ssandlin

Yep, sounds like the recirc door. Real easy to check, just pull the glove box and look.

No experience with the Heater Treater doors. When my recirc door broke, I just replaced it with the new housing/door assembly from Dodge.

gpshemi

...and how long has that held up for ya? It's alot cheaper then HeaterTreater I'm sure, but HeaterTreater sounds like a one shot deal. Never again with the exception of maybe a motor going out.

FMB

Youp, the quick $0 fix is to take out the blower motor and pull the dropped door out, put the motor back.

You are the one to decide if it is worth it. I've been without the recirc door for a few years now. I have the part, but not the real need, I guess. It was 107* here Tuesday. I drove 35 miles home during the heat of the day and had no issues. I would suggest, though, if you decide to do it, do them all and make sure they move smoothly before you put it all together.

ssandlin

I had it replaced in Aug of 09, so it's been a year now. If I remember right, the new recirc door housing has stops built into it to prevent overtravel of the motor. It was the overtravel that was causing the doors to break.

15 Digger

My 06 did it also by 10K miles. Dealer fixed it.

rsscoggins

Well my Recirc door broke first part of the summer - fan was on high sounding like a tornado but very little air coming out of the vents. I dropped the fan motor and sure enough the door was laying on top of the fan blocking all air flow. I simply removed it and put the fan back up with the intention of replacing the recirc door later.

Recently I had to do some AC work on the wife's Z28 so I bought some gauges and a thermometer. I stuck the thermometer in my trucks center vents just to check it out and noticed a 20 degree difference between driver and passenger - driver was colder so I never realized it. This differential didnt sound right and I didn't know if it was because of the recirc door missing or if it was low and R134a as others suggested.

Earlier this week, I ended up ordering the HEATERTREATER recirc door instead of the OEM plastic one. This thing is ridculously simply and most anyone with fab skills could make it but you have to admire the guy for making and marketing a product that is better than the OEM one. I installed the metal recirc door WITHOUT cutting the dash by inserting it through the fan motor hole the same way I removed the original. The instructions were for all doors and man I can not believe that people would cut up the AC plenum like that - simply crazy. There is no need to cut or even remove the plenum for the recirc door, just go up through the fan motor hole. IF i ever have to replace the other doors, I WILL use the Heater Treater doors but wil remove the dash and ac plenum rather than cutting.

I also added 3/4 of a can of R134a to the AC system and now both passenger and driver cool down to 42 degress on a 91 degree day.

04ctd

how do you get the ReCirc door to close against highway speed wind coming?

my recirc makes a HORRIBLE wind noise at speed.

it's louder than the K&N was on my 2004.

User Name:

are you guys able to seal off the recirc door with just dropping the fan motor?

gpshemi

Pull the fan last night and yanked out the recirc door. I'm not smothering now at least. The AC isn't quite as potent, but this was 90 in Michigan and seemed to cool the megacab down enough. The dealer tech told me not to bother putting it back in. The newer assembly (Door and box) was only $47, but didn't look much different to me. It's black and has foam on the entire face of the door.

I think I'll let it ride a while and see, but if I do tear into it, I think for the extra $150, the heatertreater steel solution is probably worth while. I doubt you'll have to tear into it a 2nd time after that fix.

User Name:

ya pulling outside air is no good for me here in houston, unless pulling 100 degree air and 50-60% humidity seems pleasant

ssandlin

You also need to yank the glove box out to get access to the recir door box. Last summer when my recirc door broke, I secured it in place to the plastic grate over the opening using plastic zip ties inserted into holes I'd drilled in the recirc door itself. In this position, I did not have recirc (outside air only) and with the 105+ deg. temps we were having last August, it was not long before I had the recirc door assembly replaced so I could recirc the air. Made a huge difference in how cool the cab got.

User Name:

i was thinking if you just covered the hole completely wouldnt it always be on recirc?

FMB

Wrong hole, User.

User Name:

**** my girl said that too me last night

gpshemi

Depending on which hole you cover yes. However, I don't think you want recirc all the time right? You'll fog up I'd think. Seems to be working pretty good as is really. It's been in the 90's the past few days, and I'm keeping up just fine.