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2012 2.4L AC/Heater Clicking, Front End Knocking, Intermittent Solid Traction Control - FIXED

3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Intrepid 
#1 ·
Hello,

I am new to the forum. What a great place to share all of our parallel experiences. :). I have solved a few seemingly common issues and wanted to provide some details as to how I fixed them:

AC/Heater Clicking Behind the Dash

This is the blend air door actuator. The one in question was malfunctioning on the driver side. The actuator in my case did not actually need to be replaced. The guide lever that slides along the door groove had slipped and the door fell to "down" position. The actuator would then try to lower the door while it was already down producing the infamous clicking noise. It is worth mentioning that when you replace this part, make sure that the white peice with the groove is in the "up" position as well as the lever being in the up position. By "up" position I mean that you have lifted the door track away from the floor. You can then take the white lever, place it in the track (it should be pointing upward in the 1 or 2 O'Clock position) and there is a spindle still there where the actuator had been removed on which the lever will slide on. The actuator can then be mounted into the hole of the lever and secured with the two screws. See my attached picture, this was how I found the position of the actuator when the vehicle was turned off, and was faulty. The actuator is an inexpensive part, so replacement vs. repair is obviously not such a huge deal. If the clicking came out of no where, all of a sudden, with zero intermittent occurence to all day everyday status, it may be worth checking the door position.

Front End Knocking and Popping After Engine Warms Up

My Avenger has 130K miles on it, and was previously a rental fleet vehicle. So, it has been maintained fairly well, but also has had some very robust usage. I kept hearing a knocking sound that came from what sounded like the front driver side wheel well. It would only happen when the vehicle had been driving for a while. No occurances when the engine was cold. As the engine heated, the knocking seemed to then get more sensitive and I could hear it when I would be braking normally, or even letting off the brakes to accelerate. The shop tried to sell me on new struts, new lower control arm, new shocks and struts. This was not the problem. My engine mounts all needed to be replaced. The engine was actually knocking against the lower cross member and other various parts of the engine compartment because the rubber bushings which were in the midst of failure had heated up and were more maliable. High mileage vehicles might want to start with engine mount inspection and replacement. It is a fairly easy and straight forward job for the do it yourselfer.

Intermittent or Constant Traction Control Light or Traction Control System Suddenly Becomes VERY VERY Sensitive or Cruise Control Quits Working

Even if you do not have a check engine light, take the vehicle to O'Reillys (NOT AUTOZONE AS THEY DO NOT DO A FULL CODE SCAN) and if you get a C1000 or P0571 which both are Poor Performance of Brake Lamp Switch and Cruise Control / Brake Lamp Switch Circuit Fault respectively. Replacement of the brake lamp switch which is on the brake pedal itself solved this problem. My symptom was only intermittent activation of traction control, but it was happening all the time, in dry conditions, wet conditions, terms and conditions, air conditions, any condition you can think of: there was my traction control light to greet me. I experienced no other symptoms of this switch failure other than the traction control light.

Water Sloshing Behind the Dash OR Driver Side or Passeger Side Floor Starts Getting Mysteriously Wet

On the driver side of my vehicle, part of the weather stripping on the door itself, where the window frame, driver side mirror, and door hinge all sort of hang out was bent upward. It was extremely slight to the point that I had never noticed it. Well, it was enough that rain water could drip drip drip through and on the driver side door there is an opening where one of the wire harnesses passes through, right below the harness. The water was trickling in through that little opening. I used caulk to seal that up, and no more wet on the driver side (I never experienced any moisture on the passenger side).

Water Gets Inside the Trunk Lid After Heavy Rain and Drains When Trunk Is Opened

Removed middle brake light assembly, caulked around it, and reinstalled it. Fixed.

Driver and Passenger Window Intermittently Not Working

When the driver swtich (the master switch) is failing, this will affect both the driver and passenger side windows. The contacts on the driver side window switch had become excessively dirty due to dust and cigarette ash and whatever esle. Replacing the entire master switch fixed both the driver and passenger side window issues.

I am a do it yourselfer who really has a major dislike of mechanic bills.
 

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#2 ·
Thank you for sharing. I'm sure members will find these hints very helpful:cool:
 
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