Heater problem solved

In January, I mentioned a heater problem I was having with my Grand Cherokee. The air from the fan wouldn't keep blowing where I wanted it to. For example, if I had the air turned to the floor for heat, as I accelerated, it would cycle through the vent and up to the defroster position. Then as I evened off on the gas, it would cycle back down to the floor. It kept getting worse until it was on the defroster level most of the time.

At the same time, my cruise control was not holding steady. It would go down about 10 mph just a small hill. And it wouldn't stay where I set it even on the level.

Neither of these problems was an emergency, just a nuisance. So I kept putting off getting it checked, especially since it took five times to get it fixed the last time I had a heater problem. And I don't really care for expensive auto repairs.

However, with summer coming, I didn't want to face hot weather without the vent area working for cooler outside air or with the air conditioner. My wife mentioned the problem to our daughter-in-law who happens to have two brothers who are mechanics. My daughter-in-law immediately phoned her brothers. They both said it sounded like a problem with the vacuum system. (I thought it acted like that, but I didn't realize the heater controls or cruise control relied on vacuum. Obviously I'm not a mechanic!) They also had a suggestion as to where to take it to get it fixed.

So I made a phone call to Autocare Specialists in Omaha. They said to bring it right in. So I drove the 35 miles happy that they could check it so fast. Within about an hour, they had the problem fixed. It was an $0.83 part. That's right, 83 cents. And that fixed the cruise control problem as well. Now I'm kicking myself for putting it off so long.

As a coincidence, "Jack of all trades" left a comment the next day on the original post suggesting I have my mechanic check the vacuum lines. He was right also.

So if any of you are having a similar problem, don't put if off forever like I did. Have the vacuum lines checked already!

Jeep heater problems

A while back I was having problems with the heater controls on my Jeep Grand Cherokee. During some of our cold Nebraska days, the temperature from my heater would suddenly become very cold. At first, I jiggled the temperature switch and it would get warm again. After a while nothing seemed to help. It was unpredictable. Some days it would work fine. Other days I couldn't get it to work. I finally broke down and took it to a repair shop to have it checked. They diagnosed it as a leaking water pump which caused a low antifreeze level resulting in bubbles in the hoses leading to the heater. The bubble would get trapped somewhere along the way and not allow the water to flow, thus causing the cool down. That sounded plausible, so I paid the $380 bill and thought my problems were over.

Check # 2: However, the next day, the same problem occurred on the way home from work. So I took it back to the repair shop. They said they must not have gotten all the bubbles out. They disconnected all the hoses, drained everything, and sent me on my way. On the way home, same problem.

Check # 3: So I turned around and went right back. Of course, by the time I got back, the heater had started working again. They didn't want to believe me. So I left it there overnight for them to check the next morning. They had one of their employees drive it home (a 45 mile round trip for which I had to pay the gas.) He claimed it worked all the way home that night, and all the way back to work the next morning. The bubbles must have finally worked their way out. So they sent me home again.

Check # 4: The next day, it wouldn't work for me again. When I arrived at the repair shop, they thought I was joking when I said it did it again. When they realized I was serious, I told them I left it running. They should come out and check for themselves. This time the air was still cold. They called their "specialist" out to take a look at it. He determined the motor that moves the device that actually determines the temperature was shot. So I left it there for them to work on the next day. I thought this time surely they had it fixed. When they tried to charge us another $100 for the motor, my wife said, "I don't think so." They ended up taking off the charge.

Check # 5: That night on the way home from work, the same problem. By now, I was getting very frustrated. I think they could tell when I came back the next time that I was getting serious (read furious) about this problem. The general manager happened to be the one there when I came in this time. He said they would get it fixed, so I left it one more time. This time they changed the entire heater control panel, including fan switches, temperature control, and selectors (heat, air conditioning, defrost, etc.) When I came back, the general manager was there again. He said the only thing they hadn't figured out was how to pay for it. I knew I wasn't going to pay. When he handed me the bill, it was for $0.00.

Finally: That seems to have taken care of the problem. Now that I think about it, my air conditioner would kick off once-in-a-while last summer. If I turned it off, then back on, it would work again. Perhaps that was the beginning of the problem way back then.

Conclusion: I write this mainly to alert you to a possible problem. If you are having heater problems, suggest to your repair shop that it might be the heater control panel. If they start there, you and they will probably save a lot of frustration.

One final note: A couple of weeks ago, I was going to use my GPS to find a place in Lincoln. I took it along in my Grand Cherokee. I placed it where I usually did, and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't stand up like before. Then I realized I had velcro on the heater control panel which had now been replaced. The velcro was missing. I think they owe me!