Interesting AC Issues

[theknight571]

I seem to be having problems with my air conditioning and I'm hopeing someone might point me in the right direction. I really can't afford to take it to someone at the moment.

Vehicle: 2004 Dodge Ram 1500, 2WD, 4.8L V8

Problem:
- When parked the air is warm
- While driving I get cool air (not cold) on the drivers side only, the passenger's side blows warm or at least not at cool as the driver's side.
- If I'm at a light (or waiting for a train) the air warms back up and blows warm on both sides until I start moving again.

I'm not to experienced working on cars, but I know the basics for the most part. So hopefully someone can help me figure out what is going on.

Thanks

 

[justfrank]

The first thing you need to do is have it recharged, leak checked. When recharged, the machine weighs the amount of 134a and the tech then knows if it was low. If so, there's a leak and these days, unless it's obvious, one adds AC dye (if not already in the system) and checks for leaking dye with a black light. If it's a slow leak, it could take months before the dye can be detected.

 

[Bartman39]

Problem:
- When parked the air is warm
- While driving I get cool air (not cold) on the drivers side only, the passenger's side blows warm or at least not at cool as the driver's side.
- If I'm at a light (or waiting for a train) the air warms back up and blows warm on both sides until I start moving again.

The whole "warm" issue could be due to low freon but could also be caused by something else so might read this... (good info anyhow)
http://heatertreater.net/Ram 02-08 Listing.html
Also I seem to remember those trucks had both a radiator fan and a condenser fan which the latter could be bad or maybe just the relay or fuse...? If the condenser fan is not working then it could also explain your problem but it could be both the fan and the door issue...?

 

[Raizinman]

You mentioned that you can't afford to take it in right now. Then don't.

Do it yourself!! Go to Walmart and get one of their 'add it yourself' refrigerant kits. Follow the instructions and you will have cold air shortly. From the sounds of it, one can will probably do ya just fine.

 

[theknight571]

Thanks for the replies... Bartman39 I will check your link out.

I've been googling and running out to the car... lol

The compressor seems to be operating. When the AC is on, I can see it spin, and when it's off I can see it's not spinning.

It seems to be the fan. My main radiator fan runs like it should, but I never see the secondary fan (the one for the AC) come on.

The fuse doesn't look like it's blown, but I couldn't get it out to inspect it closely. It didn't pull out easily and I didn't want to break it, so I need to look up the proper removal procedure. It's a bigger square one, the smaller rectangle ones pull right out.

I did find a video that shows how to get the fan out and replace it. I figure it will take me a day to do it... lol.

Would this cause the problem of cool air on the drivers side and hot air on the passenger's side? Or might there be an additional problem?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Edited to add that my truck does not have dual climate controls.

 

[Pacfanweb]

I see you're keying in on the fan. That's what I was going to post. The symptoms you've described are classic cooling fan issues.

Could be other things, but with this initial description, the fan is what pretty much any pro is going to suspect first.

 

[KK]

does the fan blow when its on heat?

 

[quakefiend420]

You mentioned that you can't afford to take it in right now. Then don't.

Do it yourself!! Go to Walmart and get one of their 'add it yourself' refrigerant kits. Follow the instructions and you will have cold air shortly. From the sounds of it, one can will probably do ya just fine.

This is bad advice. AC systems are very sensitive to the amount of refrigerant/oil that is in the system and overcharging it(which is quite likely to happen without a proper set of gauges) can damage your compressor turning a potentially cheap fix into a rather expensive one.

 

[quakefiend420]

Thanks for the replies... Bartman39 I will check your link out.

I've been googling and running out to the car... lol

The compressor seems to be operating. When the AC is on, I can see it spin, and when it's off I can see it's not spinning.

It seems to be the fan. My main radiator fan runs like it should, but I never see the secondary fan (the one for the AC) come on.

The fuse doesn't look like it's blown, but I couldn't get it out to inspect it closely. It didn't pull out easily and I didn't want to break it, so I need to look up the proper removal procedure. It's a bigger square one, the smaller rectangle ones pull right out.

I did find a video that shows how to get the fan out and replace it. I figure it will take me a day to do it... lol.

Would this cause the problem of cool air on the drivers side and hot air on the passenger's side? Or might there be an additional problem?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Edited to add that my truck does not have dual climate controls.

This sounds like a potential culprit. There is likely a test procedure that you can use to put 12V directly to the fan to see if it spins up. Lack of airflow over the condensor when parked can cause exactly the symptoms you described.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I don't know anything about the second fan setup on those trucks, but it sounds an awful lot like the system is low on refrigerant to me.

It seems to me that if it were the fan, the system would be perfect on the highway.

Some vehicles (I know BMW does this..) will only blow cold air to the driver if the system is low on refrigerant.

 

[mvbighead]

That sounds an awful lot like low coolant (IE - antifreeze, not refrigerant), at least to me. My wife's car (07 Impala) would blow warm at stop lights, but cool (not cold) while driving. Fill up the coolant to the fill line, and voila.

As for one side being different than the other, do you have dual zone climate control? If you do, the heater treater blendoor bit is most likely accurate if that continues. I have done the repair on a 2000 Jeep GC. A bit of a pain in the ass, but much cheaper (I hear) than taking it to the dealer.

 

[theknight571]

Update.

I got the condenser fan to spin.
- I pulled the fuse, inspected it, and put it back.
- I pulled the relay, inspected it, and put it back.
- I spun (with the car off) the fan manually and it spun with no sticking or hangups etc.
- I started the car and still no spin
- With the car running I, for the hell of it, tapped the fan motor with a hammer, and the fan came to life. (believe it or not, I did find this suggestion during one of my searches)

So, for the time being at least, I get cold air from the Driver's side vents even at idle.

The air on the passenger side is still warm though.

I think the next step is to check the charge. (I don't have the guages, and the refill with the guages on it will have to wait till payday. lol)

I hope it's not one of the "blend" doors. I don't really want to pull the dash apart. I was already worried about trying to replace the condenser fan.

 

[LTC8K6]

Gotta be the blend doors if you have cold air, I'd think.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Try messing with the airflow settings... sometimes if you set it to full a/c it will blow cold air all the time, depending on what the issue is with the blend door.

 

[Bartman39]

From that site I linked for you...

b.The symptoms of blend door failure are an inability to control the temperature of the air flowing through the system. A broken door will generally fall into the down position, blocking the core and having no heat in the system. The box is designed for either single or dual control of temperature on the passenger and driver’s sides. If there is a difference between passenger and driver’s side temperatures, the problem is with the blend door on either a single or dual control system. Of course this test assumes that the heater core is hot. You want to make sure that the radiator is full(radiator, not overflow tank) which you can check by opening the radiator cap on a cold engine. The radiator should be full, air in the system will greatly diminish heater operation and engine cooling. You can also check the heater hoses from a cold startup. The two hoses going into the firewall should warm up at about the same rate and get uncomfortably hot. This is a good indication that coolant is flowing through the heater core.

If one side is cold then there is nothing wrong with the charge... You found part of the problem with the condenser fan which I had also pointed out... But your temp fix for the condenser fan is just that temporary the motor is bad get a new one... Then move on and read that link I posted earlier order what you need fix it and be done...:thumbsup: (You can do it...!)

 

[mvbighead]

Yeah, if your two sides are giving you different temps, it'd be blend doors for sure.

I would assume that you have dual air control (IE cold/hot shifters for both the left and right side). If you didn't, you should get the same temp across both sides.

As for the replacement, basically you take out the glove box, and cut a hole in the plastic box behind it. That cut gives you access to the doors. If one is stuck, you can either order the kit linked above, or you can (redneck fix) superglue the center connector to the working side, using the arm's motor on the working side to adjust temperature for both sides. I had done this as a temporary fix as a piece of the arm had broken off in the far motor, and I was having trouble finding a way of getting it out. Definitely ghetto, but working air is better than non-working air.

Also, there should be a way to get codes for the AC system. Pressing both the AC and Recirc buttons I think...

Here's the ones for the jeep, which I would assume would be similar to your Ram:
http://www.wjjeeps.com/climate.htm