Auto climate control: does your fan speed always run high?

[jastevenson]

In my past cars, the A/C would run on max and lowest temperature until the car cooled down to the set temp (say, 70 degrees), and then the fan speed would drop to 1 while keeping the air temp cold to "trickle" cold air and keep the cabin temp constant.

In my Ram, instead of trickling very cold air once the preferred temp is reached, it seems to keep the fan speed fairly high and just blow large amounts of cool (instead of very cold) air.

Both have the same effect of keeping the cabin at 70 degrees, but the Ram method is annoying since the fan is always blowing fairly hard.

Is this an issue with mine, or is everyone's like this?

 

[vincentw56]

No, my fan speed doesn't stay on high. It will drop to low after getting up to temp.

 

[mikeru82]

Please provide some information about your truck, such as the year and trim level. I would venture to guess that your fan speed is staying high because your AC isn't working as well as it should and it's not getting to the temperature set point. The 2020 Laramie I used to own had that same problem. The AC in my new 2021 Limited works as it should. Fan speed is higher when first starting to cool, but slows down once the interior reaches the desired temperature. There are known issues with the AC systems on some 2019 and 2020 models. And lots of people have complained about the problem. I think there is also a TSB for the issue for trucks built before a certain date. You might want to find some the the older threads which talk about the problems with the AC before taking it in to your dealership.

 

[User_3336]

there is an entire thread(s) about the a/c in the RAM. You did not provide any info about your model year truck though.

 

[jastevenson]

Thanks for the replies thus far. It’s a 2021, which supposedly is not affected by the known A/C issues on the 19-20 models. That’s why I was wondering if this behavior is normal. Sounds like it isn’t. Maybe my A/C needs a recharge or something. I will probably bring it in.

 

[millerbjm]

Thanks for the replies thus far. It’s a 2021, which supposedly is not affected by the known A/C issues on the 19-20 models. That’s why I was wondering if this behavior is normal. Sounds like it isn’t. Maybe my A/C needs a recharge or something. I will probably bring it in.

I feel like mine does this, also a 2021. Haven't had enough long drives yet to tell and it has been very hot but it seems louder than my 2019 was. If you go to the dealer please share anything you learn.

 

[mikeru82]

Sorry to hear the AC in your 2021 doesn't seem to be working right. Went on a two hour drive today in 95 degree temps and we were very comfortable. The fan was running on low and the AC was blowing ice cold. We don't have much humidity here so I can't speak to how it will work in those conditions, but I'm very happy with how mine works. I hope you get yours taken care of under warranty.

 

[scottmoyer]

I have a '21 and mine stays on high speed for an entire drive. I tried to set mine at 70* degrees and after driving for awhile, I played with the temp to see what would drop the fan speed. It finally dropped at 79*. I might need to take mine in also. The outside temp read 99* yesterday and the fan was blowing on 4 or 5 for the full 30 minute drive.

 

[Biga]

Yea, I don't use the Auto mode because I don't like the fan running on high, very annoying to me.

 

[SpeedyV]

In my past cars, the A/C would run on max and lowest temperature until the car cooled down to the set temp (say, 70 degrees), and then the fan speed would drop to 1 while keeping the air temp cold to "trickle" cold air and keep the cabin temp constant.

In my Ram, instead of trickling very cold air once the preferred temp is reached, it seems to keep the fan speed fairly high and just blow large amounts of cool (instead of very cold) air.

Both have the same effect of keeping the cabin at 70 degrees, but the Ram method is annoying since the fan is always blowing fairly hard.

Is this an issue with mine, or is everyone's like this?

Mine behaves like @vincentw56 ’s system. It is the same as any other auto A/C system we’ve owned…

…EXCEPT it’s very slow to recognize the actual exterior temperature when you first start it up. This is especially noticeable on cold winter days, where the system may blast cold air until it “realizes” the cabin is cold 5-10 minutes later. Then it operates as expected.

 

[834k3r]

In my past cars, the A/C would run on max and lowest temperature until the car cooled down to the set temp (say, 70 degrees), and then the fan speed would drop to 1 while keeping the air temp cold to "trickle" cold air and keep the cabin temp constant.

In my Ram, instead of trickling very cold air once the preferred temp is reached, it seems to keep the fan speed fairly high and just blow large amounts of cool (instead of very cold) air.

Both have the same effect of keeping the cabin at 70 degrees, but the Ram method is annoying since the fan is always blowing fairly hard.

Is this an issue with mine, or is everyone's like this?

For what it's worth, I'll add my experience here. Returned from a weekend camping trip yesterday; 4.5 hours towing our camper trailer. Temperatures were in the low 90s to upper 80s for the whole trip. The passenger side temperature was set at 66, driver side was set at 68. Blower was blowing hard for about 15 minutes (it was hot in the truck as it was parked in the sun), but after 15 minutes or so the motor slowed down to a point where I didn't even pay attention to it any longer. There were a couple of moments where the fan would speed up (like coming out of a shady canyon into the sun), but it would slow back down pretty quickly.

One thing I have noticed is the airflow to the back seat is not great, but that's not directly related to the A/C system.

 

[kapinallinen2]

I run in auto, the fan speed varies according to demand, puts out cold air.
I have my house set for 72F, same in the truck. Today dropped the temp to 68 while driving to the court house, got chills.
Tried it in the manual mode, max fan and lo temp. All I got out of the vents was something akin to a "cows warm breath"

 

[Trippi]

I run in auto, the fan speed varies according to demand, puts out cold air.
I have my house set for 72F, same in the truck. Today dropped the temp to 68 while driving to the court house, got chills.
Tried it in the manual mode, max fan and lo temp. All I got out of the vents was something akin to a "cows warm breath"

I get NO chills out of my AC. I lease so switch new cars every 3 years - this is by far this worst experience with AC. Set at LO I should be so cold that I have to move the temp up...at LO I barely get more than cool feeling. Absolute worst.

 

[bpwj76]

I have the the same issues with mine too. The air doesn't get very cold on hot days, but the fan blows too hard. It blows cold air on cold days for about 2 or 3 minutes until the engine warms up then warm air starts to come out.

I have a 2021 RAM Classic Tradesman as a loaner while my Laramie is in the shop. You can hang meat in the cab, the a/c is so cold... and it's been in the mid 90's here. I have to turn the fan speed all the way down and then sometimes have to turn the temp up a couple clicks. I've gone so far as to point the vents away from me, it's so cold

 

[Limited2021]

I was thinking the same thing about my 2021. The auto just doesn't seem to work as nice as my Silverado did. The fan speed goes to high at first to get the cabin cooled off but never seems to make it to low. More like holds at a medium speed when driving in the hot sun and sometimes bumping back up to high for a bit. My Silverado never went back to high once the cabin was cooled off. The air coming out of the Ram seems to be pretty cooled when I turn it all the way down so I feel like the AC is working fine. Not sure what to think about other then that's just the way it works.

 

[vincentw56]

Mine goes in for the TSB Monday. I'll take temp settings before and after.

 

[Dr. Cheeseburger]

2021 here and my A/C seems to work great as long as I am moving and not stuck in traffic. Auto function works like normal, high fan speed at first but as the cabin cools down the fan will slow down as well. No complaints there. Only problem I have noticed is after sitting in traffic or idle for approximately 10 minutes I can tell a significant reduction in A/C performance. Not touching any settings on the control unit the temperature and humidity coming out of the vents goes way up. It almost acts like the evaporator coil is about to freeze up. And all the while the electric engine fans are going full speed sounding like a jet engine. Here in Texas so this is probably a good stress test on the system between the temp and humidity FWIW

 

[Trippi]

Mine goes in for the TSB Monday. I'll take temp settings before and after.

Any chance you van quickly link to the TSB? I am in the truck now. 93 degrees out and nothing but barely above warm air. I can't spend the summer or next few years like this. What are you using to take temp?

 

[vincentw56]

Any chance you van quickly link to the TSB? I am in the truck now. 93 degrees out and nothing but barely above warm air. I can't spend the summer or next few years like this. What are you using to take temp?

No, I don't have a link. I went into the dealer and told them that I'm here for the TSB for the A/C. And they said not all tsb's are covered. But they took it back tested it and said it was covered and order the parts.

 

[392DCGC]

I have owned several 5th gen 1500s and all of them have been the same - blower always runs harder than most vehicles. When it's near the target temperature, of course if slows down, but as you said it's definitely not a trickle of air coming out unless you manually set the fan speed to 1.