2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission A/C went south

[court]

Had a slow loss of freon, at 49K and 37 months of ownership.

Dealer says evaporator coil leaking, due to use in a coastal area.

Out of warranty repair bill is well in excess of $600. But will come

down a bit if I get a lower bid!! Truck is going to non dealer shop

tues. for a non Mopar coil, and non dealer bill.

Stay clear of coastal areas with your 01

 

[KenHokie]

Did the dealer explain why using the AC in coastal areas caused this leak? Sounds like just and excuse for a design/build problem with our trucks

 

[Cliffman]

Me too

I had the same problem with my 01. I think it was at around 80k. I don't live on the coast but not to far from it. What a nightmare it was finding where the leak was. After several visits to the dealer and over a 1 1/2 year period they finally figured it must be the evaporator coil. Major job to fix. They had to remove the dash to do it. All said and done they did a good quality job. My only gripe was on several occasions I found my self in well over 90 degree weather without any AC and that it took so long to find the problem. It was a very small leak and there detectors could not find it.

 

[gitchesum]

Total BS excuse on the dealer's part.

I've got 168,000 miles on my truck and it has always been within 60 miles of the Gulf of Mexico. My previous truck had 140,000 miles and it always lived no further than 40 miles from the Gulf.



Both A/C's work fine.

 

[illflem]

I agree - BS. Although aluminum oxidizes much faster by the coast it's more of a surface thing, it should make very little difference on how fast it eats though the coils to cause a leak.

 

[court]

KenHokie, Dealer explained salt air is what corroded my coil so fast, and I could get more service life out of coil if I would run A/C

on recirulate (max). Honest, I'm not making this story up!!

Also found out aftermarket supplyers donot offer the copper coil

option for the 01 yet. Guess they didn't think these Mopar coils

would rot this fast.

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

I work at that plant that makes the evap coils for the rams and every other chrysler product. (our new owners are supposed to fix this problem now that they bought us from DC). It is normal to lose one about 75,000 miles. I know they should last longer, but it is a poor design. It is a weird unit, no copper tubes. Oh yea, you really want to know the cost one out our door? less than 10 bucks.



Gary

 

[Cliffman]

Looks like we got our selves in inside man here boys. 10 bucks for the coil and 300 bucks to install it. My 94 Dodge Ram would freeze you out of the truck @ 150k with no history of any AC problems at all.

 

[Berrigan]

The salt is in the ocean water. The humidity will be higher around the coast bu evaperation leaves the salt behind in the ocean.

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

a quick run down of the evaporator in out trucks. They are stamped aluminum pieces that are real thin. These stampings are welded back to back and sometimes may not be perfect in alignment, so there is some that may have a small leak. The Freon and the moisture (i will talk about the moisture/mildew/odor problem) causes the erosion. Now the other part. We put a screen on the front of these so when you turn on your a/c on a humid day you don't have moisture coming out of the vents. This moisture is trapped in the evap coil. Now we also have foam on top and bottom of the coil so it doesn't rattle in the hvac housing. This traps water as well. Now we have the perfect environment for mold now and between the special coating on the evap to help slow the erosion and mold there is now the odor problem. when chrysler first launched this evap coil in 1993 in the LH cars (intreprid, concorde, lhs) they had high failure rates. It got corporates attention and they threatened to sell our plant, the succeded to do so after the merger with Daimler. we were sold last year to another German company. So long story short, they went back fixed it to get outside of warranty and fail because it was a costly mistake. At one time a few years ago Chrysler (pre-merger) would help in the cost of some Chrysler vehicles, but not the ram. The actual Hvac unit itself (excluding the evap made at the old airtemp plant in Dayton, OH) and heater core is japanese. The radiator is french.



Gary

 

[10-G]

I had this happen on my 96. Right about 100,000 mile mark. I had estimates of $900-1,000 from different shops. I ended up doing the repair myself. The dash came out partially.



A fellow TDR member recomended running on vent frequently to dry out the coil. I do this with my 02,hope it helps.

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

good idea, doesn't hurt to turn on the heat too.



Gary

 

[rubberneck]

Oh cr@p, you guys are scarring me, i went to use the AC for the first time since last summer today, and it aint getting that cold. truck has 45 K on it. Im going to be less than happy if it is the evaporator Guess i will start by putting the gauges on it and see whats up. DANG IT DANG IT DANG IT. Why cant Honda build a freaking truck with a cummins in it. Then i wouldnt have to deal with all the cr@p that comes with my Bad @ss motor

 

[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by rubberneck

Why cant Honda build a freaking truck with a cummins in it.

Normally I'd agree with you but our Accord is on its THIRD evaporator core.

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

Their evap coild is a design similar to Chryslers, but keep in mind Honda doesn't make their own coil. I am going to assume it denso.



Gayr

 

[Jack in Alaska]

Air Cond. out

You guys are really making my day... ... .

My AC went out last month just crossing into Utah from Nevada. Truck has 110k on it.

About 20 min. after the AC quit it started snowing so AC was not a high priority.

Now that it is summer again... ..... $600, damn that is pricey. Probably up here it will be $1000.

In 4 more months it will be snowing again. Maybe I will save the $$$$$.

 

[Koa Man]

About 2 years ago my AC wouldn't blow cold and I put in Super Seal stop leak. It worked for about a year and started getting warm again. I added another tube and this time it worked for about 6 months. My mechanic friend charged up the system and it lasted only 2 days. I figured that by now I needed mechanical repair, meaning a new evaporator. I have been going without AC for a few months. The other week my friend bought a new SnapOn leak detector and could find no leak around the evaporator. He did find a leak coming from the Schraeder valve. All he did to fix that was replace the plastic cap with a rubber hose type cap and a hose clamp. He charged up and system and it has been blowing cold for 4 days now. I am hopeful that was my problem. That repair only cost maybe $5 in parts and 5 minutes of labor.

 

[Casey Ray]

To the dealer today......

My A/C quit blowing cold air this past weekend, not fun having warm air blowin on ya on a hot day. Truck, 2002, has 11k miles on it, took it to the dealer this morning, after waiting for the tech to show up to work, 45 minutes late, he was able to find the evaporator leaking. They have to order the part and will install it next week.



Service manager said he's never seen one take a @#@% with this few miles on it, usually around 100K. Nice dealership, they have replaced 2 lift (transfer) pumps already, a transfer case seal and now this all since January of this year. Service manager knows me by name, lol. Man I hope I get better parts than what I started with.





Bocifus

Out in sunny & hot So. Cal.