A/C Issue

[Johnstra]

I don't know beans about A/C. Mine is acting up. After about an hour and half, the air starts getting weaker and weaker. It's still fairly cold, but it gets to where even on high very little air is coming from the vents. This has happened twice now. I can shut off the A/C so just the fan is on and eventually it starts putting out the normal flow of air. Then I can turn on the A/C and it'll work fine.



What's this mean? BTW, my compressor cycles on off pretty frequently - like 2 or 3 times per minute.



Thanks,

-john

 

[Bertram65]

It is probabl freezing up, mine does the same thing, mine does not do it as often if I put it on recirculate or max ac.

 

[Johnstra]

I noticed mine does better if I keep it on recirculate too. What causes it to freeze up?

-john

 

[MMeier]

Usually it will be a bit low on freon, throw a can at it, should help. Been covered quite a few times here.

 

[SKing]

Low freon and I had the same problem on my 03 for years. I found the leak was the top ac hose. I have seen alot of trucks with this around 45000 miles. Hose had a bad crimp conection. DC is aware of this but wont do anything about it. I have changed 7or 8 hoses for some freinds and all had bad conections. The leak is very hard to see if you use a dye. It takes about 6 mths to show up. Its such a fine leak but when it starts it gets worse. I recharged my a/c every spring till I replaced the hose. Hey you notice all the trucks posted here are 03s. Tell me there is no patern D. C

 

[Bertram65]

Low freon and I had the same problem on my 03 for years. I found the leak was the top ac hose. I have seen alot of trucks with this around 45000 miles. Hose had a bad crimp conection. DC is aware of this but wont do anything about it. I have changed 7or 8 hoses for some freinds and all had bad conections. The leak is very hard to see if you use a dye. It takes about 6 mths to show up. Its such a fine leak but when it starts it gets worse. I recharged my a/c every spring till I replaced the hose. Hey you notice all the trucks posted here are 03s. Tell me there is no patern D. C

What hose is it? can you provide a picture? I put a can in last year and it helped, still froze up if not on recirc though, but this year it is doing it again so I think it may be a leak as you described.

 

[Grizzly]

It is probabl freezing up, mine does the same thing, mine does not do it as often if I put it on recirculate or max ac.

I agree with that. I had a Honda Accord that did that and while on a long trip I would lower the temperature just a little so that it wouldn't freeze up but still get enough cold AC air.

 

[STEVEBROOKS]

Yep, mine's doing it too and it's an '03. I read on a thread here somewhere that one contributing factor is that the evaporator drain outlet is angled straight out (ie, parallel to the ground) into the engine compartment and that, while driving, "ram air" is going up the tube and keeping condensation from draining. One suggested fix was to attach a length of heater hose onto the drain and run it down toward the ground. Has anybody tried this as a fix? If so, how well did it work?

 

[ssanders60]

A/C problems

My '03 2500 was doing precisely the same thing, would operate ok

in town but just as soon as I got on the interstate it would freeze up

and I'd have to alternate from cooling to fan to keep the truck cool.

I took it to West Side Dodge where the tech determined that the

evaporator was leaking. It was several months and many thousands of

miles out of warranty. They gave me a price of $1220 to repair it. While

they were repairing it I called Chrysler Customer Service and after hanging

on the phone about 30 minutes, they stated they would help me with the

cost involved provided that the truck had not been abused. The dealer also

repaired the broken doors in the system and installed a new evaporator

and by the time it was repaired, 4 hrs later, customer service called me and

said they would pay for everything except for $100 which I gladly paid.

I don't know what the total bill finally amounted to.



My advice, before you call, is to charge your cell phone up and talk

talk to them kindly but let them know you are dissatisfied and remind them

how much you paid for the truck, also make them aware of other business that you have given them, if any. These people were real nice to me,

however I got my daughter's Jeep repaired for $100 but the folks I talked

to that time were ugly, but I stuck it out and they paid.



Good luck.

 

[JVantreese]

More is not always better.

I had a problem with my air conditioner freezing and the tech said my system was overcharged. He evacuated some of the freon and it now seems to work fine. I would suggest that you find someone with the proper gauges and knowhow to check your pressure rather then just adding some freon.



It seems that there was a TSB on relocating a temp sensor on some model years that were having freeze up problems.

 

[Wooter]

I have had same problem, and other a/c also - When truck was new, first time we drove about 100 miles, it froze up and with same symptoms as others have described. Would get air flow from bottom ducts and it was not cold, or even cool! No air from a/c ducts in dash. As soon as truck sat fo an hour or so, it would thaw out and work like it was supposed to. Took to dealer for service: They advised they could find nothing wrong!! About a month later, temp outside cooled off and problem went away .



Next problem was electrical and happened soon after the one described above, The a/c would not shut off, I would turn to off position and it just kep running and cold air at that! Dealer advised they found a ground problem, fixed it and for awhile, it didnt occur. Then it happend again, and still does today (intermittenly). About a mouth after that, I had to replace a/c clutch. This time, dealer baulked about paying for it!!



Nuff said and hope this gives ya some insight.



Wooter, Wayne county, OH

 

[DPhillips]

a/c problem 04.5

A big thank you to "ssanders60" and others.

I took my 04. 5 in for bad a/c in june, they said it was 1/2 pound low on freon, charged 160. 00 and found no leak. three weeks later same problem. I took the truck in 8-7-07 and checked on it today. Service Tech said bad evaporator and front seal on a/c compressor 1,600 dollars:{.



I am out of warranty by about 7,000 miles and a few months.



Read TDR found these post, called star service and talked to the two nicest ladies for about 30 minutes. I was very nice to them and expalined my problem. Last lady told me to talk to the service manager about "good will extended service warranty". I talked to service manager and he said I would pay the $100 deductible to fix both problems and I could pick the truck up thursday. :-laf



Thanks TDR, ssanders60 and others that posted same problems and results by calling customer service.



Now the wife wont blow a gasket when i ask to sign up for TDR again.

 

[NC_Mog]

Same problem on mine with freezing up. Put a gauge on the suction side and found it was low. Charged with almost a full can and put the pressure on the high side of the acceptable range listed in the service manual. I wouldn't add refrigerant unless I had a gauge to read the pressure and knew what the recommended range was supposed to be. You can buy a can of R134a with a gauge for cheap at your local auto store.