99 Caravan vent

I have a Grand Caravan, 1999. Never had a problem with this car and by reading the posts here, I must be lucky. :) At any rate, the weirdest thing started last summer. While running the A/C on RECIR, everything was fine, but when I pushed the button to turn off the RECIR feature nothing happened. It turns out that this little electric motor located under the glovebox moves an arm that rides inside a plastic arm that opens or closes the vent door to outside air. The motor was froze as a push from my finger would cause the metal arm to move and then it would work great for about a week. I thought that something might be binding the door so I removed the motor and check everything. All is lose and free moving. Installed the motor, tried it and it busted in two the plastic arm. Now this arm, which is listed as a $7.50 part can't be bought all by itself. You must buy the whole darn fan box at $175. I found this out when I ordered a new motor ($50) and tried to order the $7.50 plastic arm. The motor came but not the part. I can not believe I have to order the whole vent assm'y at $175 and then probably remove half the dash to fix this. So...I tried the local junk yards. Found 3 '99 vans but no motor or arm. So...I tried to fix the broken arm. I used some hot wire, like paperclip thickness to hold the unit together, then cover it with JB Weld. JB Weld, for those who know, will hold anything. It worked for 3 days then snapped the arm in another place.

My questions to this group are: Anyone heard of this? Is this a design flaw in this minivan? What in the name of all that is holy is breaking that arm? It is after all only a vent lever to open and close it. The motor seems to stop after it feels resistance as if you take it out and run it, the metal guide will travel 360 degress. You can stop its travel with your thumb at any point. Thanks and sorry for the long story.

UPDATE: Labor to install vent assm'y. $700 Fixed the problem myself. Traded it for a GM product.

I have a Grand Caravan, 1999. Never had a problem with this car and by reading the posts here, I must be lucky. :) At any rate, the weirdest thing started last summer. While running the A/C on RECIR, everything was fine, but when I pushed the button to turn off the RECIR feature nothing happened. It turns out that this little electric motor located under the glovebox moves an arm that rides inside a plastic arm that opens or closes the vent door to outside air. The motor was froze as a push from my finger would cause the metal arm to move and then it would work great for about a week. I thought that something might be binding the door so I removed the motor and check everything. All is lose and free moving. Installed the motor, tried it and it busted in two the plastic arm. Now this arm, which is listed as a $7.50 part can't be bought all by itself. You must buy the whole darn fan box at $175. I found this out when I ordered a new motor ($50) and tried to order the $7.50 plastic arm. The motor came but not the part. I can not believe I have to order the whole vent assm'y at $175 and then probably remove half the dash to fix this. So...I tried the local junk yards. Found 3 '99 vans but no motor or arm. So...I tried to fix the broken arm. I used some hot wire, like paperclip thickness to hold the unit together, then cover it with JB Weld. JB Weld, for those who know, will hold anything. It worked for 3 days then snapped the arm in another place.

My questions to this group are: Anyone heard of this? Is this a design flaw in this minivan? What in the name of all that is holy is breaking that arm? It is after all only a vent lever to open and close it. The motor seems to stop after it feels resistance as if you take it out and run it, the metal guide will travel 360 degress. You can stop its travel with your thumb at any point. Thanks and sorry for the long story.


My 1997 is having the same problem. the moter moves the vent to the correct position, but seems not to stop at correct point. it tries 3 times to go further, then stops. i dont know what the problem is, does it need to be replaced or is there an adjustment that can be made? what is the name for this arm and the small moter that operated it?

any help?

Well It's called almost a $1000 in repairs. My 1999 had to have the whole vent box ($250) that includes a motor and plastic arm, replaced. ($750) Labor. Needless to say I traded off the van. End of my story. No mater what, new motor and another arm from the junk yard (you can't buy the arm) it still broke.