Grand Cherokee AC trouble, Help

Hi, my mother has a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee in which the ac never worked, so i decided to put a can of ac refrigerant in to it for the hell of it. Turns out it works, sort of, the problem is the ac button light only comes on when it is set to blow at the wind shield and it actually blows cold air. Anywhere else the light on the ac button turns off and stops cooling even though its pushed in. Has anyone here ever dealt with this. Or can point me in the direction. Trying to avoid taking it to a ac shop.

Those things are notorious for weird HVAC behavior. I'd start here: http://www.wjjeeps.com/climate.htm

Wow, thank you. Guess I'll be busy for a while.

Common for the control head to be junk internally.

Early 2000s CDJ vehicles are among my least loved ever because of the blend door problems. No fun.

Ugggh, the notorious blend door issue. Basically they eventually fail and you are either stuck with cold air or hot air, or limited functionality of the vents, or a fun broken combination of them all. Our 2004 limited tends to have this issue in the winter when we use the heat and you can actually hear the doors clicking at times, as though they're jammed up. There are repair kits on ebay, but the job requires basically the entire dashboard to come out. Dealerships will charge you a first born to do it.

These are some of the issues i was referring to when i told Beans that a $2000 grand cherokee is going to have a LOT more problems than a $2000 regular cherokee.

Since nobody said it yet, i will: If you didnt add oil, your compressor will eventually lock up. Then you'll have to fix THAT too!

Every time I've had an issue with the HVAC on our 2000 GC, I've expected it to be the blend door issue that the internet tells me to expect. And it's always been something different.

The first time I went looking to find out why there was no heat in the passenger's footwell ("it's the blend doors!") it was a duct that had been kicked off. I popped it back on, problem solved. So spend some time poking around before you get too freaked out.

Unfortunately, ours is the blend door. As we, the dealers, and our mechanic has replaced about every accessible part without removing the dash.

Is yours the auto/digital climate control or manual? We have the automatic which is more prone to failures it seems.

We're lucky, it's the manual.

Yeah, the automatic temp control setups were trouble prone to say the least. If you do the blend doors do yourself a big favor and while it's apart replace the evaporator even if it looks good. Seen far too many fail.

Curmudgeon wrote: Yeah, the automatic temp control setups were trouble prone to say the least. If you do the blend doors do yourself a big favor and while it's apart replace the evaporator even if it looks good. Seen far too many fail.

What he said. Far easier to pay 6-8hrs of labor once then twice within a month's time.

RHF: Blendorstor through glovebox kit worked great for my Limited when mine crapped out! Super easy install with a hot knife. Took me about an hour total to replace. http://blendorstore.com/l

Caraddict-first things first, is it a Laredo or Limited?

the link posted should get you to solve 99% of the problems. Post in here with any further issues/questions, I know these things inside and out.

In reply to beans:

I could use help. I just bought at Auto Auction a beautiful 4.7l, JGC ltd, 1999, bargin to flip. As expected drove home great and the next day I have the dead gauges issue and a un-shifting transmission. You put it in drive and it seems like it always begins and stays in 3rd? Bad transmission module? or ?

Cycle the key three times to the ACC on position and post the code that it SHOULD be throwing. Any leaks/vibrations? Quadradrive?

Sounds like it could be a couple of issues. Definitely in limp mode.

In reply to beans:

Shifted great on the way home. Yes Quadradrive. I will check the code.

Here is my devil red deal.

aside from those hideous side steps, good lookin rig. I haven't seen stock wheels that clean in a LONG time. Of course it has a dented tailgate lmao.

Let me know if it pisses you off enough so I can buy it. I bet since it's more than likely a lifelong GA car, it's stupid clean underneath.

I'm going to guess it's throwing the code for either the Crank Position Sensor, Cam Position Sensor, Transmission Input or Output Sensor. All reasonably inexpensive, all easy to replace but the Crank position sensor(bitch). Use ONLY Mopar sensors. Believe me on that, they're REAL funny with non-OEM sensors. Check the catalytic convertor, too(tap with hammer, listen for jingling). When mine died it did all sorts of funny E36 M3.

That thing looks like it will be an easy flip once you get some of the issues straightened out.

Limp mode on that transmission type is most likely to be input speed sensor, output speed sensor, or solenoid pack related. It CAN go into limp mode from actual hard part failures but usually those are accompanied by a pretty obvious driveability issue like a slip or really harsh engagement or something like that. If it works normal one day and goes into limp mode the next, it is probably electronics related and an 'easy' fix.