I’ve had a minor issue with my vents in my 2001. I recently traced the majority of my issues to a significant vacuum leak under the hood but still have one residual problem...

Air continues to force its way into the cab at speed.... when new, the off setting at the selector meant no air came in to the cab. Over the years, that stopped working... I’m thinking there’s an intake selector door. If I can’t make it shut off I’m assuming that I’m not getting recirc air intake for max AC either.

Can you guys help me identify the air intake selector/door? Is this likely to be an actuator failure? If it is do I have to pull the whole box to fix it?

lots of questions.... anything helps.

thanks everyone!

 

If I understand the system correctly, the door to allow outside air into the cab is always open unless you are in Recirculating/Max AC mode. In that mode, the recirculating door opens to allow air from the cab back into the system and blocks the fresh air intake. Any time the system is off (there is no vacuum to the recirc door), the fresh air intake is open.

You can see the recirculating door underneath the passenger side dash without pulling anything off. When you move to Max AC, you should see it open which right ahead of the blower.

 

I imagine that this is due to the fact that the open cell foam gaskets used throughout the HVAC system are disintegrating with age and no longer maintaining an effective air seal. This can be confirmed if you've ever found any old brittle brown foam pieces that have gotten stuck in the dash vent openings, Only way to fix that would be to open up the entire HVAC system under the dash and replace every gasket.

The actuators can play a part of this if they are worn out due to age, since the "newest" second gen Ram is 17 years old at this point in time. My temp actuator is starting to stick a little, but still functions otherwise.

 

This may be on my list of things to do over the winter. I have a evaporator coil leak (very slow) that will need to be repaired, and I'm not sure there is any foam left in my system considering how much I've seen blow out in the last couple of years. At this point, I always have a little bit of air going to defrost and floor, even when set on panel. And it will be a good chance to look at the doors.

And it will be new dash time since I'm not sure the current one will survive removal.