Hello Men. Thanks for most informative forum on the net.

Purchased an '03 Ram 2500, 5.9 Cummins SO, trade with local Ford dealer. Immediately had issues with compressor not coming on. First replaced condenser; day later, replaced the evaporator, both times 'cause of leaks. Today A/C runs reasonably cold on driver side, but passenger side is noticeably warmer.

I have seen a thread or two on this issue that suggests replacing an orifice in a liquid line and the condenser from the 05-06 model year to fix this problem. Before I go to these folks to try and settle this issue, I wonder if there is someone on the line who could explain why this fix works? How can replacing the condenser and orifice tube affect the result of having air temps equal driver side to passenger?

 

Well, first of all welcome.

You forgot the 2.00lbs of R134a. The reason the new orifice tube worked is because it was a bigger hole(flowed more and decreased high side pressure). The problem was with the High side pressure getting too high in hot temps and low volume of flow in the evaporator. The new condensor.... I don't know the exact difference but it would transfer heat better which also decrease the High side pressure. All of these things improved the volume of flow in the evaporator in high ambient temps. Best I can explain it in normal terms. The A/C system is a balancing act in Thermodynamics. You change one thing and you will have to adjust something else. Give and take type deal.

 

Do you have dual zone climate control? I had this in my old Grand Cherokee and it blew cold on one side and hot on the other. It turnde out being a blend motor.

Good luck

 

Nope, mine does not have dual zone (no dash controls as per pics in owners manual).

Only other mystery to me is why not only temperature of air warmer in passenger vents but VOLUME of air also is not up to drivers side. Tech at Ford place says all doors functioning properly. A likeable guy, but not sure if I trust his Dodge knowledge.

Should I have Dodge tech make sure air doors are functioning before I go and have the condenser/orifice replacement done?

 

Hey Spooler you would'nt happen to know what the actual size of the orifice tube was? I think I am going to make a ne liquid line for my truck that I can replace the orifice tube in until I get the proper flow and cooling I need. It would be nice to know a good starting point though.

 

It's in the big 03 A/C thread. I don't remember off the top of my head.

 

Maybe this is the link for the info you seek, sled4fun,
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...106452&page=22

 

had the same problem...the system was low on r134, doent make sense to me but it fixed the problem