I notice on very hot days (95+) the air conditioner on my Durangos (Had 2) would take about 10 minutes of driving on the highway to get very cold, regardless of using auto or Max AC setting. Will not get cold idling in a parking lot. Stop and go driving would keep it from getting very cold too. I had the same issue with an E class Mercedes Benz afew years ago. I drive a Ford for work, both Crown Victoria and Explorer. The Ford's AC gets super cold at idle in a parking lot. Diamler/Chryslers not so much. Anyone notice this?
Weak air conditioner
Rico911
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
I notice on very hot days (95+) the air conditioner on my Durangos (Had 2) would take about 10 minutes of driving on the highway to get very cold, regardless of using auto or Max AC setting. Will not get cold idling in a parking lot. Stop and go driving would keep it from getting very cold too. I had the same issue with an E class Mercedes Benz afew years ago. I drive a Ford for work, both Crown Victoria and Explorer. The Ford's AC gets super cold at idle in a parking lot. Diamler/Chryslers not so much. Anyone notice this?
Joined
·
1,320 Posts
Not on my '17 yet. But my '02 Ram had issues like that due to the evap core freezing-up because it was clogged with 15 years of yuk.
Pre-'08, they had NO cabin filter. Luckily, your 2013 (assuming that's the one you're referring to) does. I would change out that filter before taking it to an A/C guy. It may be low on refrigerant, or either the T-stat, evap pressure control valve, or compressor is whack. There are other possibilities too, such as a kinked. or restricted line, restriction in the expansion valve (wherever that is).
Did it fail all of a sudden, or was it a gradual decline in performance?
Pre-'08, they had NO cabin filter. Luckily, your 2013 (assuming that's the one you're referring to) does. I would change out that filter before taking it to an A/C guy. It may be low on refrigerant, or either the T-stat, evap pressure control valve, or compressor is whack. There are other possibilities too, such as a kinked. or restricted line, restriction in the expansion valve (wherever that is).
Did it fail all of a sudden, or was it a gradual decline in performance?
It's always been like this, both Dodges. Dealer mechanic said there are no issues with it, just the Diamler Chrysler design, not enough air from the fan when sitting. My 15 y/o Accord is colder, especially after starting it after sitting in the sun all day. It seems my Dodges need ram air into the ac condenser for several minutes before blowing cold. Just wondering if anyone else noticed in theirs.
Joined
·
105 Posts
Mine isn't ideal if the car has been outside in the heat and I start it up. If it's in the shade first, it's fine. If it's in the sun, it takes a while to catch up. I have helped resolve this by turning on the rear AC and opening up the ceiling vents. That made a big difference. Additionally, if you want the best AC in a car, get a Chevy Silverado. That thing could cool a stadium... my 2014 Silverado was an icebox easily. I left it at 72 degrees year round and it was perfect. The Durango I have to fidget between 68 and 72 as the AC is also very directional. Like... it doesn't seem to cool ambiently it fires rays of cold air at me instead.
Amen, on the Silverado! I have an '07 that will freeze your ears off...'11 Durango, not so much. Nowhere near.
Isn't the pickup interior a bit smaller than a 3-row suv??? Along with less glass to allow sun's rays in.
Every pickup I've been in, from small Nissan's to crew cab Ford's all had ice cold air. Though it does seem today's AC system are not as cold as the old R-12 systems.
Every pickup I've been in, from small Nissan's to crew cab Ford's all had ice cold air. Though it does seem today's AC system are not as cold as the old R-12 systems.
Did you tint all of the windows or just the front 2?
Joined
·
5,222 Posts
For what it's worth, all the Dodges I have owned had 'slower' AC systems than everything else I had. My 1996 E350 gets cooler faster than my 07 D does even today. All the Caravans, the Durangos, the Rams that I've owned were slower. Never really a problem for me, more of a curiosity.
Joined
·
903 Posts
I recently tinted all the glass on my D.
Lumar ATR 15% on front windows and 35% over the factory privacy glass plus Air 80 on the windshield. The heat rejection is fantastic.
Joined
·
2,506 Posts
I think they put undersized systems in the bigger vehicles. My Caliber would get uncomfortably cold very quickly. Even the 300 gets cold real quick. But my buddies single cab is like you describe, it works just not the fastest.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Amen, on the Silverado! My '07 will give your ears frostbite within 5 minutes.
My '11 Durango Crew has always been weak too, though it seemed to be a little better right after I refilled the refrigerant, but only right after, it quickly returned to same weak.
Btw, I had to replace the Schrader valve on the high pressure line due to o-ring missing...so could be bits of it throughout the system. Yay!!! Lol
Btw, I had to replace the Schrader valve on the high pressure line due to o-ring missing...so could be bits of it throughout the system. Yay!!! Lol
Joined
·
1 Posts
Problems with the air conditioning in the car are very annoying to me. Why it can't work normally when I need it. In winter, when I don't use it to cool the air, it stagnates, and works very poorly in summer. This forced me to deal with the problem myself and look for information about air conditioners to solve this issue. Unfortunately, I could not solve anything, I had to use the air conditioning servicing, which helped me fix the air conditioner problem. But I did not find out the reason for the malfunction of my air conditioner.
Joined
·
9,271 Posts
A couple of things to keep in mind here is that the vans and suvs have a larger interior area to cool/heat. Along with that, a larger interior has more surface area to absorb ambient heat/sun, which has to be overcome to get the interior comfortable. Between the wife and I, we have owned 2 Grand Caravans and 2 Durangos. All 4 of these had the front/rear HVAC. I found it always helped to get moving with the windows open to some extent for a few minutes on a really hot day, and then crank them up once the hot, stale air had evacuated.
When I was searching for my first Durango, I purposely drove an '01 on a hot day with front AC only. I had my son ride in the third row. We quickly saw that having the rear HVAC in such a large cabin was the way to go.
As always, YMMV
Don
When I was searching for my first Durango, I purposely drove an '01 on a hot day with front AC only. I had my son ride in the third row. We quickly saw that having the rear HVAC in such a large cabin was the way to go.
As always, YMMV
Don
My air con had the same issue that the air con blower was really dying out on me. I had this issue for a few months and ignored it for a while because it was oaky for some days but some days it couldn't really blow out much air. I read up on some online air con servicing articles on subcool.sg that really helped me clean out my filter and clean my air vents that solved the problem.
Wow didn't know that so many people had the same problems as me. I am puzzled as to why dodge still has so many customers with recurring air con problems with so many of their buyers. My air con just died on me the other day. I only had it for about 4 months but somehow the air con keeps having issues of not blowing cool air or just stopping randomly. I had to research online and find air con servicing articles to fix it myself. I got a coolant replaced and the condenser as well. I am hoping these will last a few years and then i can bring it to service properly after that.
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
