2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission air condioning

[SGT310]

I have a '99 3500 dually 2wd with only 65,000 miles. The A/C quit working all of a sudden while I was driving. What gives? I checked and it has no coolant in the system. I fear the evaporator has gone south. What is it about Dodge and the evaporator? Everyone I've seen has the same problem. I know I'm just frustrated but this shouldn't be. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[B.G. Smith]

Unusual for one to quit suddenly and all the refrigerant to be gone. Look for a bad hose or cracked line. There was a problem with one of the hoses rubbing on something, may have been the battery cable and causing failure. bg

 

[Austin Diesel]

I had a 98 and the dealer told me after my 850. 00 core behind the airbag and about 7 hrs R&R in the dash that if you park it outside and if it could be under trees that the oak leaves or pine needles contain tannic acid and the liquid or leaves accumulate in the bottom of the AC/Heat intake plenum from the outside grill intake that they can cause corrosion of the core and corrode a pinhole in the core , i said great here is my check , i thought, is the core that thin ? guess so cause it was up in arkansas in the summer and about 110 degrees after work in the shade and 100% humidity , pretty much sucks as a design flaw due to no cabin air prefilter or air box cleanout .



that or o-rings or hoses or all of the above oh yea then the ac ducts or flappers would open or close randomly under heavy acceleration and the defroster would come on in the summer it was a check valve to close to the manifold and the heat was messin with it replaced it and moved it farther away from the heat source and it lasted for a while then would happen again,



Austin Diesel

 

[VicR]

Had a similar problem last fall. I was sure it was going to be a leak in the evap but turned out to be a leak in the compressor. Worked fine and next day didn't work at all.

 

[SGT310]

Thanks Vic, Austin, and BG I'll be checking your suggestions. Can't hurt. Maybe I'll get lucky. I know of 6-7 guys who have had similar problems with their gen 2 trucks. I also just bought an '01 truck with 173,000 and the air works great. The old '99 gas I sold a month ago hadn't worked for 2 years. The '99 I wrote about originally is the family baby. It tows a 16,000 trailer every now and then so it sits a lot of the time. Thanks again! Sgt310

 

[SKuyper]

The high side line running from the condenser to the firewall on the right side of these trucks, were notorious for rubbing on the battery box and another issue was battery acid eating the line... some bright actuary thought that an aluminum tube would have been cheaper instead of a rubber high pressure hose in that area... the hose would have been stronger and more resistant to abrasion than the aluminum tubing... . go figure

 

[surfbeetle]

On my 95, I had to carefully bend the a/c line away from rubbing on something up at the condenser, passenger side. Also had the sensor in the line down by the compressor, but not on the compressor, come loose and leak out the coolant. Had it recharged and it's been working great. The solution to prolong the life of the evaporator is to get the fresh air filter from Geno's. It prevents the crap from getting down there and damaging the evaporator.