Mega cab Weak a/c

[Megadesertdiesel]

i too have a megacab with leather. it is horrible to drive in the AZ heat. so much noise from the vents but not much cooling. well just another little thing to complain about to the ******* on monday when i drop it off for other nit picky items. if nothing hapens i will call and open a file with DC. i did this on my 2001 and they replaced the whole dash, only after 6 months of complainning.

 

[MHalloran]

I agree with Fozzy. It's the simple "supply air - return air" idea. Like HVAC system in a house. Go in a room & close the door. The supply air velocity will be much greater if there is a return air vent also. It's tougher to push air into a closed box. Crack a window so air can move.

 

[WMoroni]

You shouldn't have to crack a window for the a/c to work in a $45,000 truck. I have a 05 quad that has had a poor a/c since purchased. When I got it it blew 38* out of the drivers vent which is great. The only problem was the passenger vent were blowing 68*. This was in 90* weather. Long story short, dealer ended up replacing evaporator. (That is the one under the dash, right?) You should see it. Way to small for a cab that big. Maybe 8" sq. My Toyota Taco had an evaporator abou 2 times the size of the one in the ram. The mechanic at the dealer said it was also much smaller than the ones in the 2nd gen trucks. Bottom line, Dodge put to small an A/C unit in a great big cab. By the way after they had my dash out all the vents blow the same temp. 58* on a 95* measured with a dial thermometer stuck in vents. The best fix I have found is to drive my 98 when the sun is shining.

 

[Walker]

Yes, DC has a problem with their AC units on the 06 MC (and I assume Quads). The first time I turned mine on in my new rig it sounded like someone dropped a load of bearings into the blower motor. It stopped after the first few times and I noticed the air flow was not very strong. I said I'd get to it later and check into it. Well, just a couple of days ago I turn it on and BAM! A crash under the dash and NO air flow. I take off the blower motor and find the damper door laying on the vent blocking the air.



Here's the kicker. I take it by my dealer and show him the door. He says "hang on a sec" and walks out of the parts room with another door someone had just brought in and lays it on the counter next to mine. They had the exact same breaks. Identicle. So, the past few days I've been running around with the damper door completely out (no restrictions); which means I'm bringing in outside air only (no recirc. ), and the air flow is exactly the same as before, WEAK!



So yes, DC has a problem, at the very least with this damper door breaking issue on the 06's. As for the airflow problem, I think we may need the larger evaporator and/or blower motor (btw mine is annoyingly loud as well). My air seems it should be plenty cool if it could just get out the volume needed. My 01 was fine; good volume, quiet (er), and blew snowballs. This one is pretty lame.



I agree that we should'nt have to deal with a sub par crappola AC on our high dollar rigs. I don't believe it's a cost saving excuse for DC, just bad engineering. They've proven they can put capable units in previous year models. Heck, they put "meat locker" units in Yugo's.



Like they say "IT AIN'T ROCKET SURGERY"!

 

[blacksmoke10]

Ok, I want to address why I started this post. first of all. As I mentioned before I have been a commercial refrigeration and residential a/c contactor for over 10 years. So everyone knows that means I not only design build and install all type of a/c and refrigeration units. Also including Ice machines and commercial cooling units. So lets just assume I know what I am talking about.

When you work on a auto a/c unit it is pretty much cut and dry. the system has be engineered to work with certain parts. When you have a problem with a part it does not work well. When you start to loose a compressor you can tell by looking at your suction and discharge pressures. another common problem with auto a/c is air in the system. And many times systems have to much oil in them which is sometimes added when adding freon to the unit. when there is to much oil in the system it can cause the system to not work as engineered.



I new when I started this post I would get retarded post like this on below.

please read his post in quotes and then read my reply.



"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.

Yesterday 11:33 PM"



Ok, I am not made about my mega cab purchases. I will be able to fix mine even if I have to refit a system from a dura max into my trucks, I have the money and the ability to do this, I have wrote this now 5 times. then the retard writes you are expecting the air to cool down to fast. If you would have read the post I said the a/c system does not even work 1/3 as well as both ford and chevy. which I also own the same size vehicles. one is a black avalanche. so I think that is a very good test to see how a a/c system works in a car. so you understand black is hot avalanches are just as big inside as a mega cab. so please understand the comparability. not sure why the guy compares his truck to a bathroom.



then this guy below writes that I do not understand how the a/c system works. first of all he lives in MN like I said in my post you have to live were it gets hot to make this comparison. if it does not get hot where you live the a/c works fine. then he goes on to tell me how to make my system work better. Yes I know how to make the system work as well as it can. As I wrote before I know how it works. I agree open the windows to get out the really hot air then put the system on high and also on recirc that will only cool the air in the cab not add any outside air to the system. Yes how many time do I have to write I know how to use the system.



another guy writes it works like your house a/c you have to leave something cracked to get air in the room. No it does not work like that. you have a blower motor behind your dash that draws the air in and sends it thru a evaporator and then sends the air out the air ducts on your dash. so you do not have to have a window open.



Please stop writing do you know how to work the a/c unit.



All I am trying to say in this post is that the 06 mega cab a/c unit works about 1/3 as well as chevy and ford.

I will be able to fix my system, but like I said I don't think the average guy should have to do this to his truck. I really think if enough people complained to dodge and the word got out that dodge a/c systems in the mega cab does not cool like it should. when people know of this sales will start to fall off and dodge will fix the problem. this is what I was trying to get acoss. Instead I get people posting to tell me how to work my a/c.

 

[DPKetchum]

I wish some of you would run thermometers in the vents and replay to readings. The COLDEST I can get out of mine such as today was LOW 50 degree,once or twice 49 with right side a few degrees warmer on RECIR. It was 86 ambient with low humidity. My 1998 1500 that NEVER had a gauge on it or freon installed since new was 40 degrees on FRESH after a few miles of cool down on RECIR today almost same route withen hours of the 03. The OTHER day it was 96 ambient and I could ONLY get 60 degrees on recir out of my 03!

 

[COBRAJET]

My 06 is also weak... but only in the city. It cools well enough on the highway. The sustem does not appear to be large enough. I have a digital thermometer in the AC vent just to the left of the driver. Running around in the city in 95-100 degree Texas heat it will not cool below 51 degrees on Recirc with the fan one notch below high speed. It will drop to 50 by lowering it one more speed... but the lower fan speed actually makes the comfort level worse. On the freeway after about 30 minutes I am still on recirc with the fan on the second of 4 speeds. It is blowing 44-45 degrees. It will climb right back to 50-51 as soon as freeway speeds are not maintained.



After reading this post I checked my four other vehicles just for comparison. All four were checked on mid speed recirc with the same thermometer... none of which I have ever felt were not working correctly or under sized. It was 96 degrees outside and all were driven for about 15 minutes in the city.



2005 Ford F150... . 41 degrees... will freeze you flat out of the truck

1999 Ford Explorer... sons with original never touched AC... 42 degrees

2004 Ford Expedition with front and rear on... 40 degrees... a icebox from day one

2001 BMW M3... . the winner at a steady 38-40 degrees.



All four rise about 3 degrees as the compressors cycles but never go above 45 degrees. All of the Fords will show upper 30's briefly. The BMW read down to 36 on a few cylcles... a well designed system. I have owned all vehicles since new and have had the AC serviced on none of them. Conclusion... . my 2006 Cummins has a crappy designed marginally working system... which is charged correctly I might ad.

 

[DOWG]

Sorry guys, I did not have time to read all the responses. Anyway, I noticed my A/C wasn't working very well (I was sweating like a catholic priest in church) so I called the dealership and they said "cold air, but not much, and you are driving a Megacab?"



Darn, that is a lot of right answers in one breath from a female DC service tech and I am not sure I really ever asked a question.



Apparently, the A/C "door" breaks, whatever that means and you can tell when it happens because it feels like the passenger side loose shock thump on the 2nd generation trucks.



Anyway, DC fixes said door and life is good in Dallas @ 101 degrees and 70% or 80% humidity.



For those of you with Automatics. don't forget to leave the overdrive "off" til you get past 60 miles per hour. Pretty cool on the 3rd generations, OD can be left off til 3000+ RPM's (over 70 MPH) & and you still get fuel.

 

[DPKetchum]

Wife taking ours in the the Caddy dealer she works at. Going to check pressures,then pull it down and recharge. Want my ducks in a row before I start calling D. C. no help line and cause a stink.

 

[BGott]

There is something I noticed but haven't played with. When I added a can to my '06 QC a friend of mine and I noticed that there is a large gap between the top of the condenser and the core support. That gap lets a lot of air being pulled by the fan to bypass the condenser. We blocked the gap and noticed on the gauges that it pulled the high side down a fair amount. I haven't had time to build a permanent baffle to see if it the extra air through the condensor will cool the truck quicker but it might be something you could try.

 

[03 H.O. Police]

I have an 03 and the AC freezes me out of it.

Guess its like getting a motor thats tight or loose... .

 

[DavidMcGinnis]

I have an '06 Mega Cab that also has a cooling problem. I live in humid St. Louis, and once the ambient temperature reaches about 90 there's very little cooling in the cab. I also do not have much air coming through both the driver and passenger vents. There's so much noise when the system is on high, but not much air movement. If someone figures out a fix, please let me know.

 

[raychem]

I agree that the 3rd gens have a/c issues... so here is what I did. I have tints 20% up front pass and driver window. Double 20's in the back... and I tinted the front window with a 50 % neutral tint which has no color and is barely detectable even at night. In some places you can even get 70 % neutral tint which is better than the 50%. Yeah its illegal but I mind my business and the cops have no problem seeing me drive. And trust me... these last few weeks in florida have not been kind, while we dont see 100's we get 95* with 70-95 humidity which is worse than the 105 arizona heat with 5% humidity. The front tint helps IMENSELY in helping the truck stay cool and cool down.





Richard

 

[JKuehl78]

Add me to the list of a lot of fan noise and no air flow. My 06 Mega has terrible AC in the front but the back seat isn't bad relative to the lack of air flow in the front.



When it's hot I too drive my 98 24V I can see my breath in that thing.

 

[PKitzman]

Same problem here with a quad cab 05. What's up with the high fan setting? All noise and little flow...



You might as well give up if you run it on the fresh air setting on a hot day. If I run mine on the recirc setting it will get plenty cold, but it does take about 10-15 minutes to get there where most vehicles can do it in 5 minutes or less.

 

[KNeeley]

Just came in from checking my M/C a/c out. Temp was 87, hum. at 72%. Ran engine at 1500 rpm to stablize pressure. High and low side pressure low.



Total system charge capacity is 30oz of 134A according to sticker on core support. After I charged 24oz on top of the factory charge pressure leveled out. Duct temps. (drivers side, ds center, pass. center, and pass. side) 44,41,39,46. The rear seat discharge. 42



The system seems to be extremely low charged (at least mine) For the first time since I have owned this truck the compressor will actually cycle on and off from the fin temp. sensor. It is closer on par with the 05 QC I had.



Oh and 5% tint helps also. :-laf

 

[JWilmer]

Just came in from checking my M/C a/c out. Temp was 87, hum. at 72%. Ran engine at 1500 rpm to stablize pressure. High and low side pressure low.



Total system charge capacity is 30oz of 134A according to sticker on core support. After I charged 24oz on top of the factory charge pressure leveled out. Duct temps. (drivers side, ds center, pass. center, and pass. side) 44,41,39,46. The rear seat discharge. 42



The system seems to be extremely low charged (at least mine) For the first time since I have owned this truck the compressor will actually cycle on and off from the fin temp. sensor. It is closer on par with the 05 QC I had.



Oh and 5% tint helps also. :-laf

I think EVERYONE should verify there freon before complaining about poor AC systems... . mine works "OK" but what do I know... I live in Minnesota... .



hmmm we only get 90+ degrees... . 80%+ humidity... 60%-70% dewpoint..... THAT will work an AC system harder than 105 degree dry air of AZ. - BJ



BTW- I will verify mine... I know I'm NOT getting 40-45 degree air outa mine.

 

[JWilmer]

I have an '06 Mega Cab that also has a cooling problem. I live in humid St. Louis, and once the ambient temperature reaches about 90 there's very little cooling in the cab. I also do not have much air coming through both the driver and passenger vents. There's so much noise when the system is on high, but not much air movement. If someone figures out a fix, please let me know.

I know this sounds lame... . BUT when the ducts are set on the dash only (not feet/dash) the air flow nearly doubles in mine... . no matter the fan setting... BJ

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

my 06 does seem to blow ok, but its misleading because you can't point the other center vent to blow on the driver. fired up the '02 today, with a temp probe in the left center vent I was getting 41 within 3 minutes of start up, within 10 minutes I was pumping 36 degrees on recirculate and 91 degrees outside. I suppose real AC is supposed to work this way tomorrow I will check I will check my one month old '06 QC, I will say that if your vehicle will not blow less than 45degress something is wrong with the AC

 

[Megadesertdiesel]

well i took my 06 megacab to the dealer today and they checked it out, and told me "low volume out of vents n/c tested all ac doors and working normal. normal air flow out of ac vents for 06 mega cab. ac blows cool not cold warr evac ac system and found proper charge. found ac blowing cold to 54 degrees while test driving. normal operation for 06 2500 leather mega cab. " all of this is on my invoice. i will be calling the DC helpline to open a file tomorrow. my thermometer shows 54 degrees also after 20 minutes of driving, with fan on high. NOT ACCEPTABLE for a 50k truck!