lemdog

i had this issue, you may have seen me post recently in other threads. i fixed it last night. i read about tapping it to "wake it up". it was the only one not moving and i had AC driver side, heat on passenger side. as soon as i started tapping it with butt-end of a long screw-driver, it woke up and started moving again. now everything works normal. not sure how long it will last but if it can last all summer, i will be happy enough. then find time later to replace it by winter.

for mine, i have dual zone climate. i have researched and there is one on the right side of airbox behind glove box that does the recirculate. mine was clicking and i replaced it and all is well. there are 2 more just to the left of the air box. 1 is for dash/floor blending, and other is AC/heat blending. my AC/heat blending wasn't moving, so i watched a video about replacing it, then read the comments and a LOT of people solved their problem by just tapping the further back motor with a screw driver to "wake it up" to get it moving again. sure enough i tried it last night and mine woke up and now works!!

Armando G.... yes it completely stopped. (the clicking) And as mentioned, you will still hear things quietly moving around once you shut the car off. make sure if you do replace it yourself, the 2 screws are tight, and that the little actuator motor cannot be moved around by hand. now i have another one to replace, the heat/AC blend for the passenger side. i have full AC on driver side, while passenger blows hot. looks like its the same style of motor, just harder to get at from the looks of things behind glove box.

**Update** i replaced the one i replaced. (haha). it actually broke the plastic gear so i popped in a new one last night and made sure everything was tight. but that didnt solve my passenger hot air blowing while the AC was on. i did look further up under the dash and saw TWO more actuators (passenger side) and one was working that shifts the airflow to the dash/floor, but the other, that seems to shift hot to cold was NOT moving. it appears to be the exact same actuator motor and somewhat ok to get at to replace. 2 screws and a clip in plug. i will order another motor and replace when i can before the sickly hot humid Canadian summer hits.

Hi Andrea A, yes its the actuator motor. i had same issue and replaced it myself. cost about $35.00 CAD on amazon. here is the link to my post about it:

Well i am back to my older post. So a year ago i replaced the actuator motor on passenger side. All was fine as you can see in my last post of Feb23.2018. I noticed yesterday that i had my temp down to LO on both driver and passenger side (dash vents). I noticed that the driver side what blowing cool outside air, but the passenger side was blowing hot air. I also tested the AC. Cold on driver side, hot on passenger side. So my guess is the blend door actuator is acting up again possibly? It was a super pain in the butt job to get up in there to change it, so i am not sure if something has come loose or faulty again. guess I should look into the one i replaced and see what is going on? (feel free to point out the obvious.) But if its something else, please chime in. thanks!

yeah, that is what my best guess was, and thats typically how i explain it to people when they ask. was just curious, thanks for the reply.

Hi all, just out of curiosity, for the AWD version, do we actually know how much power (if any) is distributed to the rear under normal driving conditions? or does power get sent to the rear during certain scenarios.... like front wheel spin detected in snow n' mud...etc. i know for sure it kicks in while driving in snow, but as soon as the computer detect the vehicle is sliding, it kicks in the "no-fun bubble-wrap" features to keep you stabilized. (no fun....haha) Anyways, was just curious if anyone knows.

ok thanks! yes i will hunt down the video(s) for sure. again i am always willing to do my own maintenance to save on $. i was trying to find similar engine layouts like the more recent 3.6L caravans. i went to go look at the belt diagram under the hood but it wasn't there for some reason. just to get a visualization of whats going on down in there and how it all snakes around. yup, LOTS of salty roads up here in winter. i get my car under-sprayed each fall every year. not too expensive yearly, but worth it in the long run. if i get anywhere with the belt or tensioner, i will post back to update for the benefit of others.

thanks for the reply, yes after i posted i realized i didnt mention mileage. i should have. about 150,000km give or take a couple thousand. but around there. (convert to miles for U.S. reading) i was just surprised that as soon as i added the dressing and the dressing dried it immediately became constant. i did give it a good coating and it did go quiet, until it dried. (same with the water test) no humming, whirring, screeching like you would get on an old fan belt or anything that really sounds like pulley bearings. definitely a chirping sound like rubbing or catching (chirpity-chirpity-chirpity-chirpity! say that fast and for a while, thats the sound i hear. haha!!) it is annoying to hear especially in city driving. i am an attraction with the noise for sure! i will take a look at some more you toob videos to see what it takes to replace our belt + tensioner. i couldnt find a heck of a lot the other day on my initial search.

Hello all, 2011 RT here. So about back in August, during morning warm up driving, maybe about 10min or less, i would get a continuous belt chirp and as soon as things warmed up, it was gone for rest of the day. Its not a squeel or anything, just a minor chirping as things are rotating. I figured once things warmed up more, it would be fine. BUT, being the tinkering person I am, i knew i had a can of belt dressing in the garage, so last week i decided to give the belt a spray down to see if it got rid of the not-really-that-annoying chirping. (i do a LOT of my own maintenance on my vehicles to save $$$) well, it made it WORSE and now it is constant and louder through continuous driving ALL day long. the only time it goes quiet is when i come to a complete stop and idle below 1000rpm after quite some time of being warm. But as soon as you breath on the gas pedal, it starts and gets louder the higher you rev. i should have just left it alone, but too late now. I am wondering, could simple belt dressing cause it to get worse? Is it rubbing? Does the belt require replacing? is there a pully gone or tension needs adjusting? when i do a simple test of spraying a bit of water on the spinning belt, the noise completely goes away....... until the water dries up and it comes back. It appears that only when moisture is on the belt/pullies, the noise goes away, but when it dries (even the belt dressing?) it all comes back. its just annoying driving around with this loud "wiggity-wiggity-wiggity" style of chirp. i work hard to keep my DJ running long, smooth and quiet as she is getting old in the mileage. I take care of my vehicles and make them last as long as they can. any input or thoughts or suggestions ? if its a belt replacement, how "fun" is that to do on this engine and its lovely tight compartment? thanks!

sorry this is a few weeks behind, but thought i would add a comment: my 2011 3.6L R/T had a BRUTAL cold start up whine. i knew it was the power steering from past vehicle experience and noises. i had NEVER heard of a noise that loud before on a cold start. im talking -20 up here in Ontario, Canada so we get COLD mornings in jan-feb. also when driving, if i did a left turn at speed, it would do a whine as well. i posted about it on this forum about a year ago. so as a test, i looked at my power steering fluid level and it was below what it should be, so i added some fluid and my noises (volume in winter) and left turn (completely gone) were reduced significantly.

So i am following up on my post, I spoke to my neighbor (mechanic for Dodge/Chrysler) and he suggested i go after the calipers and change them out. We had a long discussion about it all and his experience in almost all of these cases have been calipers over anything else. So i picked up some calipers and changed them Sunday night and bled the brakes. All seemed well cept i still had some vibrations and heat still producing from front. Hotter than what should be expected. I then decided to replace rotors as i am sure they were pretty much ruined and about a year old. (they were pretty much CRAP especially on the inner side) Yesterday I replaced front rotors, ensured the slide pin bolts were bolted (keeping inner nut stable) and could move the caliper to-and-fro on the glide pins, and also, managed to safely get a screw driver into the clip the flex-hose runs through and opened it slightly just to avoid any pinching. once all had been done and after a few good drives between yesterday and today......... no vibrations, no heat, seems to be normal operating temperatures. BUT i do want to add, that since i did change many things, its hard to tell exactly WHICH one fixed the issue. I can say that i have experienced the vibrations before under braking and it had to do with how you tighten the slide pin bolts. you NEED to make sure you hold the inner nut with a 15mm wrench while you tighten the pin bolt and ensure you can move/slide caliper to and fro. I say this because I experienced this before on our 2010 caravan (same brake design) and fiddled with the pin bolts and inner nut and it did solve the odd vibration issue. i believe that if the slide bolts/caliper bolts are NOT properly tightened, then it will be incorrectly mounted causing the caliper/pad to be against the rotor at all times, causing wear, heat and vibrations once you hit the pedal. next..... two rear wheel bearings and a set of 4 new tyres. (when $ permits).

@2late4u yup, definitely drive in some harsh salty winters thats for sure!! Rust proof my car every fall. i inspected the rubber lines last night and there is a metal clip the hose runs through that is bolted to ......something, i forget what and cannot picture it but the clip does look like it "Could" cause a pinch of some type. was tempted to see if i could open that clip a bit to relieve any squeezing, but i didn't touch. the hose route is the least expensive and i have priced it out already. funny enough, i just found out my new-ish neighbor is a mechanic......... for Chrysler!!!!!! Bro, why didnt i know this a year ago when they moved in!?? haha! i still plan to catch him and have a chat to get his thoughts. thanks for your feed back. i will post back later as i like to update to give others information. i am not a one post wonder and find it annoying!!

If the general response is "go after the brake hose lines next" please feel free to scorn me for posting something that already has many posts on here. I don't mind. Haha! I will go after that next. (ps.... there is no pulling to one side while braking either!)