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Air Conditioning, Blend Door?

57K views 22 replies 15 participants last post by  LuvMyCommander 
#1 ·
I just recently replaced my blower motor on my Jeep. I have a 2006 XK 4.7 Commander. For some time now, the air seems to blow only cold when driving fast, like on the interstate. At traffic lights or driving at slower speeds, the air is coming out warm. When it does blow cold, it is only on the drivers side. A guy at Big 10 told me that this was a problem with the blend door. I have been researching and found a way to fix that myself by going in behind the glove box. Just wondering if anyone could tell me if this blend door problem is also the reason why it is cold when driving fast, but warm when driving slow or stopped. Also, what is a good site to order a blend door for a Commander? Cant seem to find one. Thanks very much
 
#2 ·
Get your freon checked to make sure your system is charged.
I had a similar problem,i.e., warm air out of the passenger side, and thought it was the blend door. Got it charged and everything was okay.

To check that it wasn't the blend door, i did the following,
1) remove you glovebox
2)turn the car on
3)while looking at the left inside part in where the glovebox was, turn the ac from cold to hot or vice versa, you should see one of the white circle things turning. If you dont see one turn, then your blend door motor is bad.
4)If you see one move, you can actually cut into the plastic with a razor blade couple inches above it, with a hole large enough to stick your finger through to feel if your blend door moves when you turn the knob from cold to hot and vice versa. When you are done make sure to cover the whole up.
5) If you dont feel the blend door moving then it is bad.

Hope this helps.
 
#3 ·
A guy at Big 10 told me that this was a problem with the blend door.
I think what you'll find is some people that will mistake the blend door problems from the 99-04 Grand Cherokees with other similar sounding problems on other Jeep vehicles, but the reality is that the blend door issue is pretty rare on WK's and XK's.

So in other words your problem probably isn't blend doors, and as I explained in another post it's more likely that your A/C system has a low charge.
 
#5 ·
The reason you are struggling to find them is because nobody needs to replace them, because they don't break, so nobody sells them.

Having said that, if you insist on replacing the parts you can call up a Jeep dealer and have them find the part numbers for you, then either order them from the dealership, or use the part numbers to search for a vendor online.
 
#6 ·
jroberts5483, I didn't mean to be confusing in my post. The only reason I checked the blend door was because my service manager at my dealership was going to have me bring it in and pay a ridiculous amount of money to have it checked out. I took it to a local mechanic, and within an hour they found a huge freon leak, that they commented was pretty easy to find.

Anybody know a good jeep service department in Maryland?
 
#7 ·
I'm not sure I'd recommend cutting a hole in your HVAC box, you could just remove the blend door motor and move the door by hand, you can feel it hitting both stops and can pretty much tell if it's working correctly that way. If you just watch the motor it would be possible that the shaft for the door is broken which would allow the motor to move but the door would not, of course the motor would spin around in a complete circle so that would be a giveaway, but if it makes you feel better you can do what I suggested.

But again I don't know that I'd ever heard of anyone having a blend door problem, every single case I've seen of differing driver/passenger side temps was caused by low refrigerant charge.
 
#8 ·
Big Fix

I have an 06 Commander and I was having the issue where my drivers side was cold and the passenger side was hot air. I dropped it off with my mechanic this morning and they said that it was the Blend door which needs to be replaced and also the motor and a bunch of other things. He's a pretty honest guy and he stated that it was probably going to be around $800 - $900 for the fix.

How is there not a recall about this issue. Or is there? Has anyone spoken to their jeep dealer about this? I did awhile back and they said there was nothing on record for it.....Highway robbery...
 
#10 · (Edited)
I guess I'm in the minority...

My blower stopped working last week in my 06'. Took it in to the dealership and they said the resistor failed so I have to replace the resistor and the motor. The tech also found that my blender door was broken. They want 522.00 for the motor and resistor replacement or 1532.00 for all three to be fixed.

I'm searching for a "How to replace these things yourself thread". Any help would be greatly appreciated?
 
#11 ·
Sounds like the same thing I have with my '06 XK.

When changing the temp for passenger side, I hear a few clicks like somethings is trying to turn or actuate something behind the front dash area. The passenger side no longer gets warm. Only the driver side changes temp.

I hope there's a cheaper fix than what was mentioned. This vehicle is becoming a money pit. Leaky sunroof, failed water pump, broken window regulator... What's next. It's at 72k miles.
 
#12 ·
What if this is a new hot topic for 2006's I have same problem. A lot of noise going on behind the dash I never heard before. Passenger side doesn't get cold. Maybe only few on forum report it as a problem because 1 we need to use our AC and 2 someone needs to be in the passenger seat to let us know its not working.
 
#13 ·
Update ... Blend Door servo coupler broken.

So I had some time to tinker a bit with the problem I described in an earlier post. Basically passenger side vents no longer blew hot air. When I move the pass. side temp control... all I hear are clicking noises coming from the lower dash area.

I removed the glove box and spotted the servo (made by Valeo) that opens and closes the heater blend door. I unmounted the servo and found the black coupler broken (connects the servo to the blend door shaft). I hope the coupler is sold separately. It would suck to have to buy the servo assembly (which seems to work fine) just to get the coupler.

Here are some pics:

The servo module:


The blend door assembly. Note white plastic nub where coupler connects to:


Other side of servo module where coupler connects to:


Broken coupler:

 
#14 ·
UPDATE: Dealer is an ass.

Went to the local Jeep dealer and inquired about getting a replacement coupler. I was told that they no longer sell the individual part and that I must get the whole blend door housing.... $250.

Really? Is there another parts supplier that can supply the $10 coupler?
 
#16 ·
FNG here :) -
My '06 recently developed a serious rattle inside the dash that seems to be related to the A/C cycling on/off. since is it only November, A/C is still useful here in AZ. One tech (not at the stealership) thought it sounded like a blend door issue. Does that fit anybody else's experience?

And is the blend door really that easy to access through the glove box? Tech's estimate for repair had about 6-8 hours labor for pulling the dash :icon_confused:
 
#18 ·
I can't believe they use plastic sprockets and expect the actuators to NOT break the sprockets. I have PM'ed Sly to see if he knows the part # and or the dealer phone number to call and see if they'll sell the housing for $35 like Sly said it cost. My other thought is seeing of a company could make one from metal and we'd NEVER have to worry about the sprocket breaking again!!
 
#19 ·
I can't believe they use plastic sprockets and expect the actuators to NOT break the sprockets. I have PM'ed Sly to see if he knows the part # and or the dealer phone number to call and see if they'll sell the housing for $35 like Sly said it cost. My other thought is seeing of a company could make one from metal and we'd NEVER have to worry about the sprocket breaking again!!
Hopefully there is an entrepreneur out there that will do so. I had to repair my sunroof on my Neon R/T twice, its cheapo sunroof compared to the Commander's. There is litterally a plastic block that ties all the cables and tracks together, that kept breaking. Yep, the same shocking case as the air blend doors, why would they make such a thing like this out of plastic? Luckily, the 2nd time around, an entrepreneur did make and offer a metal replacement. It cost a lot more, but worth it, because the sunroof hasn't had a problem since.
 
#23 ·
I believe the blend door uses the same actuator as the recirc door. If this is true then this part might help you, but do a little more research to confirm. This might help you get started: part 68072190aa.
 
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