Couple of questions about this for anyone who can opine:
1. Why is the valve only affecting the temps on the driver’s side? Airflow-wise, isn’t the heater core after the evaporator but before the piping splits left/right? I would have thought the effect of the valve would be observed across all vents, not just the drivers side.
2. Why is the effect on the drivers side the same irrespective of whether the valve is open or closed? If we have the valve open then wouldn’t we expect the vent temps to return close to the stock temperature reading?
For those that have used the Harbor Freight hose clamp hack, how long have you been running with it on the hose and are you having any issues with the hose degrading or anything? I want to try this given the current weather down here...
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It is kind of a shame, but today I rode home with 40 degree drivers side vent temp, outside temperature on the truckWhat a shame doing this hack to my 2019 $55.000 Ram 1500 just to get decent AC! Thank you KcRay.
1. Thanks, but I don’t think this is the explanation. Restricting hot water entering the heater core affects all air crossing it, not just what sneaks past one blend door farther downstream. One should see all vents get colder, not just the drivers side.1.The AC system is cooling working as expected, the issue is with plenum and the blend doors. It seems to me that the drivers side blend door isn't closing all the way allowing warm air in to the drivers side of the box. One way to confirm this is to probe out both the drivers side and passenger side, when the thermostat opens you will see the temps on the drivers side go up but the passenger side is unaffected.
2.They are not opening the valve all the way just enough to let some warm water into the core
Besides hose damage, the other thing to think about is that the HF clamps clearly state they are for temporary use only. Unless you put a lock nut on them there is nothing to keep them tight for all-summer driving. Not to mention that HF is not known for long term quality, although my $2 hammer still drives nails...
1. Thanks, but I don’t think this is the explanation. Restricting hot water entering the heater core affects all air crossing it, not just what sneaks past one blend door farther downstream. One should see all vents get colder, not just the drivers side.
2. Maybe, but heat is still entering the core when the valve is opened partially. There should still be some change in air temp but none was recorded. Unless this valve has like 12 full turns from open to close this seems implausible.
Another post valve update. Did a 700 mile road trip and stayed comfy cozy in temps ranging from 70F to 88F.
The only thing that didn't work well was Auto mode in the pouring rain, 70F ambient and 99% humidity. The lower windshield and side windows fogged up something fierce. Took me a while to figure out that Auto was pushing air to defrost / lower vents at a moderate fan speed. Switching to dash / lower vents cleared it right up. I didn't realize if you touch the fan/vent select knob it shows you where auto currently has it set first.
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Very easy to bleed the system.
-Let the truck sit overnight
-Open the radiator cap cover right next to the coolant reservoir
- Fill it and start the truck, you will see in about 3-5 minutes bubbles coming out and the coolant level getting lower, continue to add coolant until you see no more bubbles.
-When system reaches 194F close the cover and turn off truck
-Next day remove the radiator tab again when engine cold, if you dont see coolant on the hole add more until you see it, close tab and thats it, no need to start the truck again.
Very important to follow this steps or you might get coolant spill and or burns. Never open the radiator cap while hot.
Dumb question, but what kind of coolant do the 2019 RAM's use? I have literally never had to add coolant to any vehicle before...
Thank you!No dumb questions..It's good you brought it up though!
r1234yf
This is the successor to widely used r134a.
I don't think that is the problem though since the characteristics of r1234yf and r134a are very similar and nearly the same in most aspects which shouldn't hurt efficiency in cooling process.
That makes more sense, that it would have two separate air streams, one over the AC and the other over the heater core, and those two are blended and directed to driver or passenger separately. Thanks for the explanation.1. Maybe not, but I have been fixing HVAC in Chrysler for about 20 years now. In the dual climate control you have two blend doors one for each side they close the each side independently that how they work. So one can be sealing off the heat from the heater core and the other letting it by. I am not sure how familiar you are with the plenum on these but that is the only plausible explanation here. They are not checking the temps in the air coming from the core they are checking temps at the vents where the air has already been mixed.
2. Same premise here the heater core works on the volume of coolant flowing through it not the just the temp of the coolant. Plus the valve even all the way open is still a restriction depending on flow rates. Less volume equals less heat. Especially when one of the blend doors is failing to close all the way like I said above.
Now there is some speculation that this is some how software controlled and it is programmed to behave like this. In further testing I have found that if you increase the temps at the controls and keep checking temps the driver side actual becomes cooler than the passenger side. It seems to be around the 72-75 degree mark for me. Try it and see what you get.
That makes more sense, that it would have two separate air streams, one over the AC and the other over the heater core, and those two are blended and directed to driver or passenger separately. Thanks for the explanation.
I seriously doubt FCA is afraid of a class-action lawsuit over air vent temperatures of say 52 instead of 42. There's no guarantee on how effectively air conditioning works - so long as it it is removing humidity and reducing the cabin temperature relative to that of outside, it is perfectly operational. "Cold" when it comes to AC is largely subjective. The ladies in my office freeze when I have the AC set to 72. I think it's reasonably comfortable. When the sun beats down and the inside temperature rises to 74 or 75, I'm uncomfortable while they are more comfortable. In either case, the temperature outside is 90+ with high humidity.What's a shame is that Chrysler won't communicate openly with owners that are not satisfied with the 55-65 F vent temps in
90+ F ambient temps, and provide any explanation as to why this is how the system is set up to work...Their silence
indicates they are afraid of a class action lawsuit regarding this matter. Why not just step up and fix the issue over time and provide some sort of compensation?
I still think this is software related whether erroneous software coding or wrong coding programmed into SOME vehicles.