climate control in '03 Twn&Country

I have a new 2003 Town and Country minivan, which we purchased in September.It
has (supposedly) 3 zone climate control, where you set each of three digital
temperature controls on the dash, and it supposedly senses the 3 zones and
automatically adjusts each zones ac/heat accordingly.

I have a few questions about the way this system works (or doesn't work). And,
BTW, it has been checked out by the mechanics in the Dealer's service dep't,
and they claim it is "operating as designed".

1. The little "snowflake" symbol, indicating that the air conditioner
compressor is running, runs ALL the time, regardless of the temperature in or
out of the vehicle. This morning, it was 26 degree, and when left in "auto"
mode, the snowflake was on. I KNOW that this is useful in cold weather as a
defroster-enhancer, to dehumidify, but in my other vehicles with "climate
control", the compressor only runs if the vehicle is either in A/C mode or
defroster mode, not on heat-only or other mix modes. It seems that the only
way to have the compressor NOT run is to manually turn it off....which takes
the entire system out of automatic mode and puts in all into manual. Kind of a
lousy trade-off if other aspects of the automatic system are desirable, such as
auto-fan-speed.

2. When we still had warm weather here in the northeast, the AC would of
course run. The vehicle has a number of ceiling AC outlets for the middle and
rear seat areas. But, I discovered that even when it was quite warm outside,
and at least 120 degrees in the van when we first start it (after having it
parked in the hot sun), only the front dash AC outlets are spewing cold air.
The rear outlets seemed to be off. So, we checked the settings, and the rear
system was set for "auto", meaning the system was supposed to be determining
how much air, etc. When we turned the rear system to "rear control", we had no
trouble manually turning on the rear AC, but again, that defeats the purpose of
having an automatic system. But, it seems that there is no condition in
auto-mode that makes the rear AC come on, on its own.

What gives? Has Chrysler seriously cut corners on the climate control system
on a $40,000 vehicle, requiring it to be put in manual control to get it to do
what its auto-system should have been designed to have it do?
Or is the dealer service department wrong, and the system is not operating as
designed?
Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,Matthew

 

Have you checked the instruction manual which came with the car? It
is quite detailed for the 300M climate control which is the best I've
even had (better than Ford, Toyota, and previous Chrysler).

 

Have you checked the instruction manual which came with the car? It

As a matter of fact, my other vehicle is a 300M. And so, my expectation was
that this mini-van, being also a Chrysler, would have a climate control system
that worked pretty much the same way. The controls are very similar, other
than the "3 zones" for thermostat temp. adjustment.

The manual instructions and descriptions are also very similar to those found
in the 300M manual, and so I really thought the system would operate with
similar parameters. Nowhere in the manual does it suggest that the a/c
compressor runs constantly; in fact, the manual states that the automatic
system will determine when it is needed and run it accordingly...yet according
to the service manager at the dealer, it is designed to run constantly. So, it
is not "determining" anything...it is as dumb as an on-off switch in the on
position.

And the manual certainly implies that the rear a/c will run as strongly as
needed to respond to the thermostat temp selected and the inside/outside temp.
conditions. But again...dealer says it is "operating normally", and the way it
operates, it needs to be run manually to run in the rear.

I hope someone here knows how this is really supposed to work. The dealer will
not fix what the dealer claims is "normal operation", but so far, these aspects
of this climate control system seem like a sham from where I sit.

Matthew

 

The compressor request is always on when in Auto mode but it's the
refrigerant suction temperature that determines wether or not it actually
runs. This means that even though the snowflake is on the compressor clutch
is actually not if the system senses low/freezing temperatures.

 

The compressor request is always on when in Auto mode but it's the

Ok, just so I understand, you are saying that the snowflake symbol being lit up
means nothing...that the compressor runs when needed, and is idle as needed,
and the symbol is always on.

The manual says that the symbol is on to indicate when the compressor is
running. This would make sense. Why would they have it always on?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

the a/c status lite being all the time is not right a reflash of the hvac may be
in order

 

Actually even in the 99 300M the snowflake isn't a reliable indicator
of the compressor running.

 

Nope, it is most definitely correct operation.... The snowflake is always
on in "AUTO".