Mega cab Weak a/c

[blacksmoke10]

We have 3 new mega cab trucks. We live in Arizona. All 3 trucks have leather seats, larimie 4x4 diesels. The a/c works pretty good up to about 96 degrees. When the blowers are on high speed they make all kinds of interior noise but do not put out much air. You can drive these trucks around all day on high speed and never have to turn down the a/c. Compared to any ford or chevy truck of the same year you have about half the air flow and alot more noise inside the cab. I took the newest truck into the dealer to see if anything could be done. They did say there was a damper door not working correctly and they fixed it but still it did not help any at all. The rest of the truck is awsome, in dash nav system good for on road use not for off road at all. rear dvd works good. Sun roof is very nice. I think dodge may have a problem on there hands for people who live where it gets hot. In az you drive around sweating because the a/c is just not very good. So keep this in mind when buying the new mega cab. I always have one dodge diesel on hand but also drive a chevy avalanche and a chevy tahoe. both other vehicles have alot of cab space but the a/c units put out about twice as much cold air. Even when it is about 109 degrees outsite after driving the chevy's you are reaching to turn the air down a few notches. Any one else having the same problems. Compared to ford and chevy the mega cab has about 1/3 the cooling ability.

 

[KParsons]

week ac

yes my ac is not that good. with 4 people in the truck 90 deg. out side it takes 15 min to cool down. this is 06 quad! kp

 

[AMink]

I was noticing the same thing today in Reno. It's wasn't even that hot, but the a/c just doesn't seem to pump really cold air, and it doesn't pump much of the air that does come out. The Chevy work truck I have you could hang meat in! So far, that's the only disappointing thing with the truck. We're heading out on vacation this Sunday, but when I get back I want to contact the dealer and see if anything can be done.

 

[NKenny]

Yes, same issue. I have noticed that the driver door front vent is very weak. I recall my sister's '02 1500 had a similar issue. It was resolved under warranty about 2 years after she bought it.

 

[DOWG]

All I know, is that air conditioners used to work just fine until the environmentalist wackos got a hold of my freon. Just like my 1998 12-valve that got 21 miles per gallon with 250,000 miles on the clock. The new 2006 Megacab gets 16-17 miles per gallon. Good job EPA, I burn more fuel to travel the same distance, I'm hot and ****** off when I get there to find no parking, so I think I'll park on top of one of those hybrid go-kart lookin' thingees... ... ... ... .

 

[Yooper1]

I just bought a 06 mega cab too and thought the same thing about the A/C!

As far as the MPG, these things weigh 8,250 lbs. . A lot of rolling steel.

 

[Bertram65]

I took my '03 to the dealer a while ago with the same complaint, they said everything was fine, what a waste of time. I got this kit here at Autozone, my AC was 16oz low on 134a. For $25 it is a lot easier than dealing with the dealer and you will know for sure it is filled correctly.

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

I have heard that if you slightly over fill the AC with freon it will boost the cooling. However i know nothing about AC

 

[blacksmoke10]

weak a/c mega cab

guy's again thanks for your impute. Please only reply to this thread if you have a mega cab and also feel the a/c is very poor. I think this may actually be something dodge has to deal with. As mentioned in the original thread I took the truck into dodge for service they checked it out and said there was a door not working right. Usually when you take a new truck in they find something wrong. they fixed the door problem and it works exactly the same as before. I was a commercial and residential a/c contractor for 10 years. I have been thru many refrigerant schools and certified. I really think there is a flaw with these trucks. I think when you pay 45,000. 00 to 55,000. 00 for a truck the a/c should be comparable to ford and chevy and it is not even close as I also have many of there vehicles also. So please only post here if you have the same problem or have solution. If dodge does not come up with a solution I will probably figure out a way to change the blower assembly to put out more air and if that does not do the trick I will then start changing compressors. I have the ability to do this but I do not feel the average guy should spend that kind of money and have to add a/c to a truck that he paid to already have a/c. please note if you live in a cool climate you will not experience the same trouble. When I drive in cooler weather it works good. but up around 100 it goes bad quick. The same vehicle in a ford or chevy model works fine in this temperature. believe me I know that r12 works better than the 134a refrigerant that is used now. I have spent many hours at seminars and schools learning why we must us 134a. My point is that chevy and ford use the same and there a/c units work about twice as well. In the Az heat you drive down the road and sweat. When i purchased the dodge mega cab I drive I never thought to check to see if the a/c worked well. The a/c have worked well I feel since about the early 90's we all remember when you would flip on your a/c and the engine would drag. The other two mega cab trucks we have I have not driven them since earlier in the year when it was still cool here in Az. I had been still driving my 03 quad cab. so again please only reply to this thread if you have a new mega cab with the same problem.

 

[AMink]

Please only reply to this thread if you have a mega cab and also feel the a/c is very poor.

As noted above, my a/c isn't as good as I think it should be. I think that anyone with an 06 should get in on this since it's the same unit, whether mega or quad or standard. The more people with this problem, maybe the more chance of a DC fix.



Just my . 02.

 

[blacksmoke10]

weak a/c

yes by all means I did not realize that this is a problem with the quad cabs also. I just thougth it was only with the new bigger mega cabs. If dodge figures out that it would dampen truck sales in the hot area's they will fix the problem. I am hoping the cooling problem is a over charge or undercharge of freon. I doubt that is the problem as they are usually pretty good at testing that kind of stuff. who knows the equipment that charged the systems in mexico when assembling the truck may be defective. That could fix the cooling problem but would not help the lack of air coaming out of the dash outlets. In my opinion the blower or blower wheel does not seem to be the right match. If this were a older truck I would assume the blower motor was getting weak or the blower wheel is slipping on the blower shaft. and also the freon charge is not right. but this is a brand new truck which should be engineered to work correctly.

 

[Bertram65]

yes by all means I did not realize that this is a problem with the quad cabs also. I just thougth it was only with the new bigger mega cabs. If dodge figures out that it would dampen truck sales in the hot area's they will fix the problem. I am hoping the cooling problem is a over charge or undercharge of freon. I doubt that is the problem as they are usually pretty good at testing that kind of stuff. who knows the equipment that charged the systems in mexico when assembling the truck may be defective. That could fix the cooling problem but would not help the lack of air coaming out of the dash outlets. In my opinion the blower or blower wheel does not seem to be the right match. If this were a older truck I would assume the blower motor was getting weak or the blower wheel is slipping on the blower shaft. and also the freon charge is not right. but this is a brand new truck which should be engineered to work correctly.

Do a search this has been a problem since the 3rd gen trucks came out, it has nothing to do with it being a mega cab or a '06. If you are going to wait for Dodge to do something or acknowledge there is a known problem you will have a long hot wait on your hands.

 

[KCJackson]

My 96 Club Cab was meat-locker cold... if cranked to Max/Recirc and full fan, you could see your breath if you hung around long enough. My 05 Quad Cab is not nearly as cold, and I have to run Max/Recirc to not just get the heat out, but to keep it out. The dash vent to the left of the gauges doesn't have the same airflow as the one to the right of the gauges, regardless of fan speed.



The issues with the 3rd Gen trucks as I see it are multiple:



1 - The common-rail engines run hotter. My 96 never saw the dark side of 165 degrees unless I was in stop-and-go traffic in 95+ weather. My 05 heads straight for 180 in amatter of minutes, no matter what the season. And what's in front of the radiator? The AC condenser.



2 - Dash space is restricted by the various requirements of the passenger air bag and all the electronic equipment. There was almost nothing behind the dash of my 96. More room for ducts back then.



3 - With the Mega Cab, the weaker airflow is further diluted by the increased interior volume. There's a lot more hot air to get rid of.



I don't think this is an issue that will get fixed... we will just have to hope for a more capable system in the next body redesign.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Agreed it's pretty well established this is a weakness with all 3rd Gen trucks, but having owned several 2nd Gens and a 2003, it was quite apparent my '03 had the weakest AC of them all. Like blacksmoke10 says 95 is about the crossover point from being adequate to insufficient.



We recently had a warm spell in Eastern Washington with 10 out of 11 days being between 98 and 106 degrees . . . the A/C on my 394,000 mile '96 worked just fine

 

[DPKetchum]

This ISSUE has been around since the 3gs came out! come MONDAY morning lets ALL start calling 1-800-992-1997 D. C. no help desk and ask to have files OPEN on our trucks. Any one else game? Oo.

 

[JWilmer]

I learned a few tricks over the years... .



#1) ALWAYS use recirc if you want the coldest air

#2) NEVER use the the fan on high (use the next lower setting) reason being it cant cool the air fast enough for the higher volume of air... . use a simple thermometer in the vent to verify coldest position... BJ



BTW- I live in MN. (not the warmest place... LOL) BUT on the 90+ degree humid ash days my AC works fine... NOT the coldest I ever felt... but cold enough to keep it in the lower fan settings and I can even roll the temp knob back a little...



edit- verify freon pressure and the fact everything is working properly first...

 

[vciesielski]

I have a 03 quad cab, and I do not have this problem.

The only problem i see is you trying to do is justify 3 bad purchases, or not understanding how the a/c system effectively works in this or any truck.

The only other thing I see is this, you expect 100+deg. air to be cooled down to 32deg. air in less than 5min. in a cab the size of a small bath room. A lillte unrealistic if you ask me.

 

[Briman]

I think the 3rd gens AC fill is just like the diffs and xfer case. They come with a low fill for the pennies that DC saves during manufacture. I have read here that folks with reputable dealers and good AC service centers who can evacutate the system and measure how much the 134a weighs find the system low. Sometimes by almost a pound. I therefore believe bertram65 is on the right track with his solution. I did this to my Volvo wagon and had a dramatic increase in the AC's ability to cool air. Neither of the 3rd gens I have had cooled as good as they should. I have simply avoided doing bertram65's solution because I don't live in the hot belt. If I were to follow the directions on the can of refrigerant with gauge I would be willing to bet that the system would take most all of it before the gauge read where recomended. Sorry to hijack your thread, I think the problem is more wide spread than your mega cabs. By the way, have you checked the fluid level in your pumpkins?

 

[2Gen3Gen]

Ive owned 2 3rd gen trucks and both had lousy a/c units. But, you can't just say D/C has a problem with the truck units. I also have an 05 Sebring Convertible and the a/c also sucks

 

[fozzy]

Blacksmoke 10

I was at lake mead for a week over the 4th and it was 105+. I to felt the A/C was weak. I also noticed that the fan on high made a lot more noise than air flow. Cracked my vent on the sunroof and the air just exploded out of the vents. My Mega Cab is sealed so much better than my 03 for some reason. I do not have the wind noise or door seal problems (yet). Let the truck get cooled down and close the vent and turn it to rec. helped a lot with my truck.