AC died followed by smoke out of the engine bay

[Arno]

I have had a rather large amount of problems with my 2019 RAM Rebel (2900 miles). The most recent problem is AC related, not only does it barely cool it actually stopped cooling entirely and it turns out some clutch thing in the AC unit burnt out meaning it never engaged. This was fixed and a week later I had my truck back.

This morning the AC stopped working and the exact same thing happened again. Absolutely no cool air. Thankfully I was within 1 mile from my house and a few yards from my house smoke filled the cabin, smoke came out of the engine bay and from below the truck. It was so much smoke that I actually feared fire. I stopped the vehicle and it seems like all of the rubber engine belts burnt out. I am attaching some images.

I have never ever experienced so many issues with a vehicle and with the vehicle only having done 2900 miles this is very annoying. Will I ever get the smell out of the interior? This will be the 4th time I have to leave the truck at the dealer and it is 2 months old....

 

[Jack Whitefield]

Wow, sorry to hear about your troubles. Fortunately you were close to home. That is going to be some chore to get the engine bay cleaned up.

 

[jdmartin]

I'd say the clutch locked up completely on the AC compressor which is why that belt shredded. Essentially the engine had to pull the belt across a stationary compressor pulley, which would have heated up the belt pretty bad until it started flying to pieces and smoking like an SOB, which is exactly what you describe. I'd say you need a new AC compressor. And a belt. And a cleanup in Aisle 4 (engine bay). And an interior detailing for the smoke smell, which is really the worst part of it all. I would bet money that whoever fixed the faulty clutch in the compressor didn't do it right; they should have just swapped the compressor out from the beginning.

It should just be one belt. Virtually all vehicles today have only a single serpentine belt. In the old days you had 2-3 separate belts; if you lost the AC belt, no big deal. Often the AC and power steering were on the same belt, so if you lost that you just kept on driving, while the alternator and water pump were either on another belt or separate belts on the crankshaft. At least a couple of times in my driving life I adapted a PS or AC belt into an alternator or water pump belt on the side of the road. Can't do that these days.

 

[Edwards]

Now that you post this it occurs to me that this could be a downside of eTorque. It's got a tougher belt and when the engine decides that it's belt shredding time, it's got a lot more to work with, i.e. smoke and flying rubber.

 

[jdmartin]

Now that you post this it occurs to me that this could be a downside of eTorque. It's got a tougher belt and when the engine decides that it's belt shredding time, it's got a lot more to work with, i.e. smoke and flying rubber.

That's a good point. I've actually seen a belt on fire before. It was not pretty; luckily the burn through allowed it to fall through to the pavement. These days, with belly pans and skid plates, it would just fall on the bottom and catch any oil drippings on fire As someone who's had a car burn up on them on the side of the road, it's not a pretty sight!

 

[j517]

Lemon law call the National Highway Traffic Safety if your truck caught on fire and you were with ur fam on the freeway. Have them buy back get a 2500 pw you be happier. I sued hunting beach ram for similar **** they bought it back now I'm going after them for committing fraud

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[Arno]

Lemon law call the National Highway Traffic Safety if your truck caught on fire and you were with ur fam on the freeway. Have them buy back get a 2500 pw you be happier. I sued hunting beach ram for similar **** they bought it back now I'm going after them for committing fraud

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Can you provide any further info on how you proceeded please? I’ve been told 3 times now to look into lemon law for this truck.

2 trips and drop offs at dealer for the noise on the front where the body is not secure to the frame. This seems fixed now. And now this AC where it was in there 2 weeks ago and yesterday again it broke. It was towed in yesterday afternoon so in 2 months I’ve had to take it to dealers 4 times...

 

[spaightlabs]

@Arno where do you live?

Every state has different laws that are easily googled.

 

[j517]

Well here you go.

Google lemon law attorney for your state
Contact them.

Go to dealership get all service records

Have your registration and purchase contract

That is it

Most states is 3 attempts to make repairs but in your case all I can say is I dont know how they going to deny when that failure could have caused serious bodily injury.

I call the NHSTA and file a complaint

I would NOT call ram care and give them a heads up let your attorney handle it.

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[j517]

This is from another post but the NHTSA should know of you issue this way you help everyone out that an eco truck and hold manufacturers and stealerships accountable. I saw a lot OP peps complaining to a burnt smell coming from your type of truck

Faulty Automatic Braking Has Drivers Afraid Of Their Own Cars: Report

Advanced driver assistance systems, which include lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control and automatic braking, are designed to make cars and driving safer than ever. But sometimes, functions like automatic braking malfunction and have the opposite effect, wrecking a driver’s confidence in...

jalopnik.com

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[Arno]

Thank you all for your responses. I live in Texas which seems to require me giving them a few attempts at fixing the exact same problem.

I will see if they get it done properly this time and hopefully everything is OK now. I love the truck and don’t really want a different model. However if it breaks down again or does anything similar to this I will pursue this lemon law case you’ve explained here

 

[Arno]

So I have my truck back now, I picked it up 3 days ago and drove it home. The AC problem seems fixed and so it should as they repaired and replaced a lot of stuff. Today I felt like looking at the work that was carried out and I noticed all of this rust in the engine bay. This was not there when I took it to the dealer. I know this as I inspected all of the engine to see what damage was done when the belt burnt out.

Is this rust something I should be concerned about? What is it and why would this have happened? (Remember the truck is like 3 months old with 2995 miles on it)

 

[The_Dude]

So I have my truck back now, I picked it up 3 days ago and drove it home. The AC problem seems fixed and so it should as they repaired and replaced a lot of stuff. Today I felt like looking at the work that was carried out and I noticed all of this rust in the engine bay. This was not there when I took it to the dealer. I know this as I inspected all of the engine to see what damage was done when the belt burnt out.

Is this rust something I should be concerned about? What is it and why would this have happened? (Remember the truck is like 3 months old with 2995 miles on it)

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I wouldn't worry, they probably pressure washed the engine bay. The rust is on the block and would have rusted in due time anyway. As long as the truck is running good I wouldn't worry. If you want, note the amount of rust and keep and eye on it.