points of movement before the computer can understand the two closed positions and regulate the position of each of the doors. The motor is geared to move the doors slowly and with a good amount of force. The door has a limit pin which will break over time and the force is then transferred to the doors and axle. Like bending a coat hanger back and forth, the doors will eventually break. The calibration process is started automatically at a set interval by the computer and cannot be avoided. It is the forces generated during calibration that lead to system failure.

Do you have the problem?

The Dodge Ram Pickup truck has multiple doors that are DC motor controlled and all of them are susceptible to failure. As mentioned above, the system is designed with a limit pin to control door movement. The photo shows a good limit pin and broken limit pin. If you observe a broken pin on any of the various doors, complete failure is not far behind. Before ordering product, we suggest that you go through the different doors and fail modes to determine the problem(s) and make sure that we provide the right product.

1. Re-circ door.

a. This door regulates between external air and internal air being pulled into the system. It works by blocking the external intake vent, forcing air to be pulled from the internal intake vent, OR blocking the internal intake vent, forcing air to be pulled from the outside. There is no in between. You can easily check the function by turning the fan on full blast and checking the air flow into the external vent between the hood and windshield. With re-circ off, you should feel a strong air flow into the vent and it should stop when re-circ is on. When the door fails, it hangs in the center and both the external vent and internal vents are open and air will flow into the external vent and out of the internal vent…like having a window rolled down all the time. If you feel air coming in under the passenger side dash, this is most likely the problem.

b. The photo shows the location of the re-circ door behind the glove box opening. The door is covered by a grate and is in the upper right hand corner. You can easily see/feel the door move when you have the system on and switch re-circ on and off. If the door doesn’t move or is missing, add this one to the list.

2. Blend door.

a. The blend door’s function is to divert some, or all, of the air flow through the heater core. The RAM uses an odd, complex method with two blend doors. The heater core is on a horizontal plane and two doors are sandwiched on the top and bottom of the core. In full AC, both doors close against the core(top down, bottom up) and block any air flowing through the core. In full heat, air is diverted through the core with the top door and the bottom door away from the core. This blocks normal air flow in the bottom of the box, forcing more air through the top and down through the heater core. The doors blend the air by partially opening and forcing some air through the core with some bypassing the core through the bottom door. The two doors are linked together and operate in unison to control temperature.

b. The symptoms of blend door failure are an inability to control the temperature of the air flowing through the system. A broken door will generally fall into the down position, blocking the core and having no heat in the system. The box is designed for either single or dual control of temperature on the passenger and driver’s sides. If there is a difference between passenger and driver’s side temperatures, the problem is with the blend door on either a single or dual control system. Of course this test assumes that the heater core is hot. You want to make sure that the radiator is full(radiator, not overflow tank) which you can check by opening the radiator cap on a cold engine. The radiator should be full, air in the system will greatly diminish heater operation and engine cooling. You can also check the heater hoses from a cold startup. The two hoses going into the firewall should warm up at about the same rate and get uncomfortably hot. This is a good indication that coolant is flowing through the heater core.

c. The RAM plenum box is built with dual air flow chambers so that the system can be configured for either single or dual control. On the single control, the blend doors are just connected together and operate as a single unit, but there are still two separate air flow chambers. The single control has a single actuator motor to control both sides of the HVAC system while the dual control has separate motors for either side. Air flows through the AC evaporator core before getting to the dual chambers and if there is a temperature differential across the core, it can show up as a difference in temperature on the two sides. Most auto makers constructed the core with refrigerant flowing from top to bottom on dual systems. With this setup both sides would be the same and a lack of efficiency in the core would be equally spread across both sides. Chrysler moves the refrigerant from right to left, so if there is a temperature gradient across the core, the passenger side is at the back of the core and will see less efficient AC. Charging the system may solve the problem and at least it should be checked. If the charge is too high or too low, it can cause a gradient across the core and it will show symptoms of warmer air on the passenger side. This is a design flaw in the system and there is little margin for less than perfect operation of the AC compressor system. You may have to “tune” the refrigerant charge, monitoring temperature on both sides, to get it perfect. If the refrigerant charge is OK, the next suspect is the blend doors. Dodge has a strange clam shell door arrangement for the doors in the RAM. There are two doors, an upper and lower that move in unison and cover the top and bottom of the heater core which is on a horizontal plane. On a single control system there are four different flaps(two sides/two sets of doors) that have to operate correctly. The plastic components are susceptible to breakage and it is an expensive repair to remove and repair the plenum box when this inevitably happens. The back door can break off exposing the top or bottom of the heater core to the air flow. The system will still operate, but the added radiant heat from the core can significantly affect passenger side cooling. The only way to really diagnose this problem is to cut into the box and observe the operation of the doors. Once you have the box open, you can also check the temperature of both sides of the AC evaporator core to make sure that it is cooling both sides efficiently. It takes a little work to get to the doors and check the operation, but once you understand the root cause of the problem, it can be restored to fully efficient operation.

3. Mode Door 1.

a. This door regulates air flow to either the dash vents or defrost/floor. If you have air flowing only through the vents with no defrost or floor, this door is failing. From our experience, this door is usually the first domino to fail. Not sure why, just is.

4. Mode Door 2.

a. When mode door 1 is set to divert air away from the vents and into the second stage of the system, door #2 chooses whether air goes to the defrost vents to the windshield or out through the floor vents in the passenger and driver’s side footwells. Failure is indicated by an inability to choose between defrost and floor.

b. This door turns out to be the most difficult to replace. In order to replace the door, the dash panel has to be removed. It’s still better than the dealer fix because you don’t have to evacuate the AC system, drain the radiator, and remove the plenum box. But it is more work than the other fixes. When this door breaks, it falls in the down position, blocking the floor vents and diverting all air through the defrost vents. From a safety standpoint, this is good since you’d most likely rather have a clear windshield than warm feet. We suspect that a large percentage of customers will just leave this door unrepaired. You will have heat through the dash vents and to the windshield, just nothing to the floor. It’s inconvenient, but you’ll have to make the determination if warm feet are worth the extra work to fix the door. An extra pair of socks is easier.

These are the symptoms of failure, you can also get definitive information by reading the HVAC DRBIII codes. All of the actuator motors have a feedback to the computer system and a failure of any of the doors will show up in the fail codes. The codes should line up with the symptoms, and when they do this is a complete diagnosis of the problem. Note that the system will start throwing codes before the doors fail completely. A code without symptoms means that the door is in the process of failing, but may have up to another year of life before it has to be replaced. It will fail eventually, so keep an eye on it.

You can fairly easily remove the bottom cover of the dash and observe the operation of any of the doors and check for broken limit pins. Check the TECH section for diagrams and the procedure for removing the bottom dash skirt. A picture of the dash with the panel removed is listed below. Note the metal stamped framework behind the dash cover. The edges of the stamped metal are sharp, and we strongly suggest that you use duct tape to cover the exposed edges to keep your hands from look like you tried to pet the neighbor’s cat.

[311Hemi]

A quick fix for the recirc door issue (email me at zache***j1 AT hotmail D0T com if you want a link to the full thread with pics and more details.....remove the *** from my email):

Quote:

Heater blower motor working but not blowing air? Easy Recirc Door Replacement

Ive seen about 4 or 5 threads on this now. Figure I would help everyone out and post how I did it WITHOUT tearing the dash out. A little bit of patience and removal of the glove box door is all thats needed. Here is what I wrote on other threads about it.

If you already have the replacement door kit from the dealer, look over your parts really good and you can see how everything works and what im talking about.

This is a very simple fix. I had to do it on my 06

First, lay on the passenger floor and you'll see the blower motor, remove the 3 screws that hold it on and unplug it. Now reach up inside the opening with your left arm and youll hit a loose piece of plastic laying there. Thats the broken door, simply flip it vertical and out the hole. Next remove the glove box door, you'll see tabs on each side, just squeeze the door past those tabs and the door will want to fall past its normal opening position, you'll see that the door just lifts off. Next using a flashlight look up inside the dash and youll see where the recirc door housing is. It looks like a checkerboard layout. To the left of that is the servo that drives the door, unplug it and remove the 3 screws that hold it on. Next comes the only difficult part. There is a while nipple that hooks the servo to the door, it stays in once you get the servo off. Its held on with 3 little push clips that are kind of a pain to pop out. Once you get the white nipple out make sure there isnt any other parts left in there before you start putting new pieces in because they can fall into the blower motor once you kick it on, cause it to go off balance and break things lol I know, Anyways your new recirc door comes from the dealer with a new blower box ect ect, all you need is the door, the white nipple and the servo. Youll see how the nipple drives the door, Its been a while since I did this so If i remember right you have to put the piece on the door, then put them both into place at the same time, make sure the servo is lined up with the nipple piece, screw the servo back on. It wont mount flush if it isnt lined up, next plug the servo back in, and remove any tools and stuff from the area and turn your key to the ON posisition and turn the heater on (you dont need the blower motor hooked up yet) switch the heater from outside to incab a few times to double check its functioning right, you will have a clear view of it. Servo will move pretty slow. if everything is up to your standards, put the blower motor back in after inspecting it for broken blades and junk that might have damaged it, put the glove box door back on and you should be good to go! Took me about 1.5 hour to do without any guidance, hopefully with this you can get it done in less time!! about a $40 fix (I think.. might be $20 now that I think about it)

This should help out alot of guys from having to deal with warrenty and not having their truck for a day and help avoid all this nonsense of pulling the dash out. If I can get my big sausage arm in there, shouldnt be no big deal for a regular guy. Ill post up some pics in a few days when I get home for a more complete description.