A/C Performance

[ColoradoCub]

For those of you that keep the auto start/stop feature on these trucks enabled, does your AC get extremely warm when sitting at a light? I've had to disable the start/stop because I was sweating to death with my AC on the lowest it can go. I was starting to feel light headed because I was so hot and the truck wasn't cooling down; however, after I started driving with it disabled and had the truck constantly running after about 8 minutes it started to blow cold. I took my truck into the dealership once for this warm AC issue and they said my system was low on freon from factory and did not have a leak, they "filled" the system back up to spec and everything looked "normal" - that was a month ago, I'm still sweating my *** off.

yeah the start stop turns your engine off so you have no AC when it’s shut down at a stop. It’s supposed to know it hots out and not shut off but I’ve found the system to be poorly programmed. My F150 that had this feature and would not shut off all the time when it was hot and the AC on, this truck always shuts off at a stop.

 

[jb772]

yeah the start stop turns your engine off so you have no AC when it’s shut down at a stop. It’s supposed to know it hots out and not shut off but I’ve found the system to be poorly programmed. My F150 that had this feature and would not shut off all the time when it was hot and the AC on, this truck always shuts off at a stop.

I did notice sometimes the truck will shut off and start right back up 5 seconds later and then other times it'll stay off but I didn't realize it was designed to turn back on if it's hot or not shut off at all for certain temps.

 

[Edwards]

For those of you that keep the auto start/stop feature on these trucks enabled, does your AC get extremely warm when sitting at a light? I've had to disable the start/stop because I was sweating to death with my AC on the lowest it can go. I was starting to feel light headed because I was so hot and the truck wasn't cooling down; however, after I started driving with it disabled and had the truck constantly running after about 8 minutes it started to blow cold. I took my truck into the dealership once for this warm AC issue and they said my system was low on freon from factory and did not have a leak, they "filled" the system back up to spec and everything looked "normal" - that was a month ago, I'm still sweating my *** off.

I noticed exactly this, but then I did the AC hack and that made a tremendous difference. With the valve installed and closed, I can sit at a light in 100* weather and the vents will blow cold air for three minutes. Now it's not AC cold air since the compressor isn't running, but you can hold your hand up to the vent and it is still colder air than what's in the cab. That hack makes start/stop work wonderfully in the summer.

I don't know of a way to measure it accurately, but this also leads me to believe that installing the AC hack saves you gas over the summer as well since the AC is not running as often fighting the heat being dumped into the cab.

 

[MTaylor]

When you go for the test drive take a thermometer with a probe and see what you find on max AC, recirc, while idling.

Best is a high quality digital gauge with a corded probe.

I plan to, but until I make it to the dealer for a test drive on a new '20 ...was wondering if anyone else had already done this test to see if a fix has been implemented or if problem still exists.

 

[jb772]

I noticed exactly this, but then I did the AC hack and that made a tremendous difference. With the valve installed and closed, I can sit at a light in 100* weather and the vents will blow cold air for three minutes. Now it's not AC cold air since the compressor isn't running, but you can hold your hand up to the vent and it is still colder air than what's in the cab. That hack makes start/stop work wonderfully in the summer.

I don't know of a way to measure it accurately, but this also leads me to believe that installing the AC hack saves you gas over the summer as well since the AC is not running as often fighting the heat being dumped into the cab.

Was the hack hard to do? What method did you use? I'm really not good at mechanical stuff so I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it myself.

 

[Edwards]

Was the hack hard to do? What method did you use? I'm really not good at mechanical stuff so I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it myself.

Quite easy. Info here:

Air conditioning Hack

Today I was able to get 36-38 degrees blowing out of both the drivers side and the passenger side ac vents. Previously I was getting 44 out of the passenger side and 50-52 out of the driver side. I installed a water shut off valve in the heater hose going from water pump to the heater core. It's...

5thgenrams.com

 

[kjn86]

For those of you that keep the auto start/stop feature on these trucks enabled, does your AC get extremely warm when sitting at a light? I've had to disable the start/stop because I was sweating to death with my AC on the lowest it can go. I was starting to feel light headed because I was so hot and the truck wasn't cooling down; however, after I started driving with it disabled and had the truck constantly running after about 8 minutes it started to blow cold. I took my truck into the dealership once for this warm AC issue and they said my system was low on freon from factory and did not have a leak, they "filled" the system back up to spec and everything looked "normal" - that was a month ago, I'm still sweating my *** off.

If you use the AUTO TEMP CONTROL is does NOT turn off the engine or the AC compressor until it reaches the desired temperature. I was using mine like you are at, say, 68 degree on A/C and it would do exactly as you said. But I read somewhere else that the engine doesn't turn off when using AUTO TEMP CONTROL and it is also more efficient, so I started using it and it solves this problem completely. I used 68 AUTO for best results all summer. Initially it's annoying because it blows so hard to get going (which is why I wasn't using it), but it's worth it for the stopping and eventually it works better.

Auto temperature plus the A/C hack (I used the clamp) is money.

 

[nlindste]

I know this thread is for AC problems but I noticed tonight, I had my temps set to 70 and on my thermometer in my vents I noticed the air temp coming out was 132 with the fan speed set to 1. I have a feeling the blend door is really malfunctioning in my truck.

 

[PostPremium]

90 degrees today. 2020 limited versus my 2012 Hyundai Genesis. Not good. Ram is on the right.

 

[xspeedy]

Hi all. I’m looking at a 2020 model and wondering if this problem has been resolved on newer trucks? It was 80+ yesterday afternoon in Austin, and the two trucks I tested appeared to have solid AC. We didn’t drive them super long, but it was quite cold. Has anyone with the issue gone back to compare to new trucks on the lot? is the issue when experienced from new or does it come on after a while?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[securityguy]

@xspeedy ...it was not a 2019 issue but an issue with a few trucks. Many of us have not experienced any issues at all with our AC and mine is SUPER COLD even in 100+ degree heat. Therefore, I doubt that anything has changed as it relates to the AC in the 2020.

 

[BeauxXL1200]

Hi all. I’m looking at a 2020 model and wondering if this problem has been resolved on newer trucks? It was 80+ yesterday afternoon in Austin, and the two trucks I tested appeared to have solid AC. We didn’t drive them super long, but it was quite cold. Has anyone with the issue gone back to compare to new trucks on the lot? is the issue when experienced from new or does it come on after a while?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Before I would purchase a particular truck, I would take a small HVAC thermometer with me and put it in the center driver's side vent to check the temp. Put the temp on low with the recirculating feature on. Fan setting of about 3 or 4 and drive around for 15 - 20 minutes. Even on mild days, like we're having here in Austin today, the temp want get below 63 - 64 degrees in my truck. That's fine when the outside temp in not in the upper 90s to over 100. When I clamp off the heater hose, which a lot of us do for the summer months, it blows about 55 - 56 out of the vent which is tolerable.

Good luck.

 

[ExcursionDiesel]

If you're buying a truck with a panoramic sunroof, it WILL take longer to cool down due to the heat radiated into the truck. I cut a piece of thin foil-backed insulation to fit my sunroof opening and slide in between the shade and glass. I keep the shade closed when it's 90+ °F outside. It made a noticable difference keeping the interior cooler when parked and the A/C didn't work as hard on Auto.

 

[jimk hunt]

Hi all. I’m looking at a 2020 model and wondering if this problem has been resolved on newer trucks? It was 80+ yesterday afternoon in Austin, and the two trucks I tested appeared to have solid AC. We didn’t drive them super long, but it was quite cold. Has anyone with the issue gone back to compare to new trucks on the lot? is the issue when experienced from new or does it come on after a while?

Any help would be much appreciated.

It's more than a few trucks that have this issue. Just search this forum. It starts from the get go. The only way to tell is to stick a temp probe in the driver vent and see what you get. Start with the car you drive to the Ram dealer and see where that is. My wifes Camry was at 38, my truck about 56. When I did the AC clamp it went down to 46. That makes a huge difference. I love my truck but wish this was not an issue. Plenty of threads on here regarding AC performance.

 

[xspeedy]

I appreciate all the feedback. I’m currently in a F-150 and am looking to make a change to something different. I love the interior of the RAM, but really need functional AC as I’m here in central TX. I’ll be sure to make a purchase on a warmer day and really warm up the truck so I can best test the effectiveness of the AC. Thanks again, and best of luck to those fighting the good fight! I have been there and can be extremely frustrating.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I appreciate all the feedback. I’m currently in a F-150 and am looking to make a change to something different. I love the interior of the RAM, but really need functional AC as I’m here in central TX. I’ll be sure to make a purchase on a warmer day and really warm up the truck so I can best test the effectiveness of the AC. Thanks again, and best of luck to those fighting the good fight! I have been there and can be extremely frustrating.

I traded a 2016 F150 and the a/c performance is comparable. There are maybe 40 users on here that need the system blowing ice cubes. I've talked to service writers in 5 different dealerships in both my previous residence of Florida (plenty hot and humid) and now Michigan. None of them indicated there was an ongoing issue with the a/c system on the 2019's. Remember there are in the neighborhood of 300,000 of these on the road now. Air conditioning is not an issue for thousands of owners.

 

[PostPremium]

 

[Lize]

@xspeedy ...it was not a 2019 issue but an issue with a few trucks. Many of us have not experienced any issues at all with our AC and mine is SUPER COLD even in 100+ degree heat. Therefore, I doubt that anything has changed as it relates to the AC in the 2020.

I traded a 2016 F150 and the a/c performance is comparable. There are maybe 40 users on here that need the system blowing ice cubes. I've talked to service writers in 5 different dealerships in both my previous residence of Florida (plenty hot and humid) and now Michigan. None of them indicated there was an ongoing issue with the a/c system on the 2019's. Remember there are in the neighborhood of 300,000 of these on the road now. Air conditioning is not an issue for thousands of owners.

I thought from reading on here the RAM air conditioning was generally not up to par and FCA had made it a non-problem by setting the expected vent temperatures to be higher than optimal. Perhaps I've misunderstood the scale of the problem as likely some owners only joined the forum to complain about it. I understand the theory behind the clamping of the hose 'fix' but I don't see why thats necessary in what now seems a minority of trucks and isn't necessary in the majority.

If I lived in Florida or similar and had warranty I'd be visiting the dealer every week until they did something about it, regardless of what they told me about vent temperatures. Even in the UK where we don't get the relentless high temperatures I find it exceptionally poor and would surely love to find out why some trucks suffer with the problem and many do not so that I have some hope of an actual correction to the problem rather than restricting the coolant flow.

 

[securityguy]

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.

 

[Lize]

Yes, an interesting video and gives me something to compare against, obviously I'll have to wait until summer now but I'm going to try and remember to do the same test. Mine doesn't seem to have been able to achieve anywhere near that level of cooling over our summer and can't keep up even on a long journey the auto keeps max fan going and its so annoyingly noisy.

I do wonder if there is something wrong with mine like blend door or something as so far I've also been completely underwhelmed by the heating too and have been relying on heated seats and wheel and its not even very cold yet. I'd take it somewhere to be checked but I don't really think they will know what they are looking for unless I can clearly guide them to likely problem areas and can foresee it costing a lot of cash to get nowhere.

On a positive note, still love the truck and use it all the time