Heater problems

[reds-man]

My heater switch in my 2001 stratus doesn't seem to work in posotions 1 or 2. Will work fine in 3 and 4. And then it takews forever to make a change from defrost to floor for example?

[Mlevito]

I had a friend who had a Chevrolet Cavalier with the exact same problem. Although it's not a Dodge, it may shed some light on the issue. He took it in to the shop, and it was either a circuit board problem, or some kind of short. It was a while ago, and I don;t remember exactly, but it was electrical, and he lost the car for about 2 days or so while they sorted it out.

On another token, my temperature select knob won;t seem to work in my 01 Stratus. Dash light behind fan control blew, but all others work correctly. Any ideas on where fuses might be pertaining to that?

[quest4me]

My car did that last fall, it was a resistor. Unfortunately I went to the dealer to have it fixed and it was $$$$$.

[Mlevito]

I was able to get the heat working again in my 01 Status. After exhaustively testing the heater core, hoses, etc, it turned out to be a loose connection inside the box housing the knobs. Me and my step-dad ended up haveing to re-solder about 12 tiny connecting pins coming in from the back where the harness clipped in. The pins were loose, and some were no longer making contact with the board.

I missed a bio class, and spent about 4 and a half hours doing this between the testing and all. I couldn't wait to bring it to a dealer, I was freezing my ass off with no heat! lol

If you want some more info on how I did it and stuff, my AIM sn is MafiaBoss37

[theFREAKnasty82]

sounds like the HVAC unit has gone bad on that car; an easy way to fix it is to go to a local junkyard and replace for little less than nothing.

[randy78]

This tip is specifically directed towards Stratus owners, however, the procedures may well work for other Mopars. It's getting colder out and now time for the defroster. You get in, start the engine, turn up the heat control, and adjust the fan speed to medium and to your surprise...no air is coming from the defroster vents. Before you call the service department or start tearing apart the dash, the likely culprit is the blower motor resistor, located under the passenger side dash. This resistor allows the fan motor to operate at multi-speeds. When this goes out you'll have two fan settings, No fan or high. To access it, remove the two plastic push pins holding the plastic panel and carefully remove that panel. You will then find two wiring harnesses attached to a connector. This connector is held in by two hex head sheet metal screws. Use an 8mm nut driver or socket to remove these and out comes a plastic connector with a birdcage and wire resistors affixed to it. Likely, the "thermal fuse" has blown due to the heat generated by the wire resistors. Auto manufacturers have located this in the plenum as the moving air helps to dissipate the heat generated by the resistors.

You can now go to your Mopar parts department (I'm told auto parts stores don't sell them), and get a new one for $20.00 or less. There apparently is some debate as to whether Mopar has problems with this design and the number of failures, but I can personally attest that I've replaced 3 factory units within a few months. I'm told the downfall is using the blower on the lower speeds as these resistors generate the most resistance, thus equating to the most heat, thus failure of the thermal fuse.

I have found that by going to Radio Shack and purchasing their thermal fuse # 270-1320, a 144 degree C, $1.49 part, I can replace the faulty one. One must carefully bend the 4 tabs holding the metal birdcage, removing this, carefully bending the wire resistor to access the faulty fuse, clip the leads, and either pull out the crimped remaining leads or with a small drill, drill them out. I elected to drill them out and positioned the new fuse, crimped the leads, and then for extra support / connection, soldered the two leads to the base. As a warning note, thermal fuses, by design, are heat sensitive, so use a heat sink between the fuse and where you solder. To forego this will ruin the fuse. You can use a commercial heat sink or a pair of self closing needlenose pliers.
From what I can tell the "stock" fuse is a Microtemp SRFBWC Y9E01 TF 110C. I believe this is a 110 degree C fuse. Attempt to position the new fuse as close as possible to the old location, reinstall the birdcage, making certain the wire resistors are realigned AND not touching anything!

Reinstall the connector, wiring harnesses, panels, and pins. Turn it on and enjoy the heat.
Note: This procedure has worked well for me, but use at your own risk.

[moparman91]

hey i have a 01 stratus coupe and the ac works fine and sumtimes it gets warm it be nice to have heat lolol