Air Conditioning

[Beer Man]

On a 500 mile round trip this yesterday and today after 69,000 miles i had a first occurance with the a/c. It only happened on the way down but not back. Running 70 mph, temp outside was 75 (it was 88 on the way back) and i started getting hot so i turned up the fan but no more air came out of vents. Turned it on max and i could here the blower blowing air hard behing the glove box. First thought i had a door broke again, in which i had one replaced already for the heat/defrost. Pulled over Started looking and had a bunch of water coming out of the tube from the firewall. Then it started working again. Got back on road and later saw smoke from the vents and same thing, fan would blow, but not through vents. After the next few times i would turn off a/c and let the vent blow for about 5 minutes then it would work again. anyone else have this problem? Is it freezing up? Would it be low on freon?

 

[MCornwell]

Its freezing up



Have someone or yourself check the charge.



All that water is ice melting. It could have been just a one time



thing.

 

[Carlsummers]

This is a known problem with the '03's (according to the SM at the dealership I go to). Evidently, a sensor needs to be replaced that requires pulling the dash. I was going to have mine done 2 weeks ago, but couldn't... last Saturday, it iced up again, twice. Will get it fixed this week for sure.....

 

[wscott]

Quote... ... ... This is a known problem with the '03's (according to the SM at the dealership I go to). Evidently, a sensor needs to be replaced that requires pulling the dash. I was going to have mine done 2 weeks ago, but couldn't... last Saturday, it iced up again, twice. Will get it fixed this week for sure.....



Any idea as to what the sensor is called? Mine is doing the same thing and would like to know what I'm talking about when I take it to the dealer.

 

[Carlsummers]

Sorry, don't know... I hope to have it done this Thursday. Will let you know, then.....

 

[sag2]

Without stopping to look it up for positive, there is a fin temp sensor. I also believe I saw something about servicing it separately so you do not have to pull the entire dash.

 

[Carlsummers]

sag2, you are absolutly right... . that is what the svc. mgr. called it... . I hope you're right about not having to pull the dash. Thanks.....

 

[SSage]

The sensor you may be talking about is behind the glove box, not a big deal. Mine has been replaced, it didn't help. The three pound over charge has solved the problem for us.

 

[EEngel]

Over charge

SSage,



What does a 3 pound over charge do to the system pressure?

 

[SSage]

It increases it by three pounds over the original factory spec, I don't know what the exact pressure is. DC has not issued a TSB yet that I know of. The dealer was told to do it over the phone before buying it back.



It hasn't iced up in two weeks now. Seems like its a bit colder too. I also had the same problems mentioned above, vapor coming through the vents, warm air on the passenger side, no air flow while the blower is making noise etc. The dealer almost replaced the whole system looking for leak sources. The leaking finally stopped, but, the A/C still would ice up untill they added the three pounds. I think I had three problems with the A/C, 1. defrost door, 2. a possible leak and 3. low coolant overall. The dealer claims my compressor was bad also, I bet if they over charged the system in the first place it would have helped the icing up. The leak was never pin pointed.

 

[RottonRob]

Mine ices up all the time. Have to turn the ac off and wait till warm air comes out. Then turn back on.

Let us know what they do to fix it. Also if there is a TSB on it. Thanks

 

[RKerner]

Adding 3lb of freon over what I assume is the normal charge seems like a lot. Typically, this would increase the high side pressure a bunch at low speeds and idle (like over 100psi or so) while raising the low side pressure enough to keep the evaporator from icing up. If the low side pressure with the proper charge was still pulling into the 15-20psi range, then for sure there isn't enough freon in the system. I used to add a bit over the recommended charge to keep low side pressures from getting too low and to keep frost from coming out the vents. A guy would need to look at the system a little closer to be more educated on it as I got out of the business just before HFC 134 and before variable displacement compressors were perfected.



Isn't there a sight glass on the receiver/dryer or does one just hope that the tech info is correct (no misprints) for proper charge amount? Did the dealer have one of them ultrasonic flow thingies for identifying bubbles in the low side of the system?

 

[SSage]

I understood the tech to say three pounds as in 3 psi. Not much.



Do you check the high side on 134a? I purchased a recharge kit for my 98, it only has one guage/hose for the low side. I always thought if your accumulator inlet pipe is colder than the actual accumulator or even frosted, then your low. Or if the outlet from the evaporator is warmer than the inlet your low. Mine was icing so bad, it was leaking under the dash. The husky mats did their job.



Since they "balanced" the vents, we still get slightly colder air through the drivers side also. The other trucks on the lot did the same thing. Before the fix, the air was almost warm and the two sliders where both full cold. The passenger side felt like the control was in the middle. It started doing that after the defrost door TSB was done. Dealer said they screwed up and missed calibrating the vents. It only took the A/C tech a moment to fix it. I have no idea if they were telling me the truth, some dealers do tend to blow smoke.

 

[rustyrod]

More money for a crappy AC system!!

I just paid $565 to have my AC "corrected"! And that bill did not include one single repair part!

I brought my new "03 in to the dealers three times last summer because the rotten smell was giving my wife and I headaches. Each time (while it was still under warrenty) the service tech said he could not smell anything. No service was done that summer.

This summer the passenger side puts out only warm air - drivers side is cold. After two times in to get is fixed, the passenger side still puts out lots warmer air and I am out $565 because I have 43k on the speedo. The service ticket says: "R & R HWater box and remove pine needles". So now I can't park near a pine tree or they will have to remove half the dashboard to get at the handful of pine needles. Who designed this truck? The dealer said he had nothing to do with the design, he just fixes! I say, if this rig can't make it a couple of nights parked under a pine tree, I don't care if it has a CD under the hood, its not properly designed. My 1994 had 400,000 when I sold it and never had a single problem with the AC. Now... I'm minus about $600 and it still blows warm air on the passenger side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tech says it take 10 to 15 mins to get cold on that side. 45 mins of driving and still lots warmer than the drivers side. Crap! This AC design is junk! Nobody offered the 3psi over fix or any other fix. Yesterday I brought it in and they could find nothing wrong and wanted to charge me another $65! I blew. This $45,000 dollor lemon is really getting me down.

.

.

 

[rustyrod]

The AC bull just gets deeper...

My last post was about my warm passenger side problems. NOW...

I drove about 9 hours from Roanoke, VA to Bowling Green, KY and then returned. AC froze up at least every 2 hours, even with the "MAX" switch off. Owners Manual says nothing about turning the MAX button off after a few minutes. Dealer says I can't run it for more than a few minutes. What a run-around! Now I don't use the MAX button and the rotten systems still freezes up and drips all over the passenger side. Over and over Ad Nauseum. Is this real or is this a nightmare? First vehicle I ever owned over $40K and it is by far the worst! I called the hotline and they said they could do nothing. I asked to talk to the manager and got "I am the manager". Is there a dealer in the USA that can fix this poor excuse for an AC system??

 

[jnelson]

A perfect reason not to buy first year run trucks.



Waited a year and a half and have had no problems in 18,000 in less than 2 months.



)(knock on wood)

 

[SSage]

We reached our limit after a year of A/C problems and started to do a buy back. The week of the meeting, they fixed it.



Up untill then, the service manager said there was nothing else he could do. Their attitude changed once the Lemon Law papers were being filled out. They started trying very hard to find a fix, once we started the Lemon Law protection. I got my four pieces of paper ( three required) with the exact same A/C problem, plus the other related visits were all documented. They did not want to give out any paper work on the third visit, we had to insist. We did not want to do a buy back or collateral exchange if at all possible, so we pushed till it was fixed. I can live with the droan, the dealer said they should be able to fix the vibration with future TSBs.



In a way I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been told "its normal". Thats what I heard from the dealer when the truck was blowing air to the floor boards all the time! Warm air on the passenger side was normal too. :-laf



I know there are lots of idiots in the world, I just wish the local Dodge dealers would rise above and actually hire Master Mechanics. My A/C tech hardly spoke english, I wonder how well he read and understood english tech info? These guys are not qualified, they are doing they best they can with what they have at my dealer. And thats not much.



Keep hammering on them, get what you need for Lemon Law protection in your state if you can, it will probably get fixed then. Or you'll get a new lemon, I mean truck.

 

[adsharpe]

A perfect reason not to buy first year run trucks.



Waited a year and a half and have had no problems in 18,000 in less than 2 months.



)(knock on wood)

The '03 was a SECOND year production truck. It was the FIRST year they slipped in the Cummins. It was the SECOND year for the a/c.



The problem is not that there are mechanical glitches. The problem is that DC and many of their dealers a lying, stalling scumbags.



They are some very good Dodge dealers around, but there are also some that shouldn't be in business. :--)



I didn't have any problems the first YEAR.