Anyone else have a problem with heater blower resistor packs? Seems I'm replacing mine an awful lot. Just cheap chinese junk? Any good quality ones out there?

 

The last one I put in was in '07 according to my notes-NAPA. Just got back from a roadtrip of 3500 miles and halfway thru it went out and I could only run on high for the a/c, which was tolerable because most temps were over 95F and we pulled a trailer half way. When I pulled and compared it to the new NAPA part it appears to be the same part as from 13 years ago....

 

I replaced mine in the spring; first one ever that I have replaced.

 

Cheap Chinese junk a real possibility however it could be your blower motor is dragging. I know on my previous 01 I went through a few of them two of them was due to blower motor going out. The oem one (resistor) was 6 or 7 years old (200k+ milers) before it went out, blower seemed ok but I didn't check it. However within a couple months when it started getting cold out it would squeal on start up.. Shortly thereafter the resistor was toast again. Replaced it and the blower with an aftermarket one since Dodge wanted like $350 for an oem replacement blower motor at the time. Went with a $65 one from Autozone. It worked fine, was definitely louder than the oem but worked fine.. Fast forward several years later and same thing. It started squealing took the resistor with it. Another motor and resistor at that time and still working today. but have since sold it my bil.

 

Blower motor and resistor replaced last year. Sense then I've replace the pack once all ready. I'd rather throw money at my 1st gen.

 

I'd use an amperemeter on the blower motor- you might have gotten a bad replacement part, or you may have something else dragging in there.

 

I ordered a replacement motor and resistor. I'll clean it out while I'm in there.

 

Parts showed up. It'll be a couple days before I can work on it due to weather.

 

I've replaced my resistor pack once before, the old one was pretty charred and broken up. When that one went, I only had high. I've replaced the blower motor once before as well. However, even after doing both of those, it does seem like I'm getting less airflow than I used to. Right now, my fan pretty much stays on position #3 to have any airflow. If I turn down to #1, you can barely feel any movement, #2 is only a minor step up. Not sure if it's running slow, too many leaks on the box or if my coil is getting plugged up blocking airflow.

 

I replaced the resistor pack with an arduino.
Basically resistors to regulate the power of a motor is a bad idea. Cycling the power to get the desired amount of power output is more efficient.
But what I found is that if there is either mechanical drag on the motor or bad brushes/contacts in the system the current to achieve the desired airflow will increase- and higher current will mean toasted parts.

 

Installed the replacement blower motor and resistor pack yesterday. A very painful experience for an old crippled fat man. As others reported, the wires on the motor were backwards, easy fix. Works as advertised now.