A/C acting up in 2001 Stratus

[BrandyN1113]

I have a 2001 Dodge Stratus Sedan 4dr. For the past couple of weeks I have had problems with the A/C. It won't work or setting 1 but blows on settings 2,3 & 4. Also it doesn't also blow cold air. It will blow cold air for a while and then all of a sudden it will blow warm air like it is on a vent setting. It however always will blow cold air on the defrost setting. That makes me think it doesn't need recharged since it will work on defrost. I'm not sure what is wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

[yogi_123rd]

Sounds like you have two problems here.
The AC/Heater unit uses engine vacuum to actuate valves for redirecting air out the vents. The default (no vacuum) will blow the air out the defrost vents. You should check the usual suspect being the line on the engine firewall suppling the vacuum for a loose, split, or dry rotted connection.

Your second problem seems to be that it only works on certain speeds. There are two seperate circuits. One circuit is for High speed setting and the other controls the low and medium fan speeds. The high speed circuit may have a fuse, but usually has a fusable link directly from the battery. A fusable link is a wire that melts like a fuse. This wire goes directly to the ac/heater switch, and then to the blower. The multi-low speeds circuit goes to a relay, which goes to a blower resistor and then the blower. It usually has a fuse. If only one of the low speeds is out, the blower resistor is suspect, if all then the relay. The blower resistor is usually located on the engine firewall in the blower box. It is reduces the voltage and current per speed selected. It is just a bunch of coiled wires (like a heating coil) that can rust or melt thru.

[sttlondon]

I'm having the same problem. where would i find this vacuum line? and how do i know if it's got a problem or not (ie, what is it supposed to look like, etc)

Thanks

-stephen

Originally Posted by yogi_123rd

Sounds like you have two problems here.
The AC/Heater unit uses engine vacuum to actuate valves for redirecting air out the vents. The default (no vacuum) will blow the air out the defrost vents. You should check the usual suspect being the line on the engine firewall suppling the vacuum for a loose, split, or dry rotted connection.

Your second problem seems to be that it only works on certain speeds. There are two seperate circuits. One circuit is for High speed setting and the other controls the low and medium fan speeds. The high speed circuit may have a fuse, but usually has a fusable link directly from the battery. A fusable link is a wire that melts like a fuse. This wire goes directly to the ac/heater switch, and then to the blower. The multi-low speeds circuit goes to a relay, which goes to a blower resistor and then the blower. It usually has a fuse. If only one of the low speeds is out, the blower resistor is suspect, if all then the relay. The blower resistor is usually located on the engine firewall in the blower box. It is reduces the voltage and current per speed selected. It is just a bunch of coiled wires (like a heating coil) that can rust or melt thru.

[bethielew]

I'm having a similar problem. I just bought a 2001 SE a month ago and this morning on my way to work i noticed that my heat will only blow any air out if i have the blower on the highest setting. If i have it on any of the first 3 blower settings, nothing comes out of the vents. Any suggestions?

[GreaseGeek]

This is a very old thread, but in case someone else is stumped by this. I have a friend with the same car and I was stumped trying to solve this problem. I took one more crack at it this weekend and solved it! The socket that the white (smaller) plug goes into on the back of the HVAC control panel is quite flimsy. Her car had been vandalized and the radio completely torn up trying to get it out. I replaced the radio but in getting it right, I had to pull the HVAC control panel out several times. Recently I found the factory body diagnostic guide at a used bookstore with the pinouts, schematics, and voltages. I figured that might help me solve the problem, so I pulled the switch again and opened it up (3 screws). I couldn't read the pin markings on the PCB clearly, so I grabbed a magnifying glass and was surprised to see perfect little circular cracks in the solder joints on several of the pins. The solder job is very flimsy, and there's apparently nothing else mechanically securing these pins except the solder. Designed just good enough to tolerate one or two plug/unplug cycles. I reflowed the solder on all 8 pins, put it all back together and all the function works perfectly again. Mystery solved at last. I also reran the blend/mode door calibration routine by pulling the IOD fuse for 5 minutes, then starting the car and turning the blower on. The BCM will cycle the doors to calibrate them. Hope this helps somebody else.