plessm

Thought I would post here. Bought my 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9 turbo diesel new in 2006. 10 years old, and I plan to keep another 10 years minimum. A/C went out on a recent trip to San Diego and back. 91,000 miles on the truck, probably 50/50 town / highway.

Half way home from San Diego, 105 degrees out, A/C starts blowing warm from the vents. I didn't hear any noise or feel anything shudder, was running 70 mph with cruise on. Pulled over next offramp, looked under hood, oil dripping out of compressor and the compressor pulley had slung oil on the frame, and radiator hose adjacent.

I got an estimate to fix from local repair shop, $1200. No way, I bought a new compressor, new orifice tube, new condenser, and new accumulator/filter, and a new A/C o-ring/gasket kit.

Jacked up, removed tire and pulled inner fender on passenger side. 10 minutes. Made sure there was no pressure in system by pressing down the schrader valve on the left side A/C line that goes to the condenser, it's right up by the radiator top support on the passenger side. No pressure.

I removed the serpentine belt. I pulled back the rubber piece that covers the lines going to the condenser on the left side front. Removed the (2) 13mm nuts from the lines that hold to the condenser, removed the (4) 13mm bolts on the condenser, it popped right out. 20 minutes, (mostly the belt).

I unbolted (1) 10mm bolt on the back of the compressor where the A/C line block is held on. Unhooked the electrical connection on the top of the compressor. I then unbolted the (4) 13mm bolts holding the compressor to the engine. This took another 5 minutes.

I removed the passenger side battery, battery tray, and air cleaner. 20 minutes.

Now you can see the line that contains the orifice tube. It runs along the fender well from a fitting right behind where the airbox was, up to the firewall. I removed the plastic clamps from the line connections. I used a Lisle brand set of plastic fuel line/A/C line removal tools. It was $12 at my local auto parts store for 6 different sizes, largest being 3/4", which you will use and the other is 5/8" I believe. These clip over the line, then you push up into the fitting which pushes a spring back and the fitting comes right apart. It took me 5 minutes to unhook the lines from the firewall and accumulator/filter, which is the black tank mounted to a bracket on the firewall, passenger side. (A tip, I bought a quick disconnect metal tool to disconnect the A/C lines, but it did not work. It was not flexible enough to push into the fittings to get them to unhook.) Get the plastic ones. This Lisle brand set had larger rounded edges that I could really get some finger pressure on, they worked perfect.

Unbolt the accumulator/filter from the firewall bracket and replace with the new one. Make sure to replace any visible o-rings on any lines you aren't replacing. I cleaned these fittings with clean paper towel, then put new o-rings on, then lubed the o-rings with some PAG oil of the right type. Clip them back together, then put the plastic clamps back on the fittings. Bolted the new accumulator/filter on the bracket, attached the new orifice tube.

Bolted on the new compressor. I looked around until I found a DENSO brand, which is what came on the truck new. Denso part 471-6046. I found it for around $300 brand new, full of oil. This part number comes with OEM electrical fitting and clutch/pulley. New o-ring gaskets on the line block, then bolt back on the back of the compressor. Connect the electrical fitting. Another 10 minutes at the most.

Bolted the new condenser on, new o-ring gaskets on the line blocks that attach to the condenser. 10 minutes.

Now the hardest part of the whole service, the new serpentine belt. Took me forever to figure out how to snake that belt up though correctly. It doesn't loop over the fan because of the electrical line that goes to the fan clutch. I had to find a youtube video with a diagram of how to snake it up through. Then, my new GATES belt was super tight. With my son holding the tensioner bottomed out with a cheater pipe on a 1/2" ratchet, I had to work for 10 minutes to get the belt up on the alternator pulley. Finally got it though and it was seated correctly on all pulleys. This took me at least 1.5 hours, bruised hands and forearms from the fan shroud. (Now I know how to do it though.)

I cleaned my air box and battery tray, re-installed. 30 minutes. Reinstalled the inner fender and tire. Rotated my tires while I was at it.

I just got it back from my local mechanic who charged used his evacuation/vacuum/refridgerant machine on it. $150 for the charge and it's blowing 40 degrees out of the vent.

If I had to do it again, I could do it all in under 3 hours. It's a piece of cake. The belt is the hardest part. If you've got an old 3rd gen like me and the A/C isn't working, I just replaced nearly all parts except for the evaporator and it's simple. I've never worked on A/C systems before, but I did not want to pay the mechanic $1200 for labor and marked up remanufactured parts.

I got the accumulator/filter, o-ring kit, orifice tube, and condenser from Rockauto. I got the new Denso compressor from Amazon of all places. It cost me $425 in parts and $150 to charge. Sorry for the long write up, but thought it may help someone else.

AkitaSumo

Great write up, almost don't need pictures, yet pictures are always nice...you could take it part away apart, especially getting the belt off and on, we all would really appreciate it. Anyway I am going to bookmark this one..

nvrenuf

Excellent write up! My '06 compressor has been growling for a week and stopped blowing cold today. I'll be following your in your steps.

Compressor still working good?

Why did you replace the condenser?

CRF450R RIDER

A tip to add is make sure your fan clutch works. If it doesn't you can keep breaking compressors.

Z-MAN

Same truck, same symptom. Thank you for the write up. It will be helpful for me at least.