[swamprat]

I have located the resistor, but I can not get the tab to release so I can remove the old resistor. Does anyone know a trick to get this thing to release? When I push the tab and pull nothing happens.

 

[kyser_soze]

2004 Dakota, on my 4th resisitor, 3rd wiring harness, 2nd blower motor and I don't think I am any closer to fixing the problem?! Going to try removing the harness and wiring direct to the resisitor... In Canada - Bluestreak part #'s - Resistor RU380 about 15$, Wiring Harness S1768 about $40 or Pico - Wiring Harness, part # 5488-91 about $20. Good luck...

 

[04clone]

Why can i not find the resistor block in my 00? Some one help me pls!!

 

[Hutch]

resistor modification for direct soldering

That's great info for the thread, thanks for posting. I never thought to compare the resistance readings between old and new. In retrospect I should have put that in the original post.

On another note, for all those shocked at the price of a new harness (I forget exactly what my dealer quoted me, but I remember thinking, 'are you fucking kidding me?') don't rule out the cheapskate method I chose. After my second resistor overheated and destroyed the plug, I cut the factory plug off, stripped the wires, and soldered the fuckers direct to the new resistor. It's not too hard if you have basic soldering skills and it's held up for quite a while now (8 months or so). There's still going to be a lot of heat generated, maybe enough to melt the solder. I'll keep you all posted as to how this repair holds up.

Did you cut back the plastic part on the resistor that fits into the harness in order to get to the resister tabs more easily? I'm going to try this and cover the connections with heat shrink to keep the heat down.

 

[Silver&Blue4x4]

Did you cut back the plastic part on the resistor that fits into the harness in order to get to the resister tabs more easily?

Yes, then soldered all the connections and used shrink tubing to cover it up. It's lasted about a year and a half now.

 

[WhiteShaman]

Does anyone know why the pigtail kit comes with so many wires?
Also does any one know if you need to solder the splices together before adding shrink tubing?

Thanks in advanced....James

 

[RACoLL54]

I had extra wires as well. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I had my wires soldered before I used the shrink tubing. Haven't had a problem with it since it was done.

 

[WhiteShaman]

Thanks RAC.........after I posted my question, i noticed someone else talked about all the extra stuff in the kit too. Probably a universal kit of some type or just a way to charge as much as they do for it...lol

 

[C_elliott83]

Got a discount code for the resistor through rock auto?

 

[Tex]

After two years of minimal heat/air in my Dak. I stumbled across this thread a couple days ago. OMG thank you for this thread!!!! I picked up the resistor from Vatozone today for $16.00, lifetime warranty. Got it swapped out and I have heat on all fan settings. Previously it would only work on high, but it would blow similar to a low setting on high if that makes any sense. It took me longer than expected since I was contorted in the floor of my truck. I didnt have a 8mm socket so I used a 5/16" and it worked. I did have to go buy a angle thingy for my socket so I could reach the back bolt.

Thanks Silver&Blue4x4!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sinbin]

Hi All, Great post and I wanted to contribute what I gained from this post.

I just bought a used 2002 Durango SLT+ last month and it had a few issues that needed to be fixed and one of these was I did not have the high speed setting on the front blower motor.

I went to the pull-your-self junk yard and got a a/c control head unit off a 2003 and it had a different part number than my 2002 had but they looked identical. Thinking that the switch was bad on the high setting I bought it for $50.00 came home and put it in and the a/c and rear defroster lights on the control panel would flash on and off for some reason due to wrong part number I assume. However I was able to check the fan speeds with it and it was infact the same problem. High speed did not work again with the new unit installed so I replaced the unit back to the original one and fixed the lights not flashing.

So I pulled the resistor out and could not seperate it from the wire harness without breaking the resistor to do so. As I found the last pin on the resistor was fried and then plug was melted also badly.

So I went to the dealership here in Barrie, Canada and bought the resistor wire harness kit $113 CAD and as mentioned here it came with about 20 wires in it. 5 heat shrink insulators and the black clip needed.

The original part number was 5017124AA which isn't the one I got as it has been replaced with 5017124AC. It is different from the original in that it has a locking clip on the end and also has an insulator rubber gasket to lock the wires in place. I could not find a guide to put it together so I took photos as I went along and will post them here for those who may need the help as I did.

I attached 3 photos and sorry for the quality but the phone didn't take the best pictures but they are good enough for what you will need.

The first photo is the plug still in the truck with the resistor removed and the black wire was the one that was burned badly where it entered the connector and there was no insulation left on the wire where it entered the clip. I cut off the clip about 1 inch from the connector so I could remember the wire gauges / colors for the reasembly.
So now you have a fried clip in your hand and 5 cut off wires in your truck doing nothing. On to the new clip harness.

In the 3rd photo you will see the new clip and it has a small black clip on the end where the wires go into it. You have to remove this clip but don't break it off. If you are looking at the photo you need a very small screw driver i.e. for small electronics and there are 4 clips holding it on. Looking at the photo put your screw driver on the opposite side of were the wires are and on the long flat part 2 per side un pry the clips by pushing the screw driver in on top of the peg holding the clip on and lift upwards gently and you will get one side of then do the same for the other. Once this is done you will see a white rubber gasket with 5 holes in it. Pry this out with your screw driver being careful not to tear it. Once the gasket is out you have 3 pieces of your soon to be assembled clip. As my fellow Canuk wrote here you need to push the 5 new wires into the connector. You need 2 green and 3 purple. THe new wires have silver locking connectors on them. From the (wire side) of the connector insert the metal end of the wire in to the connector and it will click in place and lock. You will notice on the new wires in the kit they have a little barb that sticks down (towards center) of the silver connector. I put these all to the middle of the plug if you know what I mean and not to the outside. If this matters or not I am not sure but it locked for me this way. If it does not lock then try to flip the wire upside down and see if it locks in place. So here is the order.

Pin 1 - Green wire
Pin 2 - Green wire
Pin 3 - Purple wire
Pin 4 - Purple wire
Pin 5 - Purple wire

You should now have a black clip with 5 wires locked in place hanging out of it with the wires in that order.

Now for the rubber gasket. Feed the 5 wires in order onto the spliced end of the new wires you just put in to the clip so that they are not crossed over or you will not be able to put the gasket back into the clip as in the 2nd picture. Once this is done slide the gasket back into the new clip and push it in place. If you can't get it to seat exactly right the black end clip will lock it in when you reinstall it. Now feed the wires through the locking black clip and lock it back onto the rest of the main clip part and you will see in picture 3 what it will look like when its finished.

So now you have an assembled resistor plug harness ready for the install.

Back to the truck now I spliced the 5 wires in the truck harness about 3/4 inch exposing the wires. I spliced the new wires on the new harness the same 3/4 inch. Place your heat shrink tube on the first wire and let it slide to down out of the way. I spread the wires a bit and twisted them together like so. Make sure they can't pull apart (gently pull on the new connection) before you shrink tube it.

=====---- ----=====

(use your imagination here as I didn't take a photo of it.)
Put the shrink tubing over the newly connected wires and heat shrink with heat gun or use a lighter which is what I used. Be carefull not to melt the wires when doing this. Hold the flame about 1 inch below the shrink tube will shrink it without burning the wires. Rotate the wires around to get an even seal. Now that wire is done. Repeat this step for the other 4 wires but don't forget the shrink tubing for each.

Once this is done you should re-install the new Resistor to the truck as shown in the previous posts to the truck. This is easier to do so there are not wire harness in your way trying to screw in those painful 2x 8mm screws back in place! It was infact the hardest part of the whole process. Once the new resistor is in place clip your newly built wire harness on to it and then test your new fan speeds on the truck. They will all work 100% now.

Word of warning though. You must change your blower motor IMHO also which is 99% of the time what the problem is or you will blow the harness and resistor again shortly after if you do not. Then it would be another $140 for a new harness and resistor anyways so spend the $100 bucks and order a new blower motor on ebay which is what I did.

All in all.

Part# 506157AA - Resistor $15.26 CAD From the dealership
Part# 5017124AC - Resistor wire harness kit $116.39 CAD From the dealership

Blower motor which I got on ebay - $85.00 USD delivered to Canada.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Dodge-Dakota-Pickup-01-02-03-AC-A-C-BLOWER-MOTOR-FAN-/130513552644?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A2002%7CMake%3ADodge%7CModel%3ADurango&hash=item1e6336c504

Total repair was about $216.00 CAD.

With those 3 you now have the piece of mind of not having a fire in your truck with your family in it. Good insurance if you ask me. Will it happen again? Probably in about 100,000miles or 160,000kms but you will be a pro at repairing it and you won't have to do it in 3-6 months if you don't change the blower motor also.

Anyways I wanted to contribute my 2 cents and this is a great post hope it helped a little bit.

Tombs

Marvelous!....This explained everything perfectly!...cheers to yourself and everybody else with their ideas and expertise!

I will be doing the resistor, connector and fan...all for approx 150 cdn...brand new too!

 

[alphadog]

Oey Vey these resistors!!! GRRRRR!!! WTF! Ok so about 3 mnths ago blower motor drops out, unplug resistor find the suspect/culprit #2 prong and wire fried, had burnt the black connector and the wire insulation about a 1" up. Replaced resistor $12 dealer, all worked fine after but I didnt like the burnt section so I found the repair kit on amazon like $30 after shipping cut soldered and all new. Lasted about a month lil over started givivng me shit again had to wiggle harness to get blower to kick on would cut in and out simply fucking marvy!!!

So now just yesterday I pull apart begrudgingly to find the same prong burnt in the resistor housing #2 hmm insulation on wire still good tho didnt burn repair kit. So I say well I will pull blower motor and inspect lil dusty not bad said to self hell with it went and got another resistor and new blower motor from oreilly auto (resis.$16 blower $100) Blower is a VDO install fire up and leave resistor out to research a lil new blower dosent seem as strong hmm that single wire (prong #2) gets hotter than hell fast ????? Grabbed my die elec grease packed it full.

Had to leave town this afternoon back to Pipeline job and about a hour of AC use into drive it drops out AGHHHH I lean over feel it that one damn wire hot as hell. Pulled the plug out rt quick its burned three slots melted !!!!
I am going to try to do the direct solder gig but has anyone figured out why this one wire gets so damn hot and cooks?? Others have mentioned the same thing.

 

[adnedarn]

ARGH! I hate that... a whole post made, hit reply and BOOM!

Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

Please push the back button and reload the previous window.

Go back, and it's gone. :rant::rant:



I recently lost my "high" speed so I figured I would change out the resister pack. Upon doing so I found that all my speeds were a step above what they always have been, before low was basically off (barely a breeze) and now high is a step above ever before and before high was like 3 is now.
When I changed the resister pack, I found my wires were not in great shape so I ordered a new wire harness from ebay and it came with a new resister pack. 2 days before these things came in I lost my blower completely but my AC light (and compressor) was on no matter where the speed setting was set. I found that I had no power at the blower which ended up being a bad ignition switch. I replaced that, and cut off the plug for the resistor pack.

My wires and resisitor pack came in and I replaced them yesterday everything is working great and my wires and connector barely have any warmth at all even after running 20-30 mins. I decided it would be neat to gather amp draws of the blower (I was never able to find any) to compare to each other and indicate if we're having problems or not. It would also be neat to get a reading from a "all new" system (harness/plug, resistor pack, and blower) here are the readings I got (truck off, ignition on AC max setting... if it matters )

1- 3.40A
2- 5.44A
3- 8.30A
4- 11.38A (this is above the 10A reading of my meter so it was beeping, but it was a stead reading so I assume accurate)

Here is how to test this easily... You need a multi-meter with amp reading capability... the switch selection of mine is an A with the wavy and dotted line over it. Usually you have to move the positive tester lead to another plug (mine said 10A) open your hood and remove the HVAC blower fuse, then connect an alligator clip to each spade terminal facing up making sure they don't touch (if they do you just won't get a reading on the meter, but make sure the other end of those lines don't touch ground) then connect those to the 2 leads of your meter after selecting the appropriate setting and go through the fan speeds.

Hopefully this helps people and we can further track what the problem is- mostly... a good or bad blower I guess.

Thanks!
Andrew

Also posted here: http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162584 so there may be some readings or conversation on the topic there.

 

[airanger2001]

been to several pic-N-pull junk yards, either the years are too old, or I'm not finding any replacement "Blower motor resistor harness" for my 2001 Dakota.
Most dashes have been Pulled out!!!
Does anybody have a list of compatible vehicles that also my be used?
If there's another way to get my fan speeds back working, and fabricate another resistor in line some how...... PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks-IN-Advance!!

 

[adnedarn]

It looks like it is 01- 04 Dakotas and 01-06 Durangos.

Here is the one I just purchased. =) Wires and resistor pack 67.42 delivered.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/350495711700?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[airanger2001]

Blower motor harness FIXXXXXXX!!!!!!

After beating a :deadhorse: ...... and NOT finding a reasonably priced Blower motor harness, I came up with an brain-fart of an idea. :huh:
I purchased a Lifetime Warranted resistor from AutoZone, and some heat shrink wrap and terminal connectors. Striped the wires back and crimped the connectors to them, flattened the opposite end to snugly slip-over the tabs on the resistor. Slid the heat shrink wrap over the connector & about a 1/4" of the wire, then heated until tight and snug !!!! Installed connectors to resistor, and then tested fan speeds. :clap2: :woot: !!
Reinserted resistor back into mounting hole, and went to do some running
:drive: and chores that consisted of about 45 min.!!
:rockwoot: everything worked, No smoke, No Hot wires!!!! time for a :beer: wish me :goodluck:
will report again on how long this fix last!!! Hopefully, at least til next spring!!

Thanks to ALL that made suggestions!!!
Dennis

 

[adnedarn]

Nice! If you're able, get some amp readings
Andrew

 

[spb1122]

question about the new connector kit

Hello all, First post for me...

I just changed the resistor and the connector on my truck ('02 Dakota). This is the second time I've had to change the resistor. The first time was in 2006, and there was no melted/corroded/burnt issue with the connector, so it was a straight up replacement. I took the original black one out, and replaced it with one of the redesigned green ones. So now, 6 years later, I get the same symptoms, go to change the resistor, and it's fused to the connector. Broke it apart, and sure enough pins 1 & 2 were burnt, and the plastic of the resistor was melted to the plastic of the connector. So, I got 4 years out of the original, and 6 years out of the first replacement. From what I've read on the internet, I should be happy with that. I'm not going to change the blower itself unless I get a short term failure.

My observation/question is this: Without breaking apart the connector, there was no visible sign of heat damage. There was, however, significant visible corrosion to wires 1 & 2 (the thicker gauge wires) outside of the connector. About 1/2" of insulation was gone (from the connector back), and the wires were completely covered in green and white oxidation. Now, upon much closer inspection, after I cut the bad connector out of the truck, there was what might have been heat damage to wire number 2 (mine was dark blue with a yellow stripe). There was no blackening/ charring/melting, but the insulation looked like it could have been distorted by heat. So, it is entirely possible that the insulation melted back on these two wires, exposing copper, and then eventually oxidation/corrosion affected the connection to the point of causing resistor failure. Now, I've looked at photos that others have provided of their orignal connector (including the ones in this thread). And, I have read some instructions that others have posted for using the replacement connector kit (again, including this thread). My original connector, and the pictures of other's original connectors I've seen, don't have the white rubber wire bushing or the black "cap" that comes with splice kit. I'm wondering if the rubber bushing and cap should be used for this application? Lord knows the splice kit is not just for this application, and the part is intended as a repair part for multiple connectors, and there are quite a few extra parts in the bag. I would like to know if, considering the heat and condensation issues, it would be better not to use the white rubber bushing (a la the original factory set up), and let the harness "breathe" better? Or maybe the bushing is supposed to be an improvement to the original design (like the significant change to the resistor itself)? Anyone know?

I also noticed that there were 10 green wires (thicker) and 10 purple wires (thinner) in the kit. Of the 10 (both green and purple), 5 had all tin terminals, and 5 had a copper colored band on tin terminals. I don't think it was just tinned copper because the bands were perfectly straight and an even thickness all the way around. I pulled one of the originals from my burnt connector, and it was all tin, so that's what I used.

Also, I've read that some use 2 green and 3 purple wires from the connector kit. I used 5 green wires from the kit because wires 3, 4 & 5 in the truck were all thicker gauge than the purple wires. Does anyone think that's a problem?

 

[Rawyzf]

Thanks OP for this tread.

My Blower was only working on High (just started doing it this week). I order the blower motor resistor block from RockAuto yesterday. It arrived about 30 mins ago. It took 5 mins to swap out (cause I cant fit my cubby body under the dash easily). Turned the Durango on, and to my delight, I have all 4 blower speeds again!

Now I just need to start to troubleshoot what is wrong with the AC.

 

[Nstallboy]

Does all this apply to a 2000 Durango? With my bower on high I can barely feel it on my faces coming through the main vents on regular a/c or max a/c. Is this a resistor issue, blend door, or a motor issue?