2001 Sebring Convertible.

I have the same problem that dcotter had a year ago; heater only blowing cold air out the front defrost. After messing around with everything, I've noticed that jiggling the white wire connector in the back of the control panel will get it working again. For a while, at least. I cannot make it stay working, but I cannot find any actual problems. I took the panel apart, but cannot find any bad solders or other signs of the controls being the problem.

My guess is that it is one of the wires from the car going into the adapter, since moving those around seems to be what gets it to work again. But, dcotter's fix would contradict that theory. Any suggestions on what else I can do?

MRR

 

Mine's still working (knock on wood), but I honestly don't know what caused it to resume proper function. You might try getting some contact cleaner and spraying the connectors.
Those control heads show up on eBay with some regularity and aren't that expensive. You might consider replacing it.

 

That's the area I've hit with contact cleaner more than any other. I think that part of the problem is that I also used dielectric grease and that is forming a barrier instead of helping the connection. Yesterday everything worked more than half the time, which is better than it has been for the past few months.

During my last cleaning, I noticed that a bulb was dead. Since I cannot find new ones, I purchased an entire control panel from eBay last night. Hopefully I'll at least get a working bulb out of it. Might even get something that lets the air work all the time.

MRR

 

You can get the bulbs at the dealer. I had better luck with the Dodge dealer than the Chrysler dealer. Parts stores don't carry those bulbs. They come from the dealer with the long base as an assembly.

 

My "new" control came yesterday and didn't work in the slightest. I tore it apart and noticed that every pin leading into the circuit board was pushed out of place and had a broken solder. So, I took another look at mine and saw that I had several broken ones as well. Looks like I had one or two loose solders before, so wiggling the wires would sometimes cause a connection to work, but all my messing around broke a few more.

Bought a soldering iron and some solder. I now have two working controls and one of them has all its bulbs working.

 

So fix the bulb and sell the thing on eBay. Maybe you'll make some money back.

Good job and thanks for the final report.

 

I figure that anyone who needs a new control still has working bulbs in their broken one. It will be sold as is. Now I understand how another aspect of my vehicle works and have an additional working piece of equipment to help out someone else with a similar problem. All in all, a good outcome.