Surface to air climate issues
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Surface to air climate issues
I got me one of these 2011 PSDs last October; I've loved it since day 1.
Yesterday, I was flying down I75 headed to Billie Swamp Safari. We had the A/C auto set at 70 degrees and both seats set to max cold. It was dreamy; both the air and seats were nice and cold. About an hour later, I started to feel a little stuffy, so I lowered the temp to 65 degrees... no change was detected in air temp from the vents. I also felt both seats and they were barely cooler than room temperature.
I switched to max cold on the A/C with the fan set at the highest level. It blew slightly harder, but not colder, and nowhere near what it normally does. The outside temp at this time was 80 degrees, but I had to lower windows for the remainder of our trip to get a cross wind.
Once we arrived at Billie's, after 2 more hours of driving, I parked and turned the A/C back on and it blew nice and cold.
I have 9k miles on this truck and haven’t performed any maintenance aside from the first oil change; I had the dealer change it about 2 weeks ago. The truck seems to run rougher since the dealer handed it back to me, but I’ll save those specific concerns for another thread, unless you all feel they may somehow be relevant to this particular matter.
Should I have bought a model equipped with dual alternators, or is the alternator I have bad, or is something else going on?
Any feedback you may have to offer would be useful and appreciated. I just registered on the forum today, but I hope to make reciprocal contributions in the future.
Yesterday, I was flying down I75 headed to Billie Swamp Safari. We had the A/C auto set at 70 degrees and both seats set to max cold. It was dreamy; both the air and seats were nice and cold. About an hour later, I started to feel a little stuffy, so I lowered the temp to 65 degrees... no change was detected in air temp from the vents. I also felt both seats and they were barely cooler than room temperature.
I switched to max cold on the A/C with the fan set at the highest level. It blew slightly harder, but not colder, and nowhere near what it normally does. The outside temp at this time was 80 degrees, but I had to lower windows for the remainder of our trip to get a cross wind.
Once we arrived at Billie's, after 2 more hours of driving, I parked and turned the A/C back on and it blew nice and cold.
I have 9k miles on this truck and haven’t performed any maintenance aside from the first oil change; I had the dealer change it about 2 weeks ago. The truck seems to run rougher since the dealer handed it back to me, but I’ll save those specific concerns for another thread, unless you all feel they may somehow be relevant to this particular matter.
Should I have bought a model equipped with dual alternators, or is the alternator I have bad, or is something else going on?
Any feedback you may have to offer would be useful and appreciated. I just registered on the forum today, but I hope to make reciprocal contributions in the future.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Altoona, Ia
No clue on the A/C, but the running rough could be overfull oil. I read a couple posts where guys had the dealer change oil and the tech put in 15 (supposed to be 13) qts and the truck ran "rough" and had some vibration to it. At least that's what was posted. The oil level was reduced to 13 and the truck ran fine with no more vibrations.
Pretty simple to check, might fix one of your problems.
Pretty simple to check, might fix one of your problems.
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Thanks, Andrew.... I drained 1 quart of oil yesterday. So far, I can't tell if it is running any better.
As far as the A/C goes....nothin' guys?? I've been reading this forum for a while, and I know there are some well informed members here. I thought I'd get at least a couple stabs. Was it something I said?
As far as the A/C goes....nothin' guys?? I've been reading this forum for a while, and I know there are some well informed members here. I thought I'd get at least a couple stabs. Was it something I said?
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2010
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From: Whitecourt AB, Canada
I'm not seeing the connection between the Air Conditioning and the Alternator in the original post... a problem with the alternator would manifest in all electrical/electronic systems, not just the HVAC. It sounds like you have climate control (fluorescent numeric display) and not the manual controls.
As far as I understand, the refrigerant compressor is electric clutch driven and there is a chance it disengaged (regardless of whether the indicator light on the dashboard is on or not - eg. when it is below freezing outside and you have A/C 'on' the indicator is lit but it's not actually on). That would result in no circulation and no real heat exchanging going on other than ambient outside air being blown in by the fan. I also believe it is controlled to cycle on and off over a period of several minutes (based on what I hear while driving) and perhaps it stopped cycling.
Has this issue repeated itself at all, or just a one-off incident? If it happens again, what if you turn the HVAC panel off and on via the dash panel button?
As far as I understand, the refrigerant compressor is electric clutch driven and there is a chance it disengaged (regardless of whether the indicator light on the dashboard is on or not - eg. when it is below freezing outside and you have A/C 'on' the indicator is lit but it's not actually on). That would result in no circulation and no real heat exchanging going on other than ambient outside air being blown in by the fan. I also believe it is controlled to cycle on and off over a period of several minutes (based on what I hear while driving) and perhaps it stopped cycling.
Has this issue repeated itself at all, or just a one-off incident? If it happens again, what if you turn the HVAC panel off and on via the dash panel button?
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I'm not seeing the connection between the Air Conditioning and the Alternator in the original post... a problem with the alternator would manifest in all electrical/electronic systems, not just the HVAC. It sounds like you have climate control (fluorescent numeric display) and not the manual controls.
As far as I understand, the refrigerant compressor is electric clutch driven and there is a chance it disengaged (regardless of whether the indicator light on the dashboard is on or not - eg. when it is below freezing outside and you have A/C 'on' the indicator is lit but it's not actually on). That would result in no circulation and no real heat exchanging going on other than ambient outside air being blown in by the fan. I also believe it is controlled to cycle on and off over a period of several minutes (based on what I hear while driving) and perhaps it stopped cycling.
Has this issue repeated itself at all, or just a one-off incident? If it happens again, what if you turn the HVAC panel off and on via the dash panel button?
As far as I understand, the refrigerant compressor is electric clutch driven and there is a chance it disengaged (regardless of whether the indicator light on the dashboard is on or not - eg. when it is below freezing outside and you have A/C 'on' the indicator is lit but it's not actually on). That would result in no circulation and no real heat exchanging going on other than ambient outside air being blown in by the fan. I also believe it is controlled to cycle on and off over a period of several minutes (based on what I hear while driving) and perhaps it stopped cycling.
Has this issue repeated itself at all, or just a one-off incident? If it happens again, what if you turn the HVAC panel off and on via the dash panel button?
The problem occurred on that 1 trip only, but I have not taken any long drives at consistent highway speed since then.
If, by dash panel button, you are referring to the on/off button on the A/C console …yes, I powered it off and on several times and it blew when powered on, but not very strong and not cool….until I parked the truck.
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Joined: Nov 2011
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Possible that the evaporator coil froze, then after it sat for a while thawed and worked normal. Evap freezing can be caused by low refrigerant level, improper placement of temperature sensing bulb, lack of air flow, etc
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Joined: Aug 2003
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From: Isanti, MN
Sorry I missed this the first time around...
I think that Bull40 may be right here, it looks like on the 22nd of April you guys had a high of 77 and relatively high humidity all day. This means that there might not have been much air flowing through your evaporator, and this can cause the moisture in the air to freeze and eventually block the evaporator. It's happened to me when I was on the gulf cost back when I drove trucks, but of course my KW didn't have the elaborate climate control that your current truck does.
Either that or you're having problems with your A/C system. Is it still not working right or is it cooling well?
I think that Bull40 may be right here, it looks like on the 22nd of April you guys had a high of 77 and relatively high humidity all day. This means that there might not have been much air flowing through your evaporator, and this can cause the moisture in the air to freeze and eventually block the evaporator. It's happened to me when I was on the gulf cost back when I drove trucks, but of course my KW didn't have the elaborate climate control that your current truck does.
Either that or you're having problems with your A/C system. Is it still not working right or is it cooling well?
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I have noticed a few little bugs with the climate control myself. Sometimes if I have it set to dual and there is a 6-10 degree difference, the temp seems to blow at the warmer setting on both sides. Other times I think it seems like it gets stuck and doesn't change temps with adjustments. In both situations if I turn off the dual temp and adjust the temp up and then back down everthing goes back to normal. It doesn't happen often, but this fixes it. Hopes that helps.
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I think you guys are on to something here. I did have the passenger's climate set much warmer than the driver's climate, but I had the upper vents closed on the passenger side(to warm my wife's feet while the seat cooled the rest of her).
Maybe the configuration was too complex for all of the components to accommodate. I haven't had any problems since that single event though.
Thanks for the feedback guys!
Maybe the configuration was too complex for all of the components to accommodate. I haven't had any problems since that single event though.
Thanks for the feedback guys!
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2002
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Good to know as this particular scenario happens EVERYTIME we go anywhere 
the wife will crank up the temp to 80 on her side and mines @ 68 !
Sometimes I wish I had a double cab instead of a crew cab !!!!
Is there a clear partition we can put over the center console ?
the wife will crank up the temp to 80 on her side and mines @ 68 !
Sometimes I wish I had a double cab instead of a crew cab !!!!
Is there a clear partition we can put over the center console ?
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2009
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From: Greenwood, SC
I added freon to mine about a year ago I think. No big deal. Living in the south means that it can be 80 degrees outside at 6:00 am. We need the air to be working well. I don't know how people survived before ac.
Post Fiend
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Just because your state name has South in it ....
you are WAY further north than us
I recall I had a rental car in New Orleans once that had some type of vacuum switch so when you accelerated hard the ac compressor would go off....
New Orleans in August in 100 degrees and 100% humidity in a business suit !?!?
And you going to turn the AC off even for a SECOND ?!? Are you kidding me ?!? !!!
you are WAY further north than us
I recall I had a rental car in New Orleans once that had some type of vacuum switch so when you accelerated hard the ac compressor would go off....
New Orleans in August in 100 degrees and 100% humidity in a business suit !?!?
And you going to turn the AC off even for a SECOND ?!? Are you kidding me ?!? !!!
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