Comparing the 2003 Dodge Ram with the 1997

From : remove spam from address to reply

Q: i had a similar story with an a/c professional when my house a/c broke. before calling prof. help i spent two hours trying to diagnose why the furnace fan did not work. i settled on the speed controller not working based on voltmeter measurements. i then called one guy to look at it. he says we need to replace the board. he said it very confidently. i asked him what evidence did he have that the board was bad. he started mumbling etc. just like your service manager suggesting to replace the parts with no evidence opf their failure. i then decided that he was just trying to rack up his work hours and hired someone else. who originally installed the furnace the other guy figured it all out and replaced the speed controller now everything works great. i think that he probably understood that bullshitting me is not going to get him very far. or maybe he was a naturally honest upstanding repairman. at any rate he will get my future business. there is an awful lot of crooks who repair things that customers do not understand car mechanics etc etc. not all of them are such but i have yet to meet an honest car mechanic. meaning someone who would not lie to me about condition of components would not suggest unnecessary repairs etc. consequently i do almost all work on my truck myself. if there was an honest car mechanic who had reasonable rates i would prefer a professional to do maintenance etc. so want it or not you need to become somewhat knowledgeable on things that might need repair. at least to the point of evaluating truthfulness and logical completeness of what the repairmen suggest. i seems refrigerant loss on the 97 is a common problem. mine seems to lose not quite a full pound between summers always requiring just under a can to recharge it at the start of the cooling season. ive been adding a little every summer since it was 2 years old. finally last month i took it in to mr. dodgewrench for its 60k mile checkup and asked them to check the a/c. they said it was low on refrigerant doh but were unable to find the leak and suggested replacing the compressor ! i asked if they would guarantee that would fix it and the svc mgr said no. he would guarantee the compressor for 90 days but not that it would solve the leak. i told them unless they can positively find the leak and isolate it as definitely being in the compressor that the only way theyre going to replace it is if/when it finally fails. but then his tune changed and suddenly he was almost certain the compressor was the cause and i should have it replaced before it goes out completely. give me a freakin break! the truck only has 61000 miles on it. anyway because i wouldnt agree to let them replace the compressor he wouldnt recharge the system because he said it had a leak even tho his a/c man couldnt find it. yup its a racket but we kinda knew that didnt we so back to wally world for my annual purchase of a can of r134a. my a/cs been fine since. for the a/c tekkies out there heres the symptoms a/c clutch cycling on/off every 1-2 seconds or so vents blowing warm air. suction line feels a little cooler than ambient temp but barely. added 1 can r134a. within 2-3 secs of opening the valve the clutch locked in solid. within a minute the vents were blowing cold and the suction line was almost ice cold dripping w/condensate water. that was a month ago. still working fine. if its anything like last year and the 2 years before that it wont need gas again until next summer. i know this is not what the tree huggers and gas passers want to hear but its what works. writes tom lawrence wrote my a/c isnt working in my 97 ram pu and i noticed that the a/c clutch does not come on and drive the compressor at all. i checked to see if it spins and it does. is their a way to test the clutch their is a 2 prong electrical plug leading too it and is it just a matter of putting 12 volts on it disconnect the connector on top of the accumulator cylinder-looking thing next to the firewall on the passenger side - has a/c hoses coming out of it and stick the ends of a paper clip into the connector the part on the wire not the part left in the accumulator. with the engine running and the climate controls in the a/c position if the clutch engages youre low on refrigerant and need to get the leak found fixed and the system recharged. dont let the clutch stay engaged for too long this way - just long enough to verify the problem. thanks!! the clutch worked almost immediately. .

Replies:

From : aj

yes. a 4.7 v-8. is there many performance parts out there for the 3.9l v6 engine -- andy http//crimespree.ca .

From : tim miser

interesting they would go ahead and recharge it without finding/fixing the leak. the hvac carnival barkers i know are usually quite adamant that refrigerant does not just magically disappear in a closed system unless theres a leak which they insist on repairing even when in my case they couldnt find it. maybe i need a new shop ; actually i have a very good independent shop that does 99% of my out of warranty work. i only took it in to the dealership for the 60k rear-end service but wound up taking it in the rear-end well they tried anyway. geeze do you know these guys get 60 bux for a $14 serpentine belt i honestly believe if we could return to the days when the svc mgr worked on a flat salary stead of salary + commission that thered be happier customers and fewer complaints about embellished repair tickets and unnecessary recommendations for unneeded repairs. writes pj & aimee ritz wrote they found the leak on my 97 dakota using uv dye it ended up being the evaporator coil and they wanted about $1000 to replace it so i ended up doing it myself about $130 for the evaporator coil from the auto parts store and about a full days labor since you have to take the whole dash out to change it. i took mine in today and they recharged the system and i saw the uv dye sticker they placed under the hood. they said they didnt see any leaks. .