AboutDavid Hill Expertise I can answer questions concerning automotive air conditioning systems, residential air conditioning systems and electrical repair questions.
Experience I have 16 years of experience in the automotive air conditioning arena and am currently an instructor for H.V.A.C.
Education/Credentials I am certified through as a universal technician under sections 608 and 609 of the C.A.A.
Question My ac/ heater on 2000 durango keeps turning on and off. Original symptoms- when head lights are on the lights on the ac/heater control panel flickers and the system turns off. The rest of the dashboard lights remain on. At 1st turning headlights off would bring ac/heat back on, now it has no effect. Sometimes when I turn off truck the ac/heater lights come on. I'm at a loss, any help would be appreciated. Could it be as simple as a bad ac/heater relay?
Answer Tom,
Usually I would blame this type of syptom on the relay coil itself or a bad connection, but from your description it sounds as though you may have a wiring harness issue. It sounds as though somewhere in your harness you have one or more wires grounding out and then shorting together.
Look over all of the harness that you can see. You are looking for any places that seem like they have been rubbing together, against the firewall or fenderwell, or where they may have been crimped somewhere, or burnt around your exhaust manifold. If you do not visually see it yourself, I would recommend you take it in to a reputable shop, or even, dare I say it, the dealer and have them go through the harness with their computer. I believe you have more going on here than just an a/c problem and trying to work you through checking each and every wire over the computer would take weeks. Literally.
Sorry I could not be of more help, but like I said, I believe you have more going on than your a/c. I believe the a/c may be affecting it, or more likely, being affected by the problem, but I don't believe you will find it to be the source of the problem.
I hope I was able to provide the assistance you needed. If so please remember to rate this answer. If I can do anything further now or in the future, do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for the question and good luck in everything.
