A/C Performance

[Timeless]

Interesting video...so the RAM was at about 52 degrees at the vent and the Ford at 42 degrees. However, they both cooled down in about the same amount of time to 70 degrees. The Ford cooled down less than a minute sooner than the RAM. Therefore, not sure what conclusions you can make based on the fact the vent temps were ~10 degree differential but the trucks cooled down to ~70 in the same amount of time. All I can say is that I have ZERO issues with my RAM and it gets very cold pretty darn quick.

I believe the issue is going to be when the conditions are far hotter and more humid. You will see it take much longer than a minute in difference.

Not only that but the Ram will have the vents going much harder to keep it cool.

Anyone that argues the AC is sub par to competitors is just fooling themselves to feel better.

It is a fact just as much as it is a fact the the 3.5 Ecoboost is a more powerful engine.

That being said the other items of the Ram to ME more than made up for these short comings.

 

[firecadet613]

I believe the issue is going to be when the conditions are far hotter and more humid. You will see it take much longer than a minute in difference.

Not only that but the Ram will have the vents going much harder to keep it cool.

Anyone that argues the AC is sub par to competitors is just fooling themselves to feel better.

It is a fact just as much as it is a fact the the 3.5 Ecoboost is a more powerful engine.

That being said the other items of the Ram to ME more than made up for these short comings.

Very well said and I agree, overall it's the best truck on the market. No issues with frozen door latches on my '19 Ram as I had on my '16 F150. The A/C isn't as cold, but it wasn't as noticable this past summer as it was the summer of 2018 when I swapped trucks. It's not big enough of a concern for me to keep going to the dealer...if I learn they've updated the HVAC software, I'll go back in, until then I'll continue to enjoy my Ram.

 

[ac1dd]

Best way to be sure about the operation is to bring that accurate thermometer with a problem and stick it in the drivers side vent with AC on Max AC, with recirculate on, max fan speed, and ambient temp at 90 or above and humidity at 50% or above with the car at idle in the shade. Optimal for most automotive AC systems is about 38 F or so but up to 42 is just fine too.

No matter what anyone else says VENT temps DO matter the cooler the vent temp with a fast fan speed the quicker and more efficient the AC will cool the interior down.

Lots of people claim their AC is cold, but notice how none of them will show you their vent temps....

Bottom line if your vent temp under these conditions isn't around 45 or cooler many folks will be down right
miserable sitting in that interior.

 

[PostPremium]

Best way to be sure about the operation is to bring that accurate thermometer with a problem and stick it in the drivers side vent with AC on Max AC, with recirculate on, max fan speed, and ambient temp at 90 or above and humidity at 50% or above with the car at idle in the shade. Optimal for most automotive AC systems is about 38 F or so but up to 42 is just fine too.

No matter what anyone else says VENT temps DO matter the cooler the vent temp with a fast fan speed the quicker and more efficient the AC will cool the interior down.

Lots of people claim their AC is cold, but notice how none of them will show you their vent temps....

Bottom line if your vent temp under these conditions isn't around 45 or cooler many folks will be down right
miserable sitting in that interior.

And this is exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger on the truck purchase yet. No doubt it is the nicest truck on the market. But I live in Houston, and being hot and miserable in a really nice truck is, well, hot and miserable.

 

[firecadet613]

And this is exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger on the truck purchase yet. No doubt it is the nicest truck on the market. But I live in Houston, and being hot and miserable in a really nice truck is, well, hot and miserable.

How's the F150? Ford should be releasing the redesigned 2021 next summer from my understanding...

 

[cra1g]

Best way to be sure about the operation is to bring that accurate thermometer with a problem and stick it in the drivers side vent with AC on Max AC, with recirculate on, max fan speed, and ambient temp at 90 or above and humidity at 50% or above with the car at idle in the shade. Optimal for most automotive AC systems is about 38 F or so but up to 42 is just fine too.

No matter what anyone else says VENT temps DO matter the cooler the vent temp with a fast fan speed the quicker and more efficient the AC will cool the interior down.

Lots of people claim their AC is cold, but notice how none of them will show you their vent temps....

Bottom line if your vent temp under these conditions isn't around 45 or cooler many folks will be down right
miserable sitting in that interior.

This is just wrong. The only reason FCA provides a vent temp spec is that nobody has equipment to measure the BTU capacity of the whole system. Anybody can check the vent temps, and if they're in spec, then the system is working as designed. They don't design for a specific vent temp--they design the system to cool the truck to x degrees in x minutes under x ambient conditions. Some people want a specific vent temp, and I get that, but they're going to be disappointed.

Comparing vent temps between different vehicles is utterly meaningless unless you can also measure airflow. If you take any HVAC system and add a bigger fan, vent temps will go up, but you have not changed the cooling capacity of the system at all. Conversely, if you were to restrict the airflow in your truck, your vent temps would drop, but it wouldn't do a better job of cooling the truck.

Also, I *DID* post my vent temps, which are in spec, and my A/C works just fine.

 

[securityguy]

This is just wrong. The only reason FCA provides a vent temp spec is that nobody has equipment to measure the BTU capacity of the whole system. Anybody can check the vent temps, and if they're in spec, then the system is working as designed. They don't design for a specific vent temp--they design the system to cool the truck to x degrees in x minutes under x ambient conditions. Some people want a specific vent temp, and I get that, but they're going to be disappointed.

Comparing vent temps between different vehicles is utterly meaningless unless you can also measure airflow. If you take any HVAC system and add a bigger fan, vent temps will go up, but you have not changed the cooling capacity of the system at all. Conversely, if you were to restrict the airflow in your truck, your vent temps would drop, but it wouldn't do a better job of cooling the truck.

I used a very expensive FLUKE meter with a temp probe to test mine many months ago and posted my results as well. I live in FL...very humid and when temps were well above 95 degrees. My temps got down into the upper 40's and I can assure you that my truck gets SO cold, you'll freeze your butt off so no issues here!

 

[green68mustang_2002]

And this is exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger on the truck purchase yet. No doubt it is the nicest truck on the market. But I live in Houston, and being hot and miserable in a really nice truck is, well, hot and miserable.

I live 2.5 hrs north of you and have no problems with the AC in my 2019.

 

[Powerman1960]

I live on the gulf coast of Mississippi, work 11 hour dayshifts, and my truck sits in the sun during those shifts. Several days this past summer , I read 111-113 degrees (with a custom-fit sun shield in the windshield), inside when I got in it to leave. With the a/c on max, I didn't ever notice it taking any longer than any other vehicle I've had. My a/c performs very well.

 

[Timeless]

And this is exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger on the truck purchase yet. No doubt it is the nicest truck on the market. But I live in Houston, and being hot and miserable in a really nice truck is, well, hot and miserable.

I was in this boat also being in SC where it is ridiculous but decided to take the risk...worst case is it works harder to get cooler and I complain to the dealer.

Life is too short to not get what you want.

 

[PostPremium]

Life is too short to not get what you want.

Which is why I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I want an adequate AC. Hoping they iron out the kinks before Ford lures me over with their redesign.

 

[Timeless]

Which is why I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I want an adequate AC. Hoping they iron out the kinks before Ford lures me over with their redesign.

It really seems to be sporadic as to who has the issues. I won't know till next summer how good or bad mine is...but I did have it on several 90 degree days with no issue.

 

[ac1dd]

This is just wrong. The only reason FCA provides a vent temp spec is that nobody has equipment to measure the BTU capacity of the whole system. Anybody can check the vent temps, and if they're in spec, then the system is working as designed. They don't design for a specific vent temp--they design the system to cool the truck to x degrees in x minutes under x ambient conditions. Some people want a specific vent temp, and I get that, but they're going to be disappointed.

Comparing vent temps between different vehicles is utterly meaningless unless you can also measure airflow. If you take any HVAC system and add a bigger fan, vent temps will go up, but you have not changed the cooling capacity of the system at all. Conversely, if you were to restrict the airflow in your truck, your vent temps would drop, but it wouldn't do a better job of cooling the truck.

Also, I *DID* post my vent temps, which are in spec, and my A/C works just fine.

No, it's spot on. I've been working on cars for decades. From a practical stand point (from the consumers view) those conditions and temps are a good indicator that the AC system will be up to the task of providing a quick cool down, and be able to adequately maintain that comfort, especially when you are sitting still in 90+F heat!

 

[ac1dd]

I used a very expensive FLUKE meter with a temp probe to test mine many months ago and posted my results as well. I live in FL...very humid and when temps were well above 95 degrees. My temps got down into the upper 40's and I can assure you that my truck gets SO cold, you'll freeze your butt off so no issues here!

Care to be more specific with the exact temps since you have that excellent FLUKE (they are really are as good as they say) meter. Thanks.

 

[cra1g]

No, it's spot on. I've been working on cars for decades.

So have I. You don't know what you're talking about.

 

[go-ram]

No, it's spot on. I've been working on cars for decades. From a practical stand point (from the consumers view) those conditions and temps are a good indicator that the AC system will be up to the task of providing a quick cool down, and be able to adequately maintain that comfort, especially when you are sitting still in 90+F heat!

.
You're over-simplifying it. Yes, measuring temperature with a 4- 6" probe sticking down into a vent is a good place to measure the coolest air being produced, and the fan needs to be running fast enough to get a good volume-rate of cold air flowing through the vents. But the thing you're NOT taking into consideration is HOW LONG it takes many of these new 5th-generation ("DT") Rams to begin to produce the necessary cold temperatures down inside the vents. The problem with many of these 5th-gen Rams is that the AC system is literally fighting itself, wasting much of the energy it takes to produce the cold air, by having to overcome the heat of the full flow of engine coolant being constantly circulated through the heater core in the cab, and/or the blend doors being poorly programmed. So it takes them forever to achieve cooler temperatures, if they ever do achieve cool vent temperatures, because the AC system is, apparently, also cooling down the heater core with full flow of coolant passing through it at all times.
.
When, on a 90 °F day with 50% relative humidity, my 15-year-old Prius and my wife's 6-year-old Mini can both produce 45 °F air within 40-60 seconds, and a 2019 Ram that cost literally 2.5X what the Prius cost and 2X what the Mini cost, can barely produce 52 °F air in the vent within FIVE MINUTES, then there is absolutely, positively, NO QUESTION that there is something wrong with the Ram's AC system.
.
And don't confuse the time it takes to begin producing cold air down in the vent with the time it takes to cool down the entire cab of a Ram 1500 Crew Cab - of course it takes longer to cool a huge cab, especially a dark-colored vehicle with a huge pano roof. The point is, if the compressor, condenser and evaporator are all working properly and as designed, EVERY ONE OF THEM SHOULD BE ABLE TO BEGIN PRODUCING EQUALLY COLD AIR (45 °F OR COOLER) DOWN IN THE VENTS WITHIN 60 SECONDS OF STARTUP.

 

[Soldierguy]

I have not measured vent temps or anything. I have just gone by how the air feels coming out of the vents. After I first got my 19 Ram Rebel back in June I always seem to think that it wasn’t very cool but I’m a normally warm person so I just thought it was me. That was until on a pretty warm day my wife was riding in the truck and made the comment that it was warm in the truck and my wife is a normally very cold person. I mean she sets the auto climate control in her suburban to 80 degrees, sleeps with a heating blanket, and will even use the heated seat during summer. On a day similar to that I was in my truck running around doing somethings and the ac was on high trying to cool it down and basically running on high the whole time I get home and hop into my wife’s suburban with her and it was cooler in there than my truck with the ac blower barley blowing and turn my side down more and ride around with her nice and cool. This is a 07 suburban too. So that was when I knew that it wasn’t just me when my wife is asking me if this thing can cool any better. So I had the dealer look at it and first they tell me that it is known issue and there is a flash update coming soon so I wait through the summer ask a couple times about the update and they tell me it’s still not out. Took it in a few weeks ago for the first oil change and asked them again about the update. They came back and said that the update is still not out and they don’t understand why bc this update was supposed to be out a year ago. So they tell me they ordered a blower motor for my truck to see if that helps. Which who knows bc it’s winter now here and I never noticed the blower not blowing enough. The other issue that they are dealing with is that I have had the system shut down on me about 3 times during the summer and take about a minute to turn back on and idk if this is bc the blower is having to blow on high all the time when it is hot out. The dealer did pull a code from it something about over current or over heat blower or something so maybe that might help the blower issue but I don’t think this is going to help the cold air issue. Maybe it’s not all new rams and just a select few but all I can say is that there has to be some kind of issue when an older vehicle is cooling way better and blower is hardly having to blow to maintain the temp and on the same day mine is running on high the whole time and never cooling it down enough to maintain the temp.

 

[BeauxXL1200]

I have not measured vent temps or anything. I have just gone by how the air feels coming out of the vents. After I first got my 19 Ram Rebel back in June I always seem to think that it wasn’t very cool but I’m a normally warm person so I just thought it was me. That was until on a pretty warm day my wife was riding in the truck and made the comment that it was warm in the truck and my wife is a normally very cold person. I mean she sets the auto climate control in her suburban to 80 degrees, sleeps with a heating blanket, and will even use the heated seat during summer. On a day similar to that I was in my truck running around doing somethings and the ac was on high trying to cool it down and basically running on high the whole time I get home and hop into my wife’s suburban with her and it was cooler in there than my truck with the ac blower barley blowing and turn my side down more and ride around with her nice and cool. This is a 07 suburban too. So that was when I knew that it wasn’t just me when my wife is asking me if this thing can cool any better. So I had the dealer look at it and first they tell me that it is known issue and there is a flash update coming soon so I wait through the summer ask a couple times about the update and they tell me it’s still not out. Took it in a few weeks ago for the first oil change and asked them again about the update. They came back and said that the update is still not out and they don’t understand why bc this update was supposed to be out a year ago. So they tell me they ordered a blower motor for my truck to see if that helps. Which who knows bc it’s winter now here and I never noticed the blower not blowing enough. The other issue that they are dealing with is that I have had the system shut down on me about 3 times during the summer and take about a minute to turn back on and idk if this is bc the blower is having to blow on high all the time when it is hot out. The dealer did pull a code from it something about over current or over heat blower or something so maybe that might help the blower issue but I don’t think this is going to help the cold air issue. Maybe it’s not all new rams and just a select few but all I can say is that there has to be some kind of issue when an older vehicle is cooling way better and blower is hardly having to blow to maintain the temp and on the same day mine is running on high the whole time and never cooling it down enough to maintain the temp.

It doesn't seem to be all new Rams but many of us have this problem. And a lot of us clamped off our heater hoses this past summer to get lower vent temps which helps. There are how to instructions on here if you think you might want to do that this coming summer.

 

[Soldierguy]

It doesn't seem to be all new Rams but many of us have this problem. And a lot of us clamped off our heater hoses this past summer to get lower vent temps which helps. There are how to instructions on here if you think you might want to do that this coming summer.

Yeah I have read about that and I do not want to start cutting hoses and adding values and clamps to a brand new truck.

 

[BeauxXL1200]

Yeah I have read about that and I do not want to start cutting hoses and adding values and clamps to a brand new truck.

I just clamped mine off and I intend to do so again when the heat really starts here in Central Texas. Otherwise, driving my truck would be intolerable and I don't want to sell it/trade it in just yet.