My 2006 Dodge truck has had some AC problems for the past few months, and this model and year apparently has an issue with certain “doors” that direct airflow. To fix this issue, the dash has to be pulled. The parts are cheap, but of course, labor is pretty expensive. I took it in to this shop, and they seemed to think it was this problem I was having. They verbally quoted me a price of $700 (this was five weeks ago), but were not able to procure the parts (and I needed the truck back), so they charged me about 80 bucks for the their labor in assessing the situation along with one nights rental of a chevy cobalt. The air was working a bit, so I put off taking it back until a few days ago. I asked if it was still going to be $700, and they said “yes.” They pulled the dash, and once they got into it, they claim that the problem is something else. It is apparently some lower doors (instead of the originally thought of ones that are higher up) along with a motor that runs the doors. Apparently, they can’t just buy the doors, they have to buy the whole “box” which has the doors and the channels for airflow. They have the dash off, and I’m apparently on the hook for the labor involved with taking it apart and putting it back together. The $700 bid is now$1400, and I’m between a rock and a hard place. I have to have it fixed, they’ve already performed quite a bit of labor in taking it apart, and I understand that they can’t “see” inside the dash without taking it apart. I understand how things could change for them once they got in there. However, I’m not entirely convinced that replacing the whole box is needed (the gap they showed me when the doors close is quite small), and I’m not sure that I should be completely on the hook for the increase in cost when they did such a poor job of managing my expectations (they assumed it was something else when they quoted me the price). What would you do?
I can tell you from experience diagnosing car problems in general is a hit or miss deal. There are so many parts that work in conjunction(Especially A/C airflow behind the dash) to operate certain systems you can easily be wrong and not find out until you physically see the culprit. What you can do is ask for a part # for the "Box"and call the part counter at a Mopar dealership. You can then see if they're up charging you on the parts. (pretty common) If the price you get is significantly lower, buy the parts yourself and have then do the labor only.
I'm really happy for you Pole, and Imuh' letchu finish, but juicystream's thread was one of the greatest What would you do? threads of ALL TIME.
Check ebay for the part you need. Dealer quoted me over 3K for 2 parts I got delivered to my door for $110.
Sounds like it could be the blend doors. I have a Jeep and it has very similar issues in which the blend doors fail and either a/c or heat is permanent for all or specific vents. In my Jeep, it happens to be the set of blend doors that control the heat flow to the passenger side. I haven't taken the time to fix it yet but there are several fixes you could do yourself through the glovebox (at least for the Jeep, hoping for your Dodge too). Check on ebay to see if there's a Dodge fix if it truly is the blend doors.
The best advice I can give you is to find a Dodge forum and ask there. I guarantee you'll get better help.
