Hi all,
Tuning up my 2000 ram van for some road trips. I paid an obscene amount of money to get the compressor replaced. Now air is cold, but in the rear it's only blowing from the driver side. A couple of questions...

Does the fact that I have rear vents and controls on my front dash mean that I have a "rear heater A/C unit" as described in the service manual, or does that mean something else?
Any ideas what would cause the air to only blow out of one side of the rear vents?

Note: I did recently purchase the dealer service manual so I am currently flipping through that for the first time. Any page references would be welcome as well.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

 

Yes
My rear ac/heat is from ProAir - it is a conversion van unit. There is a factory one too.
Now my rear AC/heat has a 'conduit' (basically the rear corner of the van) where the vent tubes go up into the top, wooden storage compartment that sits above the rear bench couch and the vents come out of there. If I take the front of the wood off and I see in there I see two tubes, about 3 inches wide each, that run down to the rear ac unit.
I would look for those hoses, if there, and see if they are hooked up.

 

Yeah... so I found my rear AC unit. It is under the 3rd row seat (second bench row in the back). It has a tube that carries the cold air up to the headliner where I guess the headliner is formed to distribute the air to the rear vents. It turns out there wasn't a hole cut into the headliner for the vertical tube to push air into. Yes, you heard that right. The vertical tube was dead-ending at the headliner. I guess someone replaced the headliner and was supposed to cut a hole in it but did not cut it...?

I just cut a hole with a pocket knife and it's already so much better. I have cold air coming out of the AC at the two vents on the same side. However, it isn't getting air to the opposite side vents. I guess there is supposed to be a tube or something to carry the air from one side to the other?

I suppose I'll be pulling down the headliner to take a look. Anybody have any other ideas?

On a related but separate topic, the front AC doesn't seem to have a strong blower. It seems quite anemic. Anybody know if/how I can improve that? Or even how to check and make sure the right vents and such are open? I suppose these are all vacuum driven.

Thanks in advance!

 

Yep, front vents are all vacuum powered. The temp door might be electrical though, they were on the trucks, and were notorious for the coupler cracking, so the door didn't move as it should. (controls the temp) Something to check.

As for the poor air flow, have a look under the hood where the blower draws in air, (not sure on the vans....) see if there is debris in the way. Another place to check is the evap core..... on the trucks, you can get a good view of it if you drop the blower motor...... If there is crap in there, (and after 24 years, I would be very surprised if there wasn't.....) clean it out, see how it works now.

 

Yeah.... After reading this I watched some nasty videos of the kind of stuff that get's clogged up in the evap. I'll drop the blower and take a look, hopefully this weekend. I wonder if there is any way to add a filter.

I need to check if there is a difference in flow between the heater and max-ac. Theoretically, the heater is 100% fresh air and the max-ac is 100% recirc, right. That would rule out external intake blockages. I think that the intake is buried in the quarter panel.

Anything else I can do to boost the AC horsepower?

 

this...I had to do this...

UAC 14JC94N A/C Compressor Kit Fits 1999-2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Van | eBay

after that it blows cold even here in south Florida

 

Darn. I just had my compressor replaced. They didn't replace the condenser. It works, but it still seems a little lethargic.

I will pull the blower and see if I can see the evaporator and see if it's clogged up.

I'll let ya'll know when I can get to it.

 

Allright @HeyYou, I finally pulled the blower and there was nothing to see. Reaching into the box I found a flap and with foam seal toward the cab. I am guessing this is the recirculate vs. fresh air door?

Scrubbing the internet, I found this video that shows that you can supposedly access the evaporator itself from the top relatively painlessly (though the video has instructions but doesn't show him actually doing it so who knows...) Bing Videos

I think I am going to try to replicate that procedure. I am on the fence about replacing the blower motor too just in case. When the mechanic replaced the compressor for me, he said that the blower motor amperage was right at the edge of acceptable. I figure that it could also be because of the additional torque load of trying to push air through a clogged evaporator. I wish I could figure out where the air was coming in so I could install a make-shift filter.

Below is a pic looking into the box from the blower location. Inside to the right is the flap going towards the cab.




Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt

 

Looks like the seal on the door is out of place.... Not sure if that is a contributor, or not....

As for the blower, if it is getting toward the high end of acceptable amp draw, I would more suspect bearings that are thinking about failing..... Give it a spin while you have it out, see how it feels..... Given it's age though, probably wouldn't hurt to replace it anyway.

 

Thanks.

The bearings feel okay, but I was thinking I’d replace anyway. I was a little surprised when NAPA told me it’s be about $125 though.
I also noticed the door seal in the photo. That spot is just out of reach, but I’ll try again and see if I can push it into place.
What about the blend door. Is there a way to test it without the engine on? I just don’t want my hands down there with the engine fan cranking!
will let y’all know what the evap. clean looks like when I do that too.