Pretty sure the 98 Rams don't have a cabin air filter.

 

You must not have read my last post. No debris. Not clogged. I even felt the face of the evap core and it was clean.

The fan that was in the box was just worn and dragged down by motor dust. It was still working...just not up to where it is supposed to be.

The new one is better...and I'm fine with that, but I can tell the duct and fan system is dated. I think a higher output fan would be welcomed by quite a few Ram owners that don't happen to have a fifty dollar ***** in the cabin with them.

 

You're right, what I saw wasn't a filter. It was the fresh air vent that is vacuum actuated to use either outside or inside air.

When the system is off, the door opens which means vacuum comes in when the system is on and keeps the door closed...which pulls in outside air. I tried every setting and fan speed but I could not get it to open to allow the use of inside air.

Someone mentioned that on the max setting the door would open but I don't have a max setting. I snapped a pic of my HVAC control panel. My '98 Durango has a max A/C option but not the one in the Ram.



What do I have to do to allow the door to open, so my system uses inside air?

 

That looks like the HVAC panel that was in my 94.. It was a base model and didn't have AC. Are you sure your AC is factory?

 

Yeah thats not the correct switch for a 98 & up.

 

Interesting. It's had A/C it's whole life and it was that way from the factory according to my Wife's Grandfather who's the only other owner. I doubt a dealer would have installed it.

More likely that the switch was replaced.

Basically I should search out a replacement switch that looks more like the one in my Durango, with a heater mirror control?

I thought it was odd that it's didn't have the A/C / Max A/C selections but thought it was a Ram thing.

 

That might work, I'm not sure how the switches are hooked up on the back. Here is mine cropped out of a picture I had in Photobucket, it wasn't the focus of the picture, so the mirror heater switch is cut off, but at least you should be able to see the differences.

 

Nothing wrong with using outside air...I only use max air when temps are in the 90's and high humidity...less stress on the on the a/c trying to keep the cold air coming. Is there a vacuum actuator by the recirc door? Can you manually move it to redirect air flow?

 

Luckily I have a good template because the control panel in my '98 Durango is very similar to that minus the heater mirror button. I'll start searching Ebay and Craigslist today.



Man this forum is rough. No one reads posts.

I watched the door, and cycled through all of the switch positions. The only one that moved the door and sealed off to outside air was the OFF position. No matter which switch position outside of that and the door remained still. The actuator works fine since it closes as soon as the system is turned on and it opens when the system is off.

As to how the system 'seems' to function properly with the wrong switch panel, including turning the compressor on, I have no idea. My only hope is that something else didn't get changed when that switch panel was used.

 

Max A/C makes the fan turn faster than regular A/C.
Something is amiss here.