Last night I went and looked at an ’06 that was for sale. When the hood was popped, I noticed that his AC condenser was different from mine. Mine is ¼” or so round tubes with fins, his had flat tubes about 1/16” tall, and ½” deep. His condenser had been replaced due to some front end damage. I am wondering if it is an updated, more efficient model. It was an OEM part, had a dodge number on it. I should have written it down.

The reason for my curiosity is that since my ’06 was new, I have been quite disappointed with the AC. It takes a long time to cool down on a hot Arizona summer day, whereas my wife’s Yukon will freeze you out by the end of the block. I have long been looking for a way to “hop up” my AC, it would be nice if I just stumbled on to an OEM fix.

Any other ideas on how to “hop up” AC would be appreciated. I am getting dangerously close to talking my wife into an ’06 CTD … Her last holdout is she has noticed how much better her AC works than mine

 

Your probably just seeing an aftermarket that will work. The ac doesn't care what condensor is there, as long as it works.

A good, simple ac "upgrade" is to install some ball valves that stops the hot water from flowing all the time into the heater core. You'll need three, installed into an H pattern to build a bypass system. The air actually passes over the hot heater coil first and is then cooled by the evap coil.

 

I think the part was changed by Chrysler at some point. I saw another truck that had a different condenser too after being fixed. I don't know if it worked differently or not, but it certainly looked different from mine.

I use the heater core shut off valve in my truck and it works quite well.

 

Sorry to dig up old bones, just never got around to the heater core shut off and was wondering if anyone had any new updates as to whether it needed to be by passed or just shut off... i know a year or so ago there was a lot of discussion about it, jw... any help appreciated.

 

If you have a manual trans (and your sig says you do) then just shut off one the line going into the heater core from the head.

I actually started this mod a couple years ago and I have been running mine that way since then.

 

awesome - thanks

 

heading to auto store in a few - what size is the heater core hose??

 

how do I block the heater core on an 05 auto truck?? with this hot weather coming on and it sure doesnt cool like my wifes tahoe either haha

 

The valve I have says 3/4 barbed fittings.

 

With the auto you need to by pass the heater core buy shutting it off from the head to the core, but putting in a cross over pipe and another valve that will let the coolant take it's normal path after the heater core.

 

on my 06 it looks like I can undo the incoming from the head and undo it from the firewall and rout it down to the hard line return. And take the return line and just make a loop from the return to the incoming side of the heater core. Will this work instead of the ball valves?

 

Here's some info from the service manual, the way I understand it is it will always pass through the a/c evaporator but can be directed around the heater core depending on the position of the blend doors. So it may help a little to bypass the heater core just because it may heat the surrounding ducting but not as much as you might think.

 

Yeah the heater core lays horizontal on our trucks with doors above and bellow. Air always flows through the evaporator but the blend doors will control the flow around/through the heater core.

I have seen a 5 degree difference at idle while checking a/c performance by clamping the hoses to the heater core. But you have to remember when you jump in your truck and fire it up the engine is going to be at ambient temp. It is going to have little effect on a/c performance until the engine reaches full temp and by that point the a/c should be cooling good.

What I have noticed is the engine fan does not kick in as soon as it should and high side pressure has to climb up pretty high before it will engage the fan. Often times the engine will have to get to operating temp before the engine fan will engage enough for that a/c to cool properly. A small electric fan in front of the condenser will make a big difference in this department.

 

I was about fed up with my ac until I dropped the fan & washed the cond. It`s much better. it was about stopped up.

 

I wonder if adding a larger condenser would give better performance..