Active shutters, what's the consensus?

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lAWROSA

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So I got a 2020. I live in the south. Whats up with the active shutters?

Keep em or remove some of them to run cooler?

Its winter now, but not that cold here in SC. If I was back in Jersey I may find a benefit, but I tow a camper.

Just wondering what benefits are yall seeing if they are removed. Temps?
 
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lAWROSA

lAWROSA

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You know better than Ram man just do whatever. Everything invented after 1975 is newfangled junk just remove it all.

Typed this with my typewriter and mailed it in an envelope to the forum.
I asked a question to get an answer. Not to be flamed. Im not about efficiency, Im about real world deletion of stupid items the engineers design to conform with political nonsense.

You run your stock truck how you see fit and I will do with mine as I please.
 

crazykid1994

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The AGS helps the vehicle warm up faster which helps increase efficiency and lowers emissions. I removed mine and did not lose any but I’m also tuned and lifted on 35s. It does take longer to warm up though. On a stock truck or lowered it probably does help since above 50 or 60 mph it helps the truck be more aerodynamic
 

Elvira

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Active grill shutters were in theory to help bring engine to operating temp faster, with the thermostat also set higher than usual, this also helps with efficiency of the engine. It is a performance idea that people remove or disable this set up and change thermostat to lower temp and at times add electric fans as opposed to the mechanical fan, cooler engines run better and create a touch more HP. If the system works properly, there is no benefit to the average person to remove or disable. Unless there is a problem with them, leave them alone! You would need to do some modding to actually disable them if you did decide....actuator, shutter removal, thermostat replace etc. You see slight temp changes, a little lower on occasion with trans, coolant and oil...but it is only a couple degrees unless you change thermostat to lower temp. I wouldn't recommend entirely removing, you can try removing a few shutters, leaving the top and bottom ones in place to stop any check engine light appearing.

 
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ramffml

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I personally don't mind the AGS, for the most part my truck appears to be well cooled. Like you I tow a trailer and that's where the problems start, guys have reported temps well over 250, in the neighborhood of 275 at times and that is not acceptable.

I'm probably going to go with an external oil cooler, leave everything from the factory "as is" and then the cooler would be thermostat controlled and only activate when temps start running above 240 or so.

I don't believe removing the shutters will do anything useful. The truck controls the temperature very well (for the most part) and it does its thing to get the temps up to operating as soon as possible, and then keeps it at that point. Only when towing do the temps seem to run away for a bit but at that point the shutters are already open wide, fans are on, but the truck can't shed the heat any faster. So I don't see how removing shutters (which are already open and "removed" from the equation) are going to help fix that problem. If they were remaining closed due to a bug, sure that might help, but they're already open, removing them won't make the truck cool down any quicker; we're just building more heat the truck can shed so we need bigger coolers or more of them. Using a thermostat so that the new coolers only activate when the temps are running out of control means that we won't interfere with the heating/cooling system when we don't need it and the truck can operate as designed for 99% of the time.
 
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Bigskyroadglide

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I removed mine on my 2014 rcsb supercharged 5.7, 8 speed, 3.92 truck. I saw about a 5 degree cooler difference in oil temp, as the thermostat kept the coolant temperature at the thermostat temperature. I actually saw my trans temp go up.

I changed the thermostat to 190, and now truck runs 190 coolant, oil temp is 197 to 205 and trans temperature stays around 185 in stop and go, but 160 on freeway.

I'm changing fluid in trans over Thanksgiving and installing chalk04 thermostat bypass, so I should see trans temperature decrease even more.

My experience. I saw zero difference in warm up time
 

kurek

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I asked a question to get an answer. Not to be flamed. Im not about efficiency, Im about real world deletion of stupid items the engineers design to conform with political nonsense.

You run your stock truck how you see fit and I will do with mine as I please.

Well let me help you with your next few threads then. Your truck has electric power steering like a Prius so make sure to delete that. It's there to save gas. I know the popular thing on here is to complain about anything that's designed to save fuel but also complain about the price of fuel at the same time.

Also if you have the anti-spin differential you should know that it has zero preload. This is to save fuel and to save wear on the clutches. So you're definitely going to want to go in there and jam a bunch of springs between the clutches like a 1970s posi-trac that'll really show those dang greenies!

Your air conditioner uses R1234yf which replaces the old R134a refrigerant, the reason for that is R134A takes about 13 years to break down if it gets released into the atmosphere while 1234yf takes about 10 days to break down. But maybe it doesn't cool as well? Who knows! All I know is it's there due to a regulation to help save the environment so that means it's BAD! Drain it all out and refill your refrigerant system with leaded gasoline from 1975 that'll really cheese off those greens!!!
 

Octane

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You know better than Ram man just do whatever. Everything invented after 1975 is newfangled junk just remove it all.

Typed this with my typewriter and mailed it in an envelope to the forum.
In our world we leave stuff like this alone (sometimes) and then when it does malfunction we disable it permanently instead of fixing it. That way the people that do love gimmicky gadgetry can have at it... or not
 

Octane

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Well let me help you with your next few threads then. Your truck has electric power steering like a Prius so make sure to delete that. It's there to save gas. I know the popular thing on here is to complain about anything that's designed to save fuel but also complain about the price of fuel at the same time.

Also if you have the anti-spin differential you should know that it has zero preload. This is to save fuel and to save wear on the clutches. So you're definitely going to want to go in there and jam a bunch of springs between the clutches like a 1970s posi-trac that'll really show those dang greenies!

Your air conditioner uses R1234yf which replaces the old R134a refrigerant, the reason for that is R134A takes about 13 years to break down if it gets released into the atmosphere while 1234yf takes about 10 days to break down. But maybe it doesn't cool as well? Who knows! All I know is it's there due to a regulation to help save the environment so that means it's BAD! Drain it all out and refill your refrigerant system with leaded gasoline from 1975 that'll really cheese off those greens!!!
D*a*n*g! You a Meanie Greenie today! Lol Soldier on!
 

MRFREEZE57

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Well let me help you with your next few threads then. Your truck has electric power steering like a Prius so make sure to delete that. It's there to save gas. I know the popular thing on here is to complain about anything that's designed to save fuel but also complain about the price of fuel at the same time.

Also if you have the anti-spin differential you should know that it has zero preload. This is to save fuel and to save wear on the clutches. So you're definitely going to want to go in there and jam a bunch of springs between the clutches like a 1970s posi-trac that'll really show those dang greenies!

Your air conditioner uses R1234yf which replaces the old R134a refrigerant, the reason for that is R134A takes about 13 years to break down if it gets released into the atmosphere while 1234yf takes about 10 days to break down. But maybe it doesn't cool as well? Who knows! All I know is it's there due to a regulation to help save the environment so that means it's BAD! Drain it all out and refill your refrigerant system with leaded gasoline from 1975 that'll really cheese off those greens!!!
Just had to chime in on the refrigerant subject, I was a commercial refrigeration tech for 38 years, trust me 1234YF will be on the chopping block eventually. in the last 25 years have seen many flavors of refrigerant that were suppose to be the permanent fix that are now being phased out. personally I really miss R12, R22 and R502 which for years worked great for their purpose.
 

Nicholas Cove

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Well let me help you with your next few threads then. Your truck has electric power steering like a Prius so make sure to delete that. It's there to save gas. I know the popular thing on here is to complain about anything that's designed to save fuel but also complain about the price of fuel at the same time.

Also if you have the anti-spin differential you should know that it has zero preload. This is to save fuel and to save wear on the clutches. So you're definitely going to want to go in there and jam a bunch of springs between the clutches like a 1970s posi-trac that'll really show those dang greenies!

Your air conditioner uses R1234yf which replaces the old R134a refrigerant, the reason for that is R134A takes about 13 years to break down if it gets released into the atmosphere while 1234yf takes about 10 days to break down. But maybe it doesn't cool as well? Who knows! All I know is it's there due to a regulation to help save the environment so that means it's BAD! Drain it all out and refill your refrigerant system with leaded gasoline from 1975 that'll really cheese off those greens!!!
Holy triggered much ? I run a carbed mx bike with castor oil at 32:1 and C12 leaded fuel. I'll call the ambulance for your heart attack.
 

Nicholas Cove

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Just had to chime in on the refrigerant subject, I was a commercial refrigeration tech for 38 years, trust me 1234YF will be on the chopping block eventually. in the last 25 years have seen many flavors of refrigerant that were suppose to be the permanent fix that are now being phased out. personally I really miss R12, R22 and R502 which for years worked great for their purpose.
Dupont patent expiry. Everytime a new auto refrigerant is "developed" lol.
 

kurek

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I'll call the ambulance for your heart attack.

I had a relative who would deliberately open all her doors and run the heat in her house and turn on every light on Earth Day. The only thing she was owning was herself when the utility bill came in but reality doesn't matter to a five year old having a tantrum.
That's how I perceive everyone who thinks they're triggering or owning anyone with this kind of stuff.
 
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Bigskyroadglide

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I removed my shutters as a personal preference, I'm trying to keep my engine cooler to increase performance which makes it run better although it consumes more fuel.

Otherwise I would have left them alone like on my wife's 2016 ram 1500.

Since I get to pay for the privilege of burning more fuel, pay for broken parts and any repairs I have taken this path.

That's why I live in the USA.

When I blow by you on the freeway pushing triple digits, with a 12.7 afr, with a big smile on my face, wave
 

Dean2

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I live in Canada. It gets fargin cold up here. We used to have to run Carpet between the rad and grill and grill blocker inserts to get engines up to temperature. I LOVE active shutters. Was out hunting for the last two weeks, truck is hot in no time flat, have zero overheating issues, and stays at temp at highway speeds even in cold conditons, which many of the older trucks had a hard time doing with -40 air blowing over them at 70 MPH.
 

Bigs

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I live in Canada. It gets fargin cold up here. We used to have to run Carpet between the rad and grill and grill blocker inserts to get engines up to temperature. I LOVE active shutters. Was out hunting for the last two weeks, truck is hot in no time flat, have zero overheating issues, and stays at temp at highway speeds even in cold conditons, which many of the older trucks had a hard time doing with -40 air blowing over them at 70 MPH.

Yep! Mine are staying on for that reason as well. Well pretty much everything is remaining stock just for warranty claim issues. (except my muffler)
 

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