2011 jeep grand cherokee dual climate controls not working after changing out blend door actuators

Asked by DHuggins Dec 26, 2014 at 10:34 PM about the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I had to replace the blend door actuators that stripped a gear . First was the drivers side
and after replacing it the temp controls would not send voltage to the actuator. Then
months later same issue with passenger side. Replaced actuator and same issue raise
and lower temp setting on dual controls and no movement with acutator.I can make the
actuators work by putting voltage on them from alternate source . I am wondering if there
is some type of overrun shutdown that stops the unit from working and maybe this has to
be reset to get unit to work or is this what happens when the unit breaks?

10 Answers

270

Tell me more, I have the same problem. Clicking or broken door shaft. Can I disable one door or one actuator?

23 people found this helpful.
270

Tell me more, I have the same problem. Clicking or broken door shaft. Can I disable one door or one actuator?

4 people found this helpful.
590

How did u gain access to the air blend doors? I have a 2011 jeep gc 47k driver side blows hot air passenger side works good. Can I access the air blend doors from the glove box?

59 people found this helpful.
140

Factory service manual says you must go to dealer and have actuator activated with "factory DRB scan tool". I have same problem. They have us "over a barrel" again in eliminating us from completing a repair. We can replace the broken part but not make it work without "dealership involvement and payment"!!!!

14 people found this helpful.
250

Okay, sounds like we have to get the dealer involved but what did you do to change the parts, where did you get them and approximate cost. It would be good to compare to having the dealer do the whole job but guessing you will still save a lot by doing some of the work you self and having dealer do the programming piece. On a side not I'm pretty upset with Jeep right now. I had this same issue on the same model Jeep that is 12 years older and it was super common back then too. I'm almost feel like it's meant to happen to make money in the shop because the prices to repair are crazy.

12 people found this helpful.
270

I have issues with my AC on my 2011 Cherokee.. hot air on both sides also a clicking noice coming from below the AC dials.. Anyone know what's going on??

27 people found this helpful.
250

I ended up fixing this myself for 75 bucks with parts and a too. I address 2 parts that are common culprits and explain hiwnI re calubrate it. Was curious if this happend to amyone else after a dealer service (they did a recall on I think a battery cable or something) https://youtu.be/rWENPq31cEQ

13 people found this helpful.
160

You shouldn't need dealer,,,disconnect neg battery cable for 5 min...then reconnect..it will recycle computer and you should be fine !

16 people found this helpful.
405

Use the notes below at your own risk! I am NOT a mechanic but this is what worked for me. There are 2 blend doors (driver &pass side) in a 11' JGrandCrapcan. I've replaced DVR side 3x & PSx2 plus today's adventure. In my experience you have 3 possible fail points. 1) internal actuator gear strips and cracks. This is the gear inside the actuator housing. Solution, buy new Blend door actuator (rockauto $30ish) Actuator-004-FBA see pic. 2) Next likely fail point is The external halfmoon gear, driven by the actuator output shaft, is cracked at one of the weak end "hoops". See pic of gear w part#. 3)Less likely but it happens is the secondary external gear, driven by the actuator gear, has cracked as well or stripped. (I have not had to replace that yet, fail is usually#1 or #2) I'm writing this after I just had the passenger side apart again and this time the internal door was simply jammed open (I could feel it and had to force it open by hand turning the blend door gear) so the gear/actuator wasn't strong enuff to move it. No broken parts. Just more bloody knuckles and time wasted. NOW..PRIOR to making any repairs, unhook both +- lines from the battery. No, don't skip this part! It's gonna pay off later when u are done and need to recalibrate the system. Batt post connect is 10mm socket btw. Sorry, another note about assembly. Most times you can reinsert both gears and the Actuator if they are not too far out of "clock" of each other. If u find it won't go together easily, and you are handy, u can use jumper wires off a 12v battery to spin the actuator to TDC before you install it. This will help, as the natural position of the blend door gear is to hang str8 down. I hope this helps. There is a great video by Pat Medina on YouTube. If u search "2011 Jeep no AC". It Should bring you to his video. He gives part #'s and details. You don't want to even consider doing any of this until you purchase the 1/4 micro ratchet w the torx bit. Even then I had to grind off a bit of the length from the torx bit to do the drivers side. Neiko tools part #03044a. I'll try to add a pic. Last, calibration: . Before you ever started this process you should set climate control on the dash to Sync and AUTO then shut off the climate control entirely. Off Button Disconnected the battery. So, now you've made your repairs. Reconnect the battery. Start the car, let the dash lights cycle thru then turn on your climate control. If it isn't already in AUTO where u left I when you shut it off, set it to AUTO. For the next 20 min or so let car idle, you'll hear the system cycle the fan and blowers off and on as it tries to line up the 2 blend door motors. If after this process everything works as it should, you are lucky, your done. If it still seems to be "off" a bit. Follow the calibration process again. Set controls to Auto. Disconnect the battery for 20-30 min or pull the fuse for the climate control to dissipate any residual charge in the system. Then reconnect the battery and start the car, idle with climate control in AUTO and let it do it's thing. I've never had to cycle it more than 2-3 times. I am NOT a mechanic! Take the above advice and use at your own risk.

16 people found this helpful.
90

I have an issue with my driver side temp not working. actuator motor and both gears are fine but what I did notice with the motor out and plugged in, when you adjust the temp for driver side only, the actuator motor just keeps rotating in one direction or the other so if that was actually back where it was supposed to be, it would jam the blend door to one extreme or the other and eventually break the gears or burn out the motor. could it be that I just need a new control panel? 2011 grand cherokee laredo

9 people found this helpful.

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