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Comments
Depends on what year you Dak is... but on my 2000 it is under the Dash behind the glovebox. One electrical plug and 2 screws and it comes right out. The part costs about $15.
This webpage may help you out.
The 4.7 L semi-hemi can be tricky to "burp" all the air out of the cooling system. There is a special air-valve located at the highest point of the system to assist in "burping" the air out.
Dont forget to check the resivour regularly for about a month. Each time the engine cools, it will suck in more antifreeze.
Then with the engine at operating temp. and the heater on high both heater hoses should be hot. If one is cool the heater core may be plugged or if it has a heater control valve it may not be all the way open.
It is also possible that your blend door is not operation properly. You could have a bad thermostat. Not likely but possible.
Let the engine cool down and top off the coolant. May have to repeat this a couple of times.
Thanks
Wayne
i recently had a drop off in a/c efficiency. i've always run it on high a/c-high fan setting here in the 'dry tropics' of w. texas. sooooo, i got the a/c refill bottle thingy, went through the refill process watching the gauge drop nicely into the green, using about half a bottle, noticed the cooling efficiency improve in the cab as well. everything nice and tidy. until just the other day. and now it just blows warm air. not hot, but warm. about what it was doing before i added the 134a. okay, leak right? well, not so fast.
oddly, the a/c compressor runs normally, fan blows normally and what's really weird is that when i hook the bottle back up to the low pressure port, it is solidly in the green, so apparently it's got a good charge of juice. hmmmmm... fan works, switches are all good, compressor works (not cycling, just on or off), yet temps are warm. turn the temp up to 'hot' and it'll fry your (hot dog) weenie. just no cold air.
any ideas on this little mystery?
jack b :-) in midland, tx usa
coincidentally, we've got an 04 lincoln LS that has about 50k on it. it's just started blowing ice cold only (max low setting only) - no heat. i think we've figgered that'n out, but it happened at the same time. w. tx. just kills a/c units!
jack b :-)
I know the above to be true because I have cousin who does A/C work for a living and have seen him diagnose A/C problems by using ONLY those 3 connections (High pressure, Low pressure, and compresser-inlet temp)
I would say that your best approach is to find someone who has those skills.
HOWEVER: Before doing that, I would personally verify that the pressure-switches on the high and low side are working as expected. It is the pressure-switches which control the A/C clutch and cutout.
Be aware, the ONLY way your system could have needed freon is because it leaked out in the first place. I am suspecting you do have some kind of leak.
update: i put another 6 or so oz. in it (about 24 oz. total, after burping the hot air out a few times), and it cooled down ever so slightly, not much at all. another oddity is a noise, similar to a clothes pinned playing card in bicycle spokes. if y'all aren't familiar with that sound, then you don't need to be reading any further. for those of you that do, you'll understand the duck tape 'n vise grips comment...
anyway, the noise just increases with fan speed, and it's definitely coming from the blend box in front of the front seat passenger's feet. i unscrewed a few screws, and wiggling the box cover changes the sound noticeably. uh oh.
pro'lly gonna leave it for the a/c guys downtown.
i've got other stuff that needs attention on it more than that, particularly an odd 'cutting out' situation that's just developed. i'll go through the connectors, dirty distributor, etc. list before i get back on here and whine about it. speaking of rv's, my onan has quit putting out current on our smaller telstar motorhome, sooooo on to that little nuisance. gotta have it runnin' by manana evenin' or there'll be hell to pay!
jack b :-) in midland, tx usa
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Duralast-Blower-Motor-Resistor/2001-Dodge- -Dakota-2WD/_/N-jf9dqZ91tag?counter=0&itemIdentifier=794687_0_3330_
you might or might not have been around this group back in 2000 when we started it up, but i actually autocrossed my quad when it was new. won several trophies as well, then 'retired it' to the field for about 5-6 years of hard work and 130+ mile per day commuting. it still looks new, now has a camper shell on it, and i replaced the r/t wheels i'd put on it for the originals (more rubber for a smoother ride).
i'll let you know if the resistor fixes it. still flummoxed as to why it just blows warm air. jack b :-) in midland, tx usa
D.P.
I assume you realize that something is physically touching the squirril-cage fan of the blower. I have had to take these apart a couple times over the years because of such a noise. All I can tell you is that I have found everything from dry-leaves to dead mice.
Your only recourse is to access the blower-motor. There should be several screws holding it on...the squirril-cage fan should come out attached to the motor.
If it doesn't work on anything but the highest speed, than it may be the resistor that's used to drop the voltage to the blower motor and thus reduce the fan speed.
HINT: blower resister - part costs under $20
Again, the 'search' function will tell you WHERE it is located and HOW to replace it.
Thank you
Thank you
1. When I change selector from floor to dash (actually any change), a loud clicking sound starts from the middle of the dash, and may or maynot stop after a while.
2. Fan speed varies although the speed control has not been touched.
Any ideas would be appreciated, 'cause I love my truck except for this, thanks
Does anyone have any suggestions before I bite the bullet and go to a dealer?
Thanks,
Jim
Last I knew, a replacement is about 12 bucks. (plus a few minutes to access the burnt one to replace it.)
Thank you,
Larry
I do not know if the clutch and/or bearings themselves are replaceable or not. If you take it to any repair shop, I'm betting they will replace the entire compressor unit anyway.
After a couple of days of wondering why this happened I decided i may have connected something improperly so i reached under the dash and wiggled the connector on the resistor. To my surprise (and delight) the fan came on and functioned normally again for about ten minutes. Then it stopped working again.
As the very busy person I am (aren’t we all?), i wiggled again, the fan came back to life, and I made a mental note to “look at” the connection and see where it was loose. This went on for four days; fan quits, driver wiggles plug, fan starts. I got very adept at doing this even while driving (not recommended).
On day five, shortly after the wiggle, i noticed a “melting plastic” smell filling the cab. Upon reaching down to wiggle yet again I realized the wires to the plug were the source of the smell. They were hot enough to burn me when I touched them. After letting everything cool off, I removed the “new resistor” and noticed it was burned in one pin of the plug, plus the insulation was burned off the wire going to that plug for about a half-inch. I though maybe I had gotten a bad resistor so I bought another and plugged it in. When I turned on the fan, the wire started heating up again (it did this in all fan positions).
I'm at the point now where I’ve pulled the blower motor but want to test it before i shell out $100 to replace it. Anyone have any suggestions? The standard auto parts stores dont have a way of testing the blower motor. It runs fine until the wiring heats up so i don;t know if it’s getting bad and starting to draw too many amps or if there is a wiring problem I need to track down. Thanks for any help!
On mine, I just used a puller to pull of the pulley that comes off a splined
shaft after you remove the locknut. The bearing runs out of grease
and makes a noise. If it's not too bad, you can pop off the grease seal that
is accessible and wash out the bearing in varsol and repack it with good
bearing grease and pop the grease shield back on an it's good to go.
The other thing that can make noise on these is a scraping sound between
the pulley and the electric clutch that attracts the coupling plate. I just use
a little bit of oil sprayed into the pulley between the rotating pulley and the
coupler which rotates only if the clutch is activated.
have for mine.
The Dakota a/c system has an A/C high pressure switch
and a A/C low pressure switch that are in series.
If both are closed (for normal A/C operation), switch sensing
goes into the PCM and the PCM will turn
on the A/C compressor clutch relay, when it gets a demand signal from
the AC/Heat switch on the dashboard.
If the A/C request signal comes from the A/C heater control (dashboard) to the PCM, the PCM turns on the compressor clutch relay, which controls the A/C compressor clutch. That is pretty much it.
The symptom you describe 'it works when the sun goes down" only
makes sense if there is a temperature sensor or thermistor
that is elsewhere that affects it. On the 98 Durango, there is also a
A/C low temperature cut-out switch between the A/C high pressure
switch and the A/C low pressure switch. It's power comes from the
fused ignition switch (run), so maybe on the newer Dakotas, they
also incorporated that and that might have some effect causing your
symptom.