Air conditioning performance

[dmodem]

I’m sorry but Ram Care is useless on this issue. They open a case for your complaint but nothing happens despite the case being open when you go to the dealer and they tell you it’s within specs, or it was low on refrigerant and we topped it off, or there was a small leak and we fixed it. And afterwards, there’s no improvement in the performance of your AC. Sorry. Nothing Ram Care can do for you.

And it seems they can’t even persuade FCA to inform owners about the correct amount of refrigerant for our trucks. It’ll be interesting to see how the 2020’s AC performs. Due to all the complaints, I suspect FCA has remedied the problem for the 2020s. I further suspect that FCA will never admit that there’s an AC under performance issue with many of our 2019 trucks.

Sad thing is, I had a '15 that iced the interior, but my new '19 is not much better than having outside vents on.

 

[ColoradoCub]

I agree with you 1000% but until they have a fix it’s the only option. Right now they are not even acknowledging there is a problem so what options do we have? My comfort in this new truck is paramount, and I have made that happen.

 

[ColoradoCub]

Sad thing is, I had a '15 that iced the interior, but my new '19 is not much better than having outside vents on.

I traded in a 18 2500 with black leather seats (read hot) and it iced me out too. I would never have bought this truck had I not test driven it on a cool rainy day!

 

[BeauxXL1200]

If you have one of the crap AC afflicted Rams the only way to fix it is by blocking off flow from the heater core. I went from a coldest of 54 on the drivers center vent to 44 with the heater valve in place. It’s an absolute god sent.

Roger that.

 

[Differia]

I traded in a 18 2500 with black leather seats (read hot) and it iced me out too. I would never have bought this truck had I not test driven it on a cool rainy day!

+1 on that. I test drove mine in January. Had I test drove this truck in the summer time I would not have purchased it either.

 

[ColoradoCub]

Roger that.

Best $14 I have ever spent in my life!

 

[rrbhokies]

+1 on that. I test drove mine in January. Had I test drove this truck in the summer time I would not have purchased it either.

Having just bought my truck in late June, do I dare ask how well the truck warms up in the winter? I'm assuming that the truck warms up quickly since I haven't read anything to the contrary, but since there has been so many issues with the A/C just want to make sure I'm not in for a rude awakening come winter.

 

[SpeedyV]

Having just bought my truck in late June, do I dare ask how well the truck warms up in the winter? I'm assuming that the truck warms up quickly since I haven't read anything to the contrary, but since there has been so many issues with the A/C just want to make sure I'm not in for a rude awakening come winter.

The biggest problem with the system in the winter is that it has a tendency to come on full blast right away - when it’s ice cold - and stay that way for a few minutes before the temperature sensors realize this and throttle back the fan speed. After that, it functions as expected...no issues.

 

[Differia]

Having just bought my truck in late June, do I dare ask how well the truck warms up in the winter? I'm assuming that the truck warms up quickly since I haven't read anything to the contrary, but since there has been so many issues with the A/C just want to make sure I'm not in for a rude awakening come winter.

I have not noticed any issues during the winter with heat. Our winters are pretty mild here but the truck heats right up.
Wish the A/C worked as good as the heat

 

[Lucmac]

If you have one of the crap AC afflicted Rams the only way to fix it is by blocking off flow from the heater core. I went from a coldest of 54 on the drivers center vent to 44 with the heater valve in place. It’s an absolute god sent.

Could you give us the part number of the valve and exactly which hose you spliced in to? Does the valve you used fit the line diameter perfectly?

 

[ColoradoCub]

Could you give us the part number of the valve and exactly which hose you spliced in to? Does the valve you used fit the line diameter perfectly?

Lots of information about it on this thread with different valves. I used a 3/4” pex valve from Lowe’s .

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

 

[_StangPGH]

Could you give us the part number of the valve and exactly which hose you spliced in to? Does the valve you used fit the line diameter perfectly?

I used the valve from Advanced or O'Reillys referenced in that thread above. Leave it 2 turns open (it's not a quarter turn valve) and you'll keep some coolant going through the heater core. Note my post over there. First post has a pic of the hose and that's the valve I used as well. It's a 5 minute job after you get the hose off which was stuck for some of us.

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[dmodem]

I used the valve from Advanced or O'Reillys referenced in that thread above. Leave it 2 turns open (it's not a quarter turn valve) and you'll keep some coolant going through the heater core. Note my post over there. First post has a pic of the hose and that's the valve I used as well. It's a 5 minute job after you get the hose off which was stuck for some of us.

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....and we need to install some type of aftermarket part to hack into a $60k+ A/C system to have it function properly? Nonsense.

 

[ColoradoCub]

....and we need to install some type of aftermarket part to hack into a $60k+ A/C system to have it function properly? Nonsense.

It is nonsense, but you can do that and have cold ac immediately or you can wait who knows how long til Ram comes up with something. Taking it to the dealership is nothing but a waste of time as of now, they know there’s a problem, whether they remedy it is to be determined.

 

[_StangPGH]

It is nonsense, but you can do that and have cold ac immediately or you can wait who knows how long til Ram comes up with something. Taking it to the dealership is nothing but a waste of time as of now, they know there’s a problem, whether they remedy it is to be determined.

IMO they're not going to do jack **** anytime soon if ever. Their spec already says 55F temps are normal.

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[ColoradoCub]

IMO they're not going to do jack **** anytime soon if ever. Their spec already says 55F temps are normal.

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Your probably right. It’s clear that not every truck is afflicted with the AC problem. Could be a supplier issue where certain heater boxes have something wrong inside them keeping the blend doors from operating properly and others don’t. All I know is at least I have cold AC now and in another month or so I won’t need AC as much til next June. The valve is such an easy fix , at least we didn’t have to hack anything up. I honestly fear the fix more than anything, having techs rip the dash out of your new vehicle is never a good thing, post repair fitment, squeaks and rattles, scares me way more than lifting the hood and rotating the valve twice a year.

 

[dmodem]

IMO they're not going to do jack **** anytime soon if ever. Their spec already says 55F temps are normal.

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In 85+ degree temps, my A/C feels like having the vents blowing in my '87 Cavalier that had no A/C. Nonsense.

 

[BeauxXL1200]

In 85+ degree temps, my A/C feels like having the vents blowing in my '87 Cavalier that had no A/C. Nonsense.

Yep. A lot of us are in the same boat. You might try the clamp or shut-off valve fix.

 

[Techguy2000]

IMO they're not going to do jack **** anytime soon if ever. Their spec already says 55F temps are normal.

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Totally agree, Ram / FCA will not do anything about this, it's all running per spec.

I haven't seen colder vent temps posted from anyone at the same ambient temps(testing during a cool 65F morning is not the same as afternoon sitting in 95F all day), the FCA spec says 55F, the TFL truck vent was at 55F and I test drove six rams of different trims and build dates while watching a temp probe I have had in my cars for the last ten years. All rams performed similar enough that it's simply by design.
It will be very interesting if the spec changes for 2020, then we will know if FCA has gotten enough complaints that they think it's worth changing design, or if they just keep on status quo.

 

[ldoh]

The dash temp showed 116F outside this afternoon when I jumped in for a heat soaked cabin ride. Max a/c setting provided 70 degrees at the vent output when I arrived at my destination about 10 mins later. I'm curious what the outdoor temp is for FCA's 55F spec.

Advanced Auto didn't have the valve in stock but they ordered it. Hoping it arrives tomorrow.