AC problems on long trip! Need Advise!

[Daddydough]

Hey Guys,
I went down to Myrtle Beach Last week and on my way down and back I noticed that after a bout 10 hours of driving my air condition had stop working. It wouldn't blow hardly any air and the air wasn't cold. After I turned it off for a while it would start working for a while.

I also noticed that the AC controls were hot to touch. This was my first long trip in my vehicle, but I didn't think it should be overheating and stop working.

Has anyone every experienced this problem?

[GoofyTimL]

The hot controls are normal, the low flow and no cool air are not. You don't specify in your profile what car you have (or model year), it could be that your air flow overall is less than it should be. If that's the case then you might have icing of the A/C evaporator in the air duct stream... the more it ices, then less flows through... the more it ices up... self-defeating mechanism here.

Were you using a recirc. setting on the controls (circulating inside air only)? Do you have, and if so how long has it been since you changed the outside air filter (under the hood, up near the firewall on the passenger side)? If you don't have an outside filter, then you may have clogged the heat exchanger and/or evaporator to crimp your overall air flow.

I've not had this trouble on my 300s, but I did have this problem with an add-on MoPar A/C unit in my original '68 Charger. When we bought it, the A/C had very little air flow and eventually would spit snow out of the vents... that was hilarious, until is completely froze over. Took some work, but we eventually got it clean and had no problems and lots of cool after that.

[BobF]

Originally Posted by Daddydough

Hey Guys,
I went down to Myrtle Beach Last week and on my way down and back I noticed that after a bout 10 hours of driving my air condition had stop working. It wouldn't blow hardly any air and the air wasn't cold. After I turned it off for a while it would start working for a while.

I also noticed that the AC controls were hot to touch. This was my first long trip in my vehicle, but I didn't think it should be overheating and stop working.

Has anyone every experienced this problem?

The same thing happened to me on my first long trip with my 2006 300C. There is a TSB out to reset the ATC module to prevent evaporator freezing. If this is your problem check out TSB No. 24-012-05a here at the TSB Forum and have the dealer do the TSB. This is applicable to 2006 LE and LX vehicles built prior to July 22, 2005. Regards, Bob.

[srt8danno]

Daddy has an SRT8 (haven't seen a post of his in quite awhile)

Sorry to hear of the AC problem, especially while out on the road. I've noticed a slight weakness in mine recently on a longer trip (2 hours) and will have service take a look at it. Mine doesn't seem to be blowing as cool as it once did. Sounds like a trip to service is needed. Haven't noticed hot knobs....will have to check.

Hope the rest of your trip goes well.

[Daddydough]

Originally Posted by GoofyTimL

The hot controls are normal, the low flow and no cool air are not. You don't specify in your profile what car you have (or model year), it could be that your air flow overall is less than it should be. If that's the case then you might have icing of the A/C evaporator in the air duct stream... the more it ices, then less flows through... the more it ices up... self-defeating mechanism here.

Were you using a recirc. setting on the controls (circulating inside air only)? Do you have, and if so how long has it been since you changed the outside air filter (under the hood, up near the firewall on the passenger side)? If you don't have an outside filter, then you may have clogged the heat exchanger and/or evaporator to crimp your overall air flow.

I have the 2006 SRT8 Model and have around 13,000 miles after the trip to Myrtle Beach. I haven't been using the recirc. setting just turning it on with the far left knob. And setting the temp.

Also I noticed that after I ride a little and get out of my car that I notice fluid running from underneath my vehicle. I assume its water and thought that it was normal but after this incicendent, I'm not so sure. As for the outside filter, I haven't changed it yet. This Sat. June 3 will be the one year mark for my Black Beauty. So It may be time to change it. I'm not sure how often it needs to be changed.

Thanks for your input!

Dough

[ruco469]

Originally Posted by Daddydough

Hey Guys,
I went down to Myrtle Beach Last week and on my way down and back I noticed that after a bout 10 hours of driving my air condition had stop working. It wouldn't blow hardly any air and the air wasn't cold. After I turned it off for a while it would start working for a while.

I also noticed that the AC controls were hot to touch. This was my first long trip in my vehicle, but I didn't think it should be overheating and stop working.

Has anyone every experienced this problem?

yes i am in florida took a long trip same thing happen .. easy fix.. take to dealer they will reprogram the system..done deal.. is in one of the tba,,

[Daddydough]

Cool Beans,
I guess I'll be heading to the dealer ship soon. Does anybody know the actually TSB #.

I had to do the same thing with my sunroof. I had to actually take them a printout from this site to get them on the right track.

Thanks Again Everyone!

[BobF]

Originally Posted by Daddydough

Cool Beans,
I guess I'll be heading to the dealer ship soon. Does anybody know the actually TSB #.

I had to do the same thing with my sunroof. I had to actually take them a printout from this site to get them on the right track.

Thanks Again Everyone!

See my post above for the TSB #. BobF.

[dabeckham]

I had the same problem and the software update corrected the problem. But, I am still unhappy with the A/C software. It really sucks actually. When you first start the car on a hot day it takes up to 30 seconds to start blowing cold. There are is also an issue where on cold days (50F), the warmest # setting (75f) is not blowing hot enough air. If you place the dial on the red dot the air is way too hot. If you switch it back to 75F, the darn thing starts blowing ICE cold again for about 30-60 and gradually starts gtting warmer. But, still not hot enough to quickly warm the cabin.

My ChargerRT has the standard dial for mixing the hot and cold air. I have often considered having the dealer replace the fancy dual climate control in my 300 with the basic single zone controls like the Charger. BTW: The Charger has the same 30 second delay on cooling when starting the car and so did a Grand Cherokee that the dealer loaned me. So, this is definitely something in the software across the whole Chrysler line.

My Lexus LS400 has a digital climate control and I have never had a problem with controlling the cabin temp. They seem to have gotten the logic correct on how to quickly bring the cabin to the desired temp.