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itdave · 05-06-2010, 11:30 AM

Chef Guy
You may not get many responses in this thread since the title is Radiator Change. It might be better to post a new thread with a title of Dash A/C failed. In looking in other threads and my own experience there seem to be two causes for the failure. First is problem with the fan that blows air through the Dash A/C condenser. The condenser and fan are located in the compartment behind the rear wheel. You use the barrel key to open it. Check the fan is running if not look for a blown fuse of an obstruction of the fan blades. The second issue is loss of Refrigerant in the system. That was my problem so the A/C came on but the output air was not very cool. The tech found that one of the valves used to fill the system with refrigerant was leaking. He recharged the system that was a year ago and now it is failing to cool well, so going to call out a tech again.

tquarles · 05-06-2010, 04:47 PM

There is one other cause of loss of A/C in the endeavor - A/C belt. A couple of years ago I was doing an oil change, looked up, saw a chunk missing out of my main fan. Found the replacement and scheduled it in to Cummings for replacement. They called me shortly after I dropped it off and asked if I wanted a new A/C belt put on - it was missing - they guessed it snapped and went through the fan causing that problem too. Solved the 'non-working A/C' problem that I hadn't even started to look for!
It seems that belt doesn't turn anything but the A/C, so the only symptom of losing it is loss of A/C.

Dancing Bear · 05-07-2010, 08:08 AM

I'll keep you posted on the results...

CoCoDave · 05-07-2010, 08:35 AM

re: Dash A/C - all that's been said is true. I would add that if refrigerant is added or replaced, the technician should include the leak-tracing dye. I had mine recharged without the dye. It leaked out with no indication as to where the leak was. The second time the system was recharged the tech put in the dye. So when it leaked out again the fitting on the high-pressure side of the compressor was shown to be the source of the leak.

This leak was small and it took a month or more to show up in terms of reduced cooling performance.

FWIW