QuestionI own a 1995 Chrysler Concord 3.5 liter.
I've had many problems with the automatic climate control and have spent $900 attempting to remedy this (front panel, heater core, A/C fill, drain tube removal...)
Now, with a new $400 control panel (the one inside car with all the buttons) I still find my car to do whatever it chooses with heat. Mostly, the air will steadily continue to become hotter until I "reset" temp by maxing-out temp on hot and slowly bringing it back down to cold. It appears to do this with vent or A/C settings.
I oft wonder if the unit thermometer is broken or if the valves that control dispersion/amount of hot air somehow don't open/close properly.
NOTE: driver-side air is considerably hotter than passenger?
AnswerHello Mr. Weber,
On your ATC problems, let me suggest a couple of ideas for getting to the bottom of this. First, there is built-in to the control panel a self-diagnostic capability to report to you what sorts of problems it has detected for itself and thus give you some direction on how to fix it. The procedure is described at the allpar.com website
http://www.allpar.com/fix/codes-climate.html
So may I suggest that you go there, read the procedure for doing the self-diagnostic readout and then come back to me with any further questions that you may have. My main limitation is that I don't have the shop manual that is more up to date about this unit than the 1989 manual which I do have. I can tell from the fact the the allpar discussion speaks of a different series of trouble codes that I am not totally up to speed. I think I know something from the '89 manual reading I have done, so maybe by your doing the readout and letting me know what you learned we can put our heads together and solve this.
The other suggestion is that you check the vacuum line that comes from the engine compartment thru the firewall and connects to the power-vacuum module on the heater/AC unit in the cabin. The failure to correctly direct the air as requested is usually due to a weak or non-existent vacuum
supply which provides the power to move the internal door direction doors. That line is a thin plastic tube that branches off of the big vacuum hose that runs from the engine's intake manifold to the power brake canister that is in the engine compartment at the firewall (just in front of the driver's seating position). So look for that line and notice that it runs toward the center of the car and then passes into the firewall. On the cabin side you will find it again if you look to the right side of the heater/AC unit near the floor coming with a harness that includes some electrical lines. So examine that vacuum line at the hose in the engine compartment and along the way to the firewall to make sure that it is connected firmly and not cracked and similarly inspect it as much as you can find of it in the cabin where you may see it has a muchroom shaped check valve in the line and an attachment to the unit. So that would give you several places to check for leaks on that side of the firewall. If you find such a leak and repair it that will help get the air output balanced as per your instructions to panel.
So I'll await your results from doing the readout.
Roland
