VortecJeep
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- Joined
- Aug 24, 2005
- Location
- Concord, NC
Thought I'd share my experience of replacing blend doors on my WJ without removing the entire dash. The tech manuals say you have remove the entire dash to replace the blend doors; you do unless you are willing to make a simple cut with the Dremel tool.
Here's what was going on with my WJ A/C: Sometimes it would be cold, sometimes it would be hot, sometimes driver side was cold but passenger side was hot. Refrigerant pressure was within spec. All this was indicative of a blend door failure. The Grand Cherokees have two blend doors. Even ones like mine that do NOT have dual climate control, they still have a driver and passenger blend door. Only difference is the doors are attached to each other.
So I removed the glove box and looked at the blend door actuator. As I would change the temperature control, the actuator moved as expected. So I removed the actuator to feel the blend door axleshaft. See pic with actuator removed (I wrote the 'C' and 'H' so I would easily remember position for cold and hot).
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Next I made the first cut with my Dremel. I had to be very careful on the right side, because that cut is very close to the evaporator coil. Note that you don't have to cut across the bottom because there is a tongue-and-groove there, so just cut the sides and top.
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Here you can see how close the evaporator coil is.
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Remember I said there are 2 blend doors? They are separated by a divider in the middle, which has to be cut out too or you can't get the blend doors out. But don't worry, if you don't have dual climate control, you don't need it anyway. Here you can see that middle section cut.
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Next I pulled the blend doors out, which confirmed my theory; the two doors had broken apart from each other. It was a jagged break, so sometimes both doors would catch each other and work properly. Most of the time 1 door would get stuck in a mid position, blending hot air and cold air. Here's a picture comparing the broken, OEM plastic doors and the new metal doors I ordered.
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I installed the new doors as directed by the included instructions. To put the plastic back on the blend door housing, I slid the tongue-and-groove part back together and sealed it up with metal duct tape that was provided with the kit. Then I put the actuator back on. I left the glovebox off for a few days just to make sure it worked. So far, so good! We have cold air again!!
.
While I didn't bother contacting a dealer to get an estimate for this repair, but I've read online estimates of over a grand! This repair cost me $130 and took me about 2 hours. I would have done it much quicker, but the neighbor came over and we stood around BS'ing for awhile.
Here's what was going on with my WJ A/C: Sometimes it would be cold, sometimes it would be hot, sometimes driver side was cold but passenger side was hot. Refrigerant pressure was within spec. All this was indicative of a blend door failure. The Grand Cherokees have two blend doors. Even ones like mine that do NOT have dual climate control, they still have a driver and passenger blend door. Only difference is the doors are attached to each other.
So I removed the glove box and looked at the blend door actuator. As I would change the temperature control, the actuator moved as expected. So I removed the actuator to feel the blend door axleshaft. See pic with actuator removed (I wrote the 'C' and 'H' so I would easily remember position for cold and hot).
.
Next I made the first cut with my Dremel. I had to be very careful on the right side, because that cut is very close to the evaporator coil. Note that you don't have to cut across the bottom because there is a tongue-and-groove there, so just cut the sides and top.
.
Here you can see how close the evaporator coil is.
.
Remember I said there are 2 blend doors? They are separated by a divider in the middle, which has to be cut out too or you can't get the blend doors out. But don't worry, if you don't have dual climate control, you don't need it anyway. Here you can see that middle section cut.
.
Next I pulled the blend doors out, which confirmed my theory; the two doors had broken apart from each other. It was a jagged break, so sometimes both doors would catch each other and work properly. Most of the time 1 door would get stuck in a mid position, blending hot air and cold air. Here's a picture comparing the broken, OEM plastic doors and the new metal doors I ordered.
.
I installed the new doors as directed by the included instructions. To put the plastic back on the blend door housing, I slid the tongue-and-groove part back together and sealed it up with metal duct tape that was provided with the kit. Then I put the actuator back on. I left the glovebox off for a few days just to make sure it worked. So far, so good! We have cold air again!!
.
While I didn't bother contacting a dealer to get an estimate for this repair, but I've read online estimates of over a grand! This repair cost me $130 and took me about 2 hours. I would have done it much quicker, but the neighbor came over and we stood around BS'ing for awhile.
