Heat issue, looking for input

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FF17

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illinois
Ram Year
2011
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5.7 Hemi
I've got a 2011 Ram, V8 5.7 Quad cab. Around 137,*** miles.
I've had it for about 4 years. Since I've had it, there hasn't been heat on the drivers side, just the passenger side. I've always assumed this was a blend air door problem.

A couple weeks ago during the cold snap I lost heat on the passenger side too.
Since then I've completely flushed all components of the coolant system, no noticeable debris, everything flowed easily, replaced thermostat, refilled with new coolant and distilled water.
And I did the HVAC reset by holding the recirc button twice.
All the hoses seemed to get hot like they should.

Heat worked great on both sides, for 2-3 days.

Now, I've lost heat again. When the truck gets up to temperature, turn blower on and it blows hot for a couple minutes, then its back to just warmish air. For a minute when the blower is turned on, there's a faint odor of antifreeze, not for long. The floor is dry, and I don't seem to be losing coolant.
My model does not have a cabin filter.

Do I have a problem with one, or more, of the blend air doors?
Looking for any input,
Thanks
 

tron67j

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If you smell coolant, you have a leak. Might be hose connection or heater itself which could be letting air in your system and diminishing circulation.
 
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FF17

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FWIW, I've confirmed that the recirculation door actuator and the left temperature actuator are working.
When blowing out the vents, its putting out noticeably less air when set to warm than cool.
 

Rado

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I am no help but following, Interested to hear the results !
 

indept

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FWIW, I've confirmed that the recirculation door actuator and the left temperature actuator are working.
When blowing out the vents, its putting out noticeably less air when set to warm than cool.
That doesn't necessarily dismiss the blend doors. I'm not sure how the Rams are made but I remember reading a post years ago ( I think it was on jeepforum.com) about the door slipping on its hinge shaft so the shaft would move but the door didn't.
 

daCelt

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The easiest circulation test through the heater core is to grab the heater hoses off the right cyl head. Unless the water pump isn't working, at least one should be hot (eng temp coolant inside on the inlet side) and if no/weak flow through the heater core, the other (outlet side) may be "not hot." If both are hot and feel about the same temp, coolant flow through the heater core isn't likely the issue.

When you check for coolant in the passenger floorboard, make sure you pull up the colored trim molding and peel back the carpet to see the steel painted floor of the cabin before you start feeling around. It can leak behind all the carpeting and it has a substantial pad so you won't likely feel it from the top side.

Like Tron67j said, if you smell coolant, it is leaking.
 

atc06jh

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My 04 ram had two doors fail. One moved the airflow location and the other switched between hot and cold air. Once the hot and cold door failed, I only had cold air coming through. So I bought the kit online to fix it, ripped the dash off, and two hours later I was back in business with it all put together. It might be worth looking into taking the dash off and checking the doors. It’s not a hard fix at all.
 

GTyankee

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Do you have the full floor console

If you don't, then all you have to do is remove the radio bezel, also called the center stack
The ash tray drawer has to be taken out also.

Once those parts are off, you will see the 2 small electric motors, those motors turn the rods that opens & closes the doors.

The motors come off easily, i believe that all together there 4 of those little motors & they are interchangeable

To see if the motors function, you can place the radio bezel close to the motors & connect them up & with ignition On, turn the control knobs.
Inside those motors there are a few gears, the gears sometimes have broken teeth, if there are broken teeth, you may be able to lift the gear off & rotate the wheel 180 degrees

If the motors do work, you can grab the rod that they turn with your fingers, you should hear & feel the doors moving.
There are plastic parts where the motor & shaft contact each other, those small plastic pieces break or crack quite often
 

GTyankee

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This woman replaces one of the motors that it did not talk about


These are the ones that i told you about

 
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