I posted back in Oct of 2014 when this problem started. I have a 2006 durango 5.7 hemi limited all wheel drive. Last October my mechanic replaced the compressor, exansion valves and condenser. He then added another cooling fan outside the condenser. The temp out the vent would cool great when moving but rise to sometimes 80 deg. when you stop. He told me to take it to the dealer but since it was getting cooler outside, the dealer couldnt find anything wrong with it.
Now its summer and its hot outside. Vent temp is 60 or higher. I took it to the dealer again and they said it needed two hoses and seals to the tune of 800 dollars. Whats strange is that the bill says that the hose had a hole in it and there was no freon in the system. Thats strange to me because I dont think it would be blowing anything in that condition except hot air. Anyway I got the vehicle back and once again I have a vent temp of 60 degrees and frankly its just not cool when the heat index outside is 110. I'm going to call the dealer again on monday. Does anyone have any ideas on what it could be. $1500 dolllars in 8 months and its still blowing 60.

 

Update: I cranked the durango. It was 91 outside in the sun. Turned on the AC and sat for 5 minutes. Vent temp never got below 78. Left and drove down the road. Driving about 55 after a few minutes the vent temp is down to 46 degrees. I stop at a red light and within a minute its up to 57 degrees. Now it would have kept rising but the light turned green so I got to move again. So the vent temp rises and falls with my speed or maybe the engine rpms. What the heck can it be.

 

Maybe check to make sure the cooling fan is running? If your moving and the temp drops chances are the compressor is only running when air is moving over the radiator keeping the temps down enough for the compressor to run. Soon as you stop the system builds up to much pressure and the compressor stops until the pressure lowers?

 

The fan is running and in October an additional fan was installed. It only brought the temp down a few degrees.


UPDATE: I took it back to the dealer. They now say the evaporator has a small hole in it. $1250 is estimate. That is the only thing in my ac system that has not been replaced. I called my primary mechanic, the guy I trust the most, and he is going to take another look at it. Any ideas from anyone??

 

My mechanic confirmed that there was no freon in the system and the evaporator had a leak and was in bad shape. He replaced it and it seems to be cooling good. Saved a few hundred by letting him do it. $2200.00 on this ac in the last 9 months. DAM

 

its still not cooling like it should. Sometimes it gets down to 48 deg. but after driving 30 minutes it raises to 65 deg. Very frustrated about this system.

 

could this be caused by an electronic problem or how about the thermometer on the overhead console. Yesterday I noticed it read 85 degrees and it was 96 outside. I looked at it 10 minutes later and it read 90 then increased to 96. Never have I seen this before. What gives?? any ideas??

 

I've done quite a bit of AC system "troubleshooting" on mine. I did it myself but what I found is that there is a sensor in front of the radiator but behind the grill (need to take plastic shroud off that covers the area by hood latch to see it). I tested that sensor.

My sensor was held in place with a piece of tape; I'm assuming from the factory. But I suppose if that tape were to let go then the sensor could flop against or close to the radiator (make reading on display higher) and then flop down to cool air after a bump in the road (make reading on display lower).

Just a guess.

The in-cab IR sensor in the overhead display (little round nub on drivers side) has as much to do with temps as does the outside sensor. My in cab IR sensor was showing bad at the dealers computer. I just unplugged it, blew on it, cursed it, fingered it, reassembled it and seems to work fine now. Ohhh, I did also throw a continuity test on it from my ohm meter.

 

Well just to update this I'll add some more. Last post was in 09/2015 had the evaporator replaced and the a/c system was still doing the same thing. It will get down to 43 degrees while moving but then increase when you stop. Anyway the weather cooled off so I didn't worry about it. The May 2016 rolled around and it started to get hot down here in lower Alabama. So I took the Durango to a guy I have used before. I did not realize he did a/c work. He put the gauges on it and said it seemed to have some pressure on the high side. Anyway he wired the condenser fan up to where it would run when the compressor ran. Told me to watch it. I did and it seemed to be working better. Then, on a longer drive, after driving for 1.5 hours. I noticed the vent air was not blowing good and the evaporator had ice on it in the passenger floorboard. So I called him and he said it sounded like it had a leak and was low on Freon. Took it to him and he put the gauges on it and it was reading 20 lbs on low side which was low considering 3 weeks earlier it read 30lbs. He found a leak in the rear evaporator coil. This is the first that anyone had even told me that it had a rear evaporator coil. This makes sense though because I had been hearing a noise from time to time coming from that area. It actually sounded like a fart. He said it was probably from the unit equalizing. Anyway, $630 later it was repaired. It is getting down to 43 degrees now while moving and it seems to be working good. This is $3000 that I have put into this system in less that 2 years. I sure hope this fixes all the problems. Now I gotta call the dealer to get that dang fuel spit while filling fixed. I swear if that thing spits gas on me again I'm gonna go off.

 

Yikes! That's a lot. Probably worth it though. Last year I put some UV dye in mine and did not find a leak, yet, and I did not check the rear coil. I bet that's where my leak is at.