One of my biggest gripes in this industry has always been the lack of strategy published by the manufacturer. A good technician can diagnose it, as long as we know how it works. That information is sadly lacking in many cases, and forces us to spend more and more time to figure tit out. Great video, my friend. You are killing it!
Most of the time, the theory of operation and flow chart data is available, you just have to pay a massive amount of money on a subscription to get it. People like me who only occasionally works on someone else's vehicles and my own, that's too much money to spend. However, Alldata and Mitchell have a subscription for DIYers which is very reasonably priced.
@@KRTube75 I've been a professional in this industry for a long time. I can assure you that there are times that there is no information on strategy or logic. Sometimes there is wrong information, which is even worse. And if you are working on people's cars, you should have no issue paying for the information. People who do this casually are why the industry is a mess. You're the guy down the street who can do it cheaper. Why? Because you have no overhead. Also why most times your customer will end up at a real shop, pissed off and broke
@@JoesAutoElectric Sadly see this all the time. I don't know how customer pays the bill and leaves with problem not resolved. Just had an 07 MKX in that another shop hung an AC compressor on and still no AC. No clutch engagement. Engine light was on. Cylinder head temp circuit code. No wonder ECM won't turn compressor on. Jumper harness to sensor was chewed through. Pulled intakes and changed, and fixed. Why couldn't the other shop have figured that out.
Thanks for the info !! I have a 2017 Caravan that is doing the same thing, I sent it to an A/C guy today and he changed the blower motor and resistor still the same problem, charged me 375.00 for nothing.
Love the content guys! I'd really enjoy seeing an in depth video on troubleshooting HVAC systems. Especially, when it comes to low/high side pressures and where to start diagnostics depending on various pressure problems.
I've seen this one time on like a 14 Grand Cherokee. The blower speed would move around on start up and eventually stop. Found that it was being commanded that way with scope on control circuit from HVAC control head to blower motor. Not gonna lie I replacer the blower regulator first. When they didn't fix it I decided to fix the blend door actuator fault. After fixing that the blower worked fine. Been aware of that strategy ever since but was definitely a pain at first. Nice work guys.
You guys just helped me figure this one out......I have a 2014 Town& County in the shop with that same problem!!....Thanks for all you do and show on your videos .....Great Job !!!!
I have a '15 Caravan and I heard the rear actuator making a clicking sound & it wouldn't turn on the blower motor until it timed out from trying to calibrate every time we got in the vehicle to drive. Last week, I finally tore apart the rear box to find both actuators to be just fine, it was a broken door, so I took it out and repaired it, working fine now.
This is exactly what’s happening to my van…a dirty cabin air filter kinda fixes this, but now I need to find a video how to repair the recirculate door
Found this on my dodge journey when I replaced blower motor that went out. I seen this door you’re talking about. I’m going to check mine to make sure it’s not broke as well. Good luck dodge owners
Yes on the hvac video. Also I would love if you guys could do training videos on the ats scope, like set ups and the ins and out. I'm thinking about getting one, I'm pretty green on scopes.
I spent 13 of my 39 years as a Master Tech working at a Chrysler dealership here in California from 1995 to 2008 and I do remember rolling out a lot of dashboards to replace broken blend doors.
John, I have had my 2006 town and country for 17 years and Love my van . It's a 5.8 limited. There are so Many questions. I keep it up like I fix coffee every morning, so I stated having problems with the front blower motor making a waffling sound. The back one is fine. I just bought a new one last week and it was 60.00 something, I hate to think what they will charge changing it. 🦊
Super helpful ! I’m going to check if it is the same problem with my 2009 bmw which has the same symptoms . Thanks . An A/C tutorial is absolutely perfect 👍🏼 if you would !
The easiest repair for this I found is to purchase the entire air duct assembly ($83 on amazon, actuator, door flap, & filter included), remove them all from the new one, install them in your existing one, and for me it worked like a charm. Door flap slips in through the filter hole. If the old door flap was busted like mine, then chances are the actuator’s still good. Ultimately the problem is, unless you go to a junkyard, I wasn’t able to find just the door. Good news is, no dash removal.
This was common on Toyotas as well. It would have a delay for the blower and then once the system realized the door is stuck it would finally operate the blower and it would work normal till it was restarted. Good catch guys!
Another great video. I’d love to see the AC video. The shop I work at is small and we don’t have a full AC machine. If you could show a way to find leaks without one that would be super helpful.
Love your videos as usual. I would like to see some AC videos. I'm just a DIY'er but learned how to fix AC systems back in 2007 on my own by reading AC repair books, watching videos, and going to automotive AC forums and asking questions. I learned out of necessity due to the car that had an inoperative AC system was my fiancé's work beater car and it was only worth about what the AC shop wanted to charge to fix it. She bought all of the equipment I needed, and I ended up repairing her car and probably 15-20 cars after that over the years. You are correct, AC work really is not that difficult as long as you understand the basics and have the correct equipment to use.
same problem with 2014 chrysler minivan. has been to dealership many times and they cannot seem to figure it out. Thanks!! will take it back and show the this video
Amazing, this could be easily a parts canon case if this info is not available, Thanks for sharing Professor😍 Definitely want to see more A/C repair videos😍
Had a 2015 encore that would intermittently stop blowing cold air for the customer but I could not reproduce the problem. I suspected the evaporator core was freezing up but none of my scan tools show an evap air discharge temperature sensor. The compressor was running constantly, however, even if you turned the dials to the hottest setting with the a/c turned on. The compressor only turned off if you turned off the a/c. I was never able to reproduce the problem because I was given bad info. I was told they run it set at 72F with the speed on the 4th light bar when the problem would happen. On a hunch I thought maybe they were getting cold after a while so they turned the fan speed down. I turn the speed down thinking the lower airflow would cause the evap temperature to decrease and maybe it would freeze up. Sure enough, within a couple minutes, the air flow from the vents started decreasing but the fan speed didn't change. Sometimes, ice flakes would fly out of the vents. Evap was freezing up! I then found the evap discharge temp sensor and swapped it with one of the vent sensors and sure enough, it was showing 15F higher than it should in the scan tool. Basically, at the higher fan speeds, the air entering the system is warm enough to keep the evap core from freezing which is why I could not reproduce the problem. I then decided to manually select a 2016 encore in my scan tool and, bingo, there was the evap air discharge temp sensor listed. With a good sensor, at fan speed 4, the core air temp was 46F. At 3 it dropped to 40F. At 2 it kept dropping until it hit 35F and at that point, the a/c compressor would turn off to keep the evaporator coil from freezing. At about 43F, it would cycle back on. Swapped the bad sensor back and at speed 4, it was reading 61F instead of 46F. At speed 2, it would never read below 45F which means the coil was at least 30F so it was cold enough to freeze up. When the bad sensor was in the left vent sensor location, it was reading 60F but the right sensor was reading 45F. With bad customer info and bad scanner data, sometimes it pays to be able to swap like parts. I did have to remove the radio to get to them but that was only 5 minutes of extra time. What gets me, is I used 5 different scan tools and 3 were completely different manufacturers with completely different interfaces. The evap air discharge temp sensor was not listed in any of them when using the 2015 encore manual or auto selection. Only when 2016 was manually entered did the sensor show up. I don't know if this data comes from GM or what but they clearly get all their data from the same place.
Great video Sherwood this will help some people for sure in the future. From my experiences working on FCA vehicles over the years I've seen a lot of those will give you clue. The rear defrost button light will blink when you first turn the key to the on position if there is a "recal" process being done on the a/c system which it performs everytime if its got a actuator/door problem and will give you the blower symptoms also sometimes. Another tip that can narrow your diag process. P.S I would love to see some A/C videos. Always something I can learn even after all these years in the industry. Hell I watch SMA videos on brakes still even if I've seen all of em and can change a set of brakes just fine 😂
Maybe you can help before I talk to the shop? Two problems with my 2015 caravan, 2nd one is I think the right side blend door. Sometimes the air coming out is only hot no matter what the setting is. 1st is when I get into the van, if the rear defogger light is on before we start the van, I know the fan will not come on and will not for up too 2 minutes. If I wait until the flashing defogger light goes out to start the van more times than not the fan will start when turned on then. Thanks, enjoy your videos.
Several years ago, I had an intermittent blower motor on a Ford Flex. The heater control module, the blower motor controller and the gps module were on one subnet. The gps module was randomly taking down the subnet. It was caught during a visual inspection/wiggle test. The gps module felt much warmer than expected. I believe we sometimes will forget about the low tech checks; their is still a place and time for them.
This is 100% true, and while it seems an easy fix, you need to remove the entire dashboard to access the recirculation door . A temporary fix is to unplug the recirculator motor. the intermitence lasts only about 15 seconds
Helpful video but this comment even more helpful! Disconnected my actuator as well. I now get full blower speed within 30sec rather than wait 3min 15sec for the actuator to keep retrying and failing
Nice video. GREAT job giving credit where credit is due! We don't see that enough, and speaks well of you and the brand on your shirt, sir. Now how to replace the recirc door...
He's right ! At the end of last summer when i was turning on my car and AC, the blower was doing start and stop for one to two minutes and after everything was fine. At the beginning of this winter, the blower did turn on but after a good 3 to 5 minutes, so i had to wait longer for my defrost to work on my windshield. Went to the dealership today (stealership as other call them) to ask if they knew a common cause for this symptom, never want to ask a mecanic, only told me to book an appointement for a diagnostic at around 150$ canadian. Right after i saw this video and unfortunatly the recirculation door's plastic connection to the actuator is broke inside... need a new door... probably a case of "gonna have to live with it" 😢
Durango citadel, about same year it does exactly the same thing, there is actually a TSB on it. What it does since it can’t reach the commanded position on the door the controller fails the blower.
Had a Ford flex that the blower motor resistor went out, put an aftermarket one. Blower motor worked on every speed but the hvac module will stop the command on the ac compressor. Gave a code for the Blower motor speed, replace aftermarket with oem and no issue
First, AC best practices, please include testing temperatures around the system by hand feel, beware of super hot components based on the problem. Please explain how much of a temp drop is expected from the inlet to the outlet of the condenser, if it is too much, there is a problem internally holding back pressure and the pressure is being forced through a restriction causing a venturi effect lowering the temp too much. Talk about dry chemical flushes will not help with parallel condensers or liquid lines with mufflers. If your AC Machine has a user manual showing different pressure scenarios, please show those and talk about each type of scenario. Mention if there is no or weak flow into the compressor then there can be low output from the compressor, every compressor needs a good supply before it can produce a good pressure for the system to operate properly. When changing compressors, read the attached label to know if oil was installed, how much, and what type. For an in-dash gas leak, put the vehicle out in the hot sun, allow the system with some gas in it to bake with the doors and windows closed, open the door with the gas sniffer working, and see if it will sniff the leak upon opening the door, if not, quickly stick it in a vent and turn on the blower to see if the gas from the evap box will blow out, sometimes this is a one-shot deal for minor leaks, be sure the vents are set up to blow in the face in advance. Does America sell a mold-killing kit to put on the floor, allow the AC to run as it will suck up the fumes from this kit into the air inlet under the dash, and circulate it past the evap, these fumes will kill the mold and get rid of the bad smell. I lived and worked my business in Tokyo for 20 years and all auto stores sell this stuff. Mention a way to clean out the AC drain tube and be sure to not pull it loose from the evap box or you will get a leak into the cabin so once in a while during the summer, be sure there is water dripping from under the car. Excess water or wet lines under the hood are signs of low refrigerant. Talk about cold air and hot air mixing issues, is your heated water making its way into the heater box? When the AC is not turning on, not all PIDs are listed in the scan tool, there are a host of problems that we need to know simply based on experience so for go-getter techs, we need to know what all the wires do on the back of the Head Unit Module, and we need to know what signal from the module sends a signal to the ECM and what problems on the engine can prevent the AC from turning on and what turns off the AC under certain driving/idling scenarios. Until today, many mechanics do not fully understand variable displacement compressors nor understand the solenoid in the compressor and there are parts sources to purchase these alone, not all models. Can't wait to see your final output. Thanks for this great video and the great information, I have never seen this problem with the module controlling the fan speed based on an attempt to recal the door position, DAMN
My 2015 Town and County Touring L has this exact issue. I just paid $459 for a new blower motor and it did not fix the problem. I'm going to check the recirculation door next. What's the cost to replace the broken recirculation door?
This is EXACTLY what mine is doing. Not a good design if this is a common thing. If it wasn't for the stow 'n' go seats, I would get another brand of minivan.
Had one just yesterday a Town and country, after a half hour no blower for a minute it worked, It did drive me crazy! also HVAC didn't set a code for this.
So. Was the back blower still doing its job? My back hwat and ac blow but the front one does not and we are in the process of elimation to figure out the problem.
Mine just stops in the middle of driving and then a little while later like half an hour or so. If I turn it off and then back on it'll come back on. Not the car but the motor or the AC
I get to fix my front blend door and motor today also! Same exact issues! Hey... is there a blend door in the rear ac system? My rear system operates but does not BLOW out the vents anymore for years now... can't figure it out...smfh... gotta love these t&cs! ❤😂
I have a old van that does that I don’t wanna put a lot of money into it can I put a 12 V toggle switch to it to just turn it on and off to where it would just be on high
Question? Have a 2016 caravan, the blower motor works fine (nothing wrong with it) but when the blower motor switch is turned to the off position the engine will shut off. Is the blower motor circuit connected to the ignition somehow?
I have a 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan. That the heater blower motor does not work. I have juice at the switch on the dash but nothing to the resistor. I have replaced the relay and resistor and still does not work. What else can I do? Thanks for any help
I replaced the blower motor and resistor but I’m not a mechanic. I can do basic car things. Is this something that I can access on my own or is it too far back?
