2005 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7L V8
A/C gets cold, but only a little cold. Recharged the ac to full level and it didn't make even a tiny bit difference, same exact temp blowing out. (The coolant stuff wasn't very low when i recharged it, so I just made it full) so it should have been blowing ice cold already before i recharged it. What could be the problem? How much $ could i be looking at taking it to a shop? Also just to mention, the can on the freon said when the ambient temp is 100f, the psi on the gauge should read 50-55 when full. now before i recharged it the psi was at 45, now the weird thing was, once i used about half of my 22oz can it reached 53 psi and it would not go over 53 psi. I continued to use the rest of the can and it would go up to 54 psi then drop to 53 psi after a few seconds. i emptied the can and it now sits at 53 psi. would that indicate a problem since it would not go over? or is that a safety system in place making sure i dont go over the max psi?

 

Maybe your evaporator is clogged restricting flow? Turn your A/C on Max, wait 10min and see how much if any water drips on the underside. If no drip or very little, then it's clogged and needs to be cleaned.

 

You may have over-filled it. What are the condenser fan and compressor doing?

 

It's possible your blend door is stopping before full cold and some heat is mixing with it. Would need to see the evaporator temp sensor reading. They can see it on a scan tool.

 

it barely drips

 

Sounds like you have plenty of charge in there - don't add anymore. Since you are getting little latent heat removal (barely dripping), I would second cleaning the evaporator coil. I have not done it but it looks like a full day job taking apart the pass. side dash, according to the manual. If that does not work, have the system checked out by a qualified automotive HVAC tech.

 

I'm not sure where you are from but if there is low humidity then you won't get much dripping since it comes from the air when condensation occurs.

The refrigerant pressure can only go as high as the pressure in the can so that may be the limiting factor for the pressure of your system. The factory service manual shows a normal system pressure of 35-45 psi at 100 degrees, so per factory spec yours was good to begin with.

I haven't done this but is what I would try in your situation. Try to find an place to open the ducting as close to immediately after the evaporator and check the output temp after it has been running for a while. Then you can tell if it is producing cold air (i.e. removing heat) properly. If it doesn't then you know where to look; the AC side such as evaporator, compressor clutch etc. If it does get cold there then you will need to check the mixing & distribution section of the system as you may have warm air being mixed in (i.e. blend door). If you can't find a good opening to use you could drill a very small hole that you could fill with RTV or such after. If drilling a hole doesn't sound like a good idea you could check the blend door positions first or just take it to a shop that has the test equipment needed to properly troubleshoot the system.

Good Luck