Chrysler Repair: 2003 Chrysler Town and Country 3.8 20300 miles, chrysler town and country, wire coils

Question
We recently bought a TC and the heater in the front suddenly stopped working, you cna hear the vents open and lcose, we have checked several of the fuses, the relay and the like, we tried to assess wires and conections behind the glove box, we checked the filter and changed it, the service light came on at 20000, but the fan worked then, we get no defrost AC or heat, a very gently very quiet flow of air comes out on any setting but you really have to focus to hear or feel it, no smells...we disconnected teh battery and did the key thing and got no error codes...any ideas?

Answer
Hi Cathleen,
It sounds like the blower motor is not working at all or only on a single speed. If you are certain that you found and verified that the fuse (probably a 30 amp size) for the blower motor is not blown, then another possibility is that the 'resistor block' which is the electrical component that allows the fan to operate at several different speeds is defective. Let me however say that I don't have up-to-date manuals or experience with vehicles newer than 2000 but many design features remain the same. If this is the case, here is where to look for the resistor block: open the hood and look on the extreme right side of the fire wall (passenger side) near the upper edge where you may see a modest size rectangular electrical component which is held in place by 2 screws. It is installed in a rectangular hole in the fire wall and it has components on both sides of it. It will have a 5 sided electrical plug, and on the other side of it there will be several bare coils of wire. The coils will be placed so as to be in the air path of the fresh air intake manifold which is also called the plenum which is partially created by the firewall panel. The plenum is usually screened from the outside so that leaves don't enter it, but the air goes in and flows to heater/AC unit inside, and the air flows by the resistor block in order to cool off the wire coils which otherwise get hot when they are in use to adjust the voltage that goes to the blower motor. If the wiring or a coil burns out then the motor may either only run at one speed or not at all. So if you can find this component and examine it you may find that some of the wires are burned out which would dictate that you buy a replacement at the dealer or a junk yard with a T&C which has an identical resistor block. Once you get the fan running then the question will be whether the heated water for the heater function and the refrigerant for the AC are also reaching the unit in the cabin. But without the fan working as it is designed, it will be difficult to sort out the questions. If I misunderstand the current fan function feel free to write back to me.
Roland