Truck at dealer for A/C

[JApol]

I took my truck into the dealer yesterday(monday) morning to have them look at the A/C. It was nice and cold on the drivers side but the pass side would blow outside air.

I got a call yesterday afternoon saying that they need to get to the air box as there is either a jammed door or the actuator is bad. Cool no prob.

I call them today and they have figured out what is wrong with the airbox but they have also found that the A/C system has 500 PSI at a certain point.

The dealer should have parts in hand tomm(wednesday).

The air coming out of the drivers side was cold enough to cool the whole cabin.

I am just writing this to help document the failure

 

[Whiskey]

JApol,
thanks for the information, there has been lot's of discussion on the third gen AC

My 2006 is doing just about the same thing as your's. .

Keep us Posted

whiskey#ad

 

[DPKetchum]

BIG thread on TheDieseltruckresource about this. Another post about owner finding intermittant 500 psi high side but INTERMITTANT on his 04.

 

[JApol]

Just got off the horn with the dealer. The side to side temp problem is fixed but the part that they replaced for the high pressure problem did not fix it. tech found a bad wire for the fan for the condenser. IIRC there is only one fan in that jungle of tubes and fins so the wires must be for the fan clutch. Hopefully that will repair the issue.

 

[DPKetchum]

And what FIXED the side to side temp differance?

 

[JApol]

As soon as I get my truck I am going to get the low down skinny on what happened and post here so everyone knows what to look for.

 

[JApol]

Almost needed two pages for the repair ticket.

Fan clutch intermitent due to fan blades cutting into the harness. (DC could have thought of another way to route this)

Low condensor cooling, Mode and recirc doors shorted.

Replaced fan clutch and repaired wires, replaced evap coil( I would like to know where this is to verify)

Parts List

evaporator P/N 5140726-AA QTY-1

line a/c P/N 55055960-AD qty-1

actuator p/n 4885206-AB qty 2

door, recirc p/n 5073962-AA qty 1

door none p/n 5073992-AA qty 1

condensor p/n 55057016-AA qty 1

clutch fan p/n 55056990-AB qty 1



Correct me if I am wrong but the condensor is all the fins that our shos love to find and bend over correct? Mine is still the old one.

Ono the way home the passenger side is blowing cooled air, not cold but not outside air either.

 

[DPKetchum]

Need a temp reading from left to right. TWO $5 buck ac thermometers from a parts store. Evaporator is IN the dash. Dash has to be removed. Why a evaporator? Whats with the condensor? Any explanation?

 

[daytripper63]

Almost needed two pages for the repair ticket.

Fan clutch intermitent due to fan blades cutting into the harness. (DC could have thought of another way to route this)

Low condensor cooling, Mode and recirc doors shorted.

Replaced fan clutch and repaired wires, replaced evap coil( I would like to know where this is to verify)

Parts List

evaporator P/N 5140726-AA QTY-1

line a/c P/N 55055960-AD qty-1

actuator p/n 4885206-AB qty 2

door, recirc p/n 5073962-AA qty 1

door none p/n 5073992-AA qty 1

condensor p/n 55057016-AA qty 1

clutch fan p/n 55056990-AB qty 1



Correct me if I am wrong but the condensor is all the fins that our shos love to find and bend over correct? Mine is still the old one.

Ono the way home the passenger side is blowing cooled air, not cold but not outside air either.

With a parts list like that I would say the dealer is playing the guessing game and just changing parts in hope they get the right one

 

[JApol]

I have no Idea why the evaporator had to be changed but I do know that thy techs were in the dash, had greasy hair marks ALL over the inside of the windshield.

I was under the impression that all parts removed for warrenty had to be shipped to DC for verification. The condensor just might have been leaking.



Now the kicker of the story. Over the weekend I kept reaching over to feel what the temp was on the passenger side and it was never really close to the drivers side temp. Just buy the feel on my hand it would be about 10-15* differance. Also the temp fluxuates more on the passenger side, IE at a stop light the passenger air will warm up and cool down again when the truck starts moving.

Has enyone dug into the tech manual to see how this system works for a possible DIY or help out the dealers troubleshoot this?

 

[Smithk136]

Last week my wife said that the air was not working in our 04. 5 and with me in the drivers seat I thought she was crazy. Then I reached over and felt a noticeable difference between the drivers side and passengers side vents. The drivers side puts out between 40-44* while her side 56-60*. I will be taken it in this week.

 

[DPKetchum]

Very long thread with LOTS of posts on the Dieseltruckresource.com forum about this same issue. Join in.

 

[JApol]

Thanks Dp for the heads up again on that thread. Here is a copy of what I posted there.

I don't know how long I have had the problem but it wasn't noticed till mid july during a long road trip.

I turned over my truck to the dealer lst monday and got it back late friday.

Found a bad wire in the fan clutch harness that was keeping the fan clutch from engaging making the pressure over 500 psi on the high side. They also replaced the a/c line p/n 55055960-AD. and the fan clutch along with the condensor, evaporator, 2 door actuators and 2 doors. I got a temp gauge from autozone today and did a little testing. Drivers side temp is about 40* and the pass side is about 45*. Before I got the gauge I though that there was a bigger split between the two but it is the volume of air coming out that makes it feel that way. The pass. side blows about half as hard as the drivers side.

 

[DPKetchum]

As you can see its a big discussion with SOMEONE from D. C. chiming in. (A FIRST as far as I know)He (BEEMO)did reply to my friend SPOOLER and his return e/mail addy is a D. C. one. I'm curious where this ends up. Check yours on the stop and starts temps on pass side and see what it does in traffic on fresh etc.

 

[JApol]

I just did some testing with an adapter that plugs in to a digital multimeter and the temp is displayed in the millivolt DC reading and was very suprised.

I am not going to write out everything so some abbreviations are in order

All readings are in F with temp probe inside vent. Fan on 3/4 with temp control full cold.

R=recirculation

F=fresh

D=Driver's side

P=Passenger's side



Idle F D 61

Idle F P 66-77 never steadied out

Idle R D 57

Idle R P 59-67 again never steadied out

35 MPH P F 55

35 MPH D F 49

35 MPH P R 29-31 sometimes 35

35 MPH D R 34

35 MPH fan full blast D R 25

35 MPH fan full blast P R 26

I thought it was going to start snowing in August

 

[Sled Dog]

Last week my wife said that the air was not working in our 04. 5 and with me in the drivers seat I thought she was crazy. Then I reached over and felt a noticeable difference between the drivers side and passengers side vents. The drivers side puts out between 40-44* while her side 56-60*. I will be taken it in this week.

Me too! Drivers side cold, passenger side hot. Talked to a tech ( while I still had bumper to bumper)at the local Dodge dealer, said that's normal till cooling catches up. Right!

Now 43k on Odometer, I'm SOL!

 

[AMink]

I wish I had a way to measure volume of air at different fan settings. My mega just doesn't seem to put out a lot of air. What it does put out is fairly cool, just not enough of it. The mega on high seems to match my Chevy work truck on about 2 or 3.

 

[JeepRig]

I had the same problem. I would take it back time and time again for recharges, but it never got fixed. finally I told them to evacuate the entire system and recharge with brand new freon. I also had them put a new schrader valve in on a hunch. I think my schrader valve was leaking. After doing this, 2 months later, I have not had any problems and it actually is almost too cold sometimes. Try this before a new evaporator. I was so close to just telling them to put in a new evaporator, but this has seemed to do the trick. Try it, it is a really cheap fix.

 

[RGardner]

My 03 just does not cool like I think it should, took it to the local mechanic and he added a pound of 134, the seem to fix it for a while but is back to not cool like I think that it should again (outside air temp per overhead 83 and cooler set at max cooling, fan at max and air set at recirculate) takes about 30 min to get too cold. Have 32k on the truck guess it is time to compain to dodge.

 

[BSwayne]

vistronic fan clutch

My 2004 2500 QC A/C works fine driving down the road but at idle it blows hot air. An A/C guy recharged the system but said the problem is that the fan clutch is not kicking in at idle. The A/C hi pressure side is kicking out the clutch. He put a fan in front of the grill and it worked fine. Someone posted a TSB but that one has been replaced by one that only applies to CA trucks. The fan clutch is a $350 part and I don't want to replace it if it is a sensor. I would expect the engine to overheat if the fan clutch was not working at all.



Has anyone had issues with the vistronic fan clutch?? I'm new to TDR so I'm still figuring this out.



Thanks