Air conditioning Hack

[Billet1500 4x4]

If you are not willing to pull the dash, can you ask them to recalibrate the blend door actuator. I have not heard of any dealer performing this yet. It could be a simple fix.

My dealer evacuated the system, leak checked, refilled the refrigerant and made sure it was properly charged, performed the AC TSB and did a re-calibration on the blend door, Didn't help so I put in a valve

 

[392DCGC]

Finally catching some breaks in the hot weather. Had some cooler mornings and days lately. One bad thing about the HF clamp is that it's all or nothing. When it's clamped, you get cold A/C all the time. There is no heat. I assume that with the valve, you guys are simply adjusting the flow of the valve accordingly as the temperatures are changing, or is it still an all or nothing on/off situation? I'm trying to determine if I should switch to the valve now, or just pull the clamp off now and wait until the spring to do the valve?

Why do you think it's all or nothing? That certainly isn't the case. Pinch off all flow through the line and let the truck warm up. Thermometer in the vents and set to HIGH heat. Give a 1/4 to 1/2 loosening turn at a time until you see the temp start to climb on the thermometer. This blocks most of the flow giving you cold AC still, but retains heat capability for proper HVAC function... and you're not letting stagnant coolant sit in your heater core for months on end.

 

[NHRoadking]

Seems crazy that a 2019 new vehicle's AC needs a "hack" to work properly. Can it really be an issue Ram hasn't fixed for 2020?

 

[ColoradoCub]

Why do you think it's all or nothing? That certainly isn't the case. Pinch off all flow through the line and let the truck warm up. Thermometer in the vents and set to HIGH heat. Give a 1/4 to 1/2 loosening turn at a time until you see the temp start to climb on the thermometer. This blocks most of the flow giving you cold AC still, but retains heat capability for proper HVAC function... and you're not letting stagnant coolant sit in your heater core for months on end.

If you let any hot coolant into the HVAC box then you will not get the results of colder AC form the hack. I have tested it with my valve by closing it all the way and then cracking it and as soon as I let any coolant past the valve the AC suffers. There’s a blend door issue for sure and the only way to not let the hot air blend with the cold on the drivers side is to block all coolant flow.

 

[Gsmith223]

I bit the bullet and took one for the team. The first year tech at my local dealership is tearing my dash out now.

 

[jkm312]

I bit the bullet and took one for the team. The first year tech at my local dealership is tearing my dash out now.

Please keep us up to date with the process and result.

 

[Hackmunch]

hell ya let us know

 

[Edwards]

Please keep us up to date with the process and result.

And photos if you can! Maybe bribe the tech to let you come in and snap some pics?

 

[brian42]

Service dept said RAM is using a more environmental friendly freon. Like when the doctor is explaining stuff and I just keep nodding along.

I thinks it's R-1234yf and that's what has been in the RAMs for a few years now.

I'm pretty sure I could pull off to the side of the road and drink it if I got thirsty.

 

[Badelky]

I will be interested in your results, I don't think there's a circulation problem in mine, the air is just not cold enough and turning the fan speed down doesn't seem to make any difference. Be interesting to see what affect it has on yours though and whether it would enable the annoyingly noisy high fan speeds to be turned right down.

UPDATE: Just picked up truck from dealer and they said in fact it's the heater blend door which is operated by a servo motor, they reflashed the head unit which recalibrated the climate controls and resets end points which would eliminate tearing into dash and AC seems great !!! FYI the 1500 series trucks do in fact use 1234yf Freon and 2500 series up still maintains 134a

 

[Badelky]

I thinks it's R-1234yf and that's what has been in the RAMs for a few years now.

I'm pretty sure I could pull off to the side of the road and drink it if I got thirsty.

I've heard the 1234yf is highly flammable, hope I'm wrong...

 

[Badelky]

Definetly looks different under the dash compared to my 17'

I thought the new HDs had the same cab as before but they still redid the AC system?

 

[flynfish]

UPDATE: Just picked up truck from dealer and they said in fact it's the heater blend door which is operated by a servo motor, they reflashed the head unit which recalibrated the climate controls and resets end points which would eliminate tearing into dash and AC seems great !!! FYI the 1500 series trucks do in fact use 1234yf Freon and 2500 series up still maintains 134a

Can you take some temp measurements?


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[Gsmith223]

UPDATE: Just picked up truck from dealer and they said in fact it's the heater blend door which is operated by a servo motor, they reflashed the head unit which recalibrated the climate controls and resets end points which would eliminate tearing into dash and AC seems great !!! FYI the 1500 series trucks do in fact use 1234yf Freon and 2500 series up still maintains 134a

had that done to mine previously odds are you are feeling the benefit of the fresh Freon

 

[Ram4Lou]

UPDATE: Just picked up truck from dealer and they said in fact it's the heater blend door which is operated by a servo motor, they reflashed the head unit which recalibrated the climate controls and resets end points which would eliminate tearing into dash and AC seems great !!! FYI the 1500 series trucks do in fact use 1234yf Freon and 2500 series up still maintains 134a

Only way to confirm if the blend door is sealing and isolating the heater core properly is to take temperature readings at the far left driver’s vent and compare to temps at either of the passenger vents. If the temperature on the far left drivers vent is in the mid-to-low 40’s and close to the same temperatures as the passenger vents, than it may have worked.

 

[AndreiV]

I also noticed that airflow from driver right vent feels much lower than all other vents. If i close just a passenger right vent all the way, it would greatly improve airflow from driver right vent and air feels colder with/without valve.

 

[brian42]

UPDATE: Just picked up truck from dealer and they said in fact it's the heater blend door which is operated by a servo motor, they reflashed the head unit which recalibrated the climate controls and resets end points which would eliminate tearing into dash and AC seems great !!!

Was that a TSB for reflashing the head unit? Do you have the number?

 

[barakutha]

Gave this hack a shot.. it's freezing cold!

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[User_3336]

I bet Harbor Freight's stock went up recently with all the sales of those clamps! LOL

Gave this hack a shot.. it's freezing cold!

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[User_3336]

I suggest you BLOCK me, or IGNORE my posts if you don't like the content of them.

My point was . . . . Forum members are entering the thread 30+ pages and 500+ posts, and stating "What is the issue"..."How do we fix it".......... My response was "Did you read any of the PREVIOUS posts???? Lots of good information in the 500 previous messages previous to you asking"....


LIKEWISE . . .Who are YOU to tell people they can't sign up as new members and state their concerns? A little hypocritical, eh????? Are YOU a Thread Monito?

RamBean....No offense but not cool to sign up here as a new guy just to tell us your problem was fixed That's an older TSB (issued Feb 2019) and you must have an earlier build truck or they wouldn't have performed the TSB on it. It only applies to trucks built after Jan 8, 2018 and before...

No offense, but who made you hall monitor (or, more precisely, thread monitor)???

No one's forcing you to visit this thread or opine on it......if it bothers you so much or you feel it's "out of hand" you can avoid it and spend your time on other threads.