The Chrysler Minivan Fan Club Forums banner

2001 Grand Caravan blower resistor and cabin filter

23K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  paart 
#1 ·
Does anyone have a schematic or picture of where my cabin filter and my heater blower resistor are located?

My blower resistor has went out twice in 18
months and the last time the service shop replaced it. This time I want to do it myself. I have read this forum, and the Chilton manual(bad pictures) and it states that the heater blower in 2001 and later models is in the center of the dash behind the cosmetic panels on the dash, but I have read in this forum with other owners of vans later than 2001 that the blower and cabin filter is located behind the glove box...which is it?

You can email me the pictures or schematics to biking4lifemike@yahoo.com

Thanks, Mike
 
#3 ·
After you get the glove box open you will see a rectangle "box" mounted with 2 screws to the duct behind the glovebox with 3 or 4 wires running into it..That is the resistor...The filter goes into the same duct from the bottom..There is a large plastic "keeper" you will have to remove and after that the filter will slide out the bottom...

Hope that helps..
 
#5 ·
I believe there are different versions of the blower resistor depending on if you have climate control. Of course I have climate control and the resistor was $75 at the dealer - a lot of electronics on it.

In terms of the cabin filter, I found out something interesting when I changed my resistor. My wife's van has the 3 zone climate control. There is a pipe that runs along side the cabin filter. You only see this if you remove the resistor. If you have the multi zone heating, and your cabin filter does not want to seem to go in, take out the resistor and you will see the hold up (the extra heating pipes).
 
#6 ·
Just a thank you to all who had solutions to the T&C blower fan problems. The blower resistor was the problem and 10 minutes after I picked up my replacement part it was fixed. It does give you a good feeling to fix one yourself. I really appreciate the help. Rick
 
#8 · (Edited)
This is my first visit, and thank you for all of the good information. My 2001Voyager also has a bad resistor pack. Thanks to your posts, I found resistor pack quickly behind the glove box. You guys did all the hard work for me. I greatly appreciate it.

Now, the long version.....
OK, I'll admit it, I'm a tightwad. I dug a little deeper wanting to know what went bad with my resistor pack. Before using your posts and a schematic I found online, I was thinking about replacing the blower fan switch.

With the resistor pack out, I was surprised to see the resistor pack had four resistors that were large coils of wire. Something peculiar caught my eye, there was one more component inside that didn't appear to be a resistor (omitted from the schematic). I remove the large heat shield from the resistor pack to expose the internal components. I ran some quick continuity checks with my ohmmeter. All of the resistors checked out fine. I check from the spade lugs on the pack and also at the end of the resistor leads. There appeared to be some minor corrosion internally where the resistors are attached internally.

Centered between the four resistors was an interesting component that looked like a diode. Running a continuity check on that component I discovered it was 'OPEN'. I removed this component I got out my magnifying glass. The markings on this component are as follows.

Microtemp
KKKAJE
G4A15
128C ( 128 Celcius, 262 Fahrenheit....that's hot)

This component is a thermal fuse made by a company call Thermodisc.
http://www.thermodisc.com/productdet...p?ProductID=34
Here is a data sheet link.
http://www.thermodisc.com/loadMedia....&ReturnPage=14

I was not able to find this readily available. So, I went to Digi-Key and I'm 'trying' a similar component. Another name for this component is a TCO, or Thermal Cut Out.

This part costs me 98 cents, so I ordered three. UPS shipping is ~$6.61.
( Please, I'm not an expert, just cheap ). Another name for this component is a TCO, or Thermal Cut Out.

Digikey part number: 317-1133-ND
Description: THERMAL CUTOUT 128C 10A AXIAL
Unit Price: 0.98000


Troubleshooting: I've learned a few more things about the resistor pack. The schematic I worked from was a bit misleading, it appeared that the four resistors were in parallel, this is not correct. Why does the fan only work on HIGH when the resistor pack goes bad? The thermal fuse is the only path for current entering the pack. Why does your fan work on HIGH only? The pack is wired to bypass the thermal fuse and resistor pack completely.

How does it work when the pack is good? Let's start on the HIGH setting. The resistor pack is bypassed and the blower gets 12V. When you switch it to the next lower setting, one resistor is added to the path of electricity going to the blower, slowing it down. Each time you select the next lower setting, an additional resistor is added to the circuit. At the lowest setting, all four resistors are in the circuit ( the lowest setting ).

My guess is the lowest fan setting will generate the most heat ( all four resistors are in the circuit ) Why did the thermal fuse blow? I will have start with a just component failure. Time will tell.

If you'd like a picture of the resistor pack with the thermal fuse, let me know. I'll email it to you.
 

Attachments

#11 ·
This can happen to the HVAC systems that use an electronic blower control module, rather than a resistor. Excessive current drawn by a bad motor will cause the module to short internally, providing the motor with full voltage (high speed) all the time, including having the system OFF. This just hapend to me. I ordered a "4 Seasons" replacement module, which appears to have a nice feature. It seems to have an internal current limiter that "turns off" the power if the current draw is excessive, protecting the module. This is just my theory, at this point, but after installing the new module, I've found that the blower will operate on "HIGH" continually, when the module is effectively bypassed, but shut off after a few seconds on a lower setting. Again the only scenario that makes sense is that the motor is drawing too much current, and that the module is "out of the circuit" on the highest setting, but has a current limiter that will disable the module (protecting it from burnout) at lower settings. I've just ordered a new blower assembly, and look forward to the joy of installing it!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top