How often do you have to replace the Humidity sensor?

[04fxdwgi]

I have a customer who owns a 2016 Mazda CX5. It has an auto A/C unit. She is a tad chubby! (Is that PC???)
Her A/C light would flash and the cooling of the system would diminish... not to the point of failure; just not with that "EDGE" that normally existed.

After lots of rutzafrutzing on my part, in that there really was no pathway such as a DTC or 3, I figured out that the light flashing was that the recirculation door was intermittent.

I removed the glove box and the cabin filter and observed the action of the recirc door... and, wouldn'tcha know, it worked flawlessly and the light was steady. Hmm.. I notice that the wires running to the actuator were literally no bigger than a sewing thread, and the plug was so little, that I had to use bright light and a magnifying glass to inspect the connector and drag test the pins. Never mind that I'm a old fart!

I cleaned the connector on both sides with "Deoxit", although they appeared to be clean. Problem went away. Go figure.
Perhaps this could help someone in their journeys through high tech stuff!

The Ram will toss a code if the humidity sensor loses comms, which mine did..

 

[Rt71668]

It is lifetime ,I think

Had a check engine light come on for this, changed it been fine since.

 

[Tominator223]

I was told in tech school in the 90’s. Auto A/C compressor seal is designed to leak. Up to a 1/4lb of refrigerant a year. I thought that was crazy. But that’s what they taught us.

 

[Dusty]

How often do you have to replace the Humidity sensor?

I think it is time for my second one i 8 year of ownership of my 2015 RAM sport.

It is looking like the sensor is still in verions one too " 68440808AA " or have they changed part number completely

After three Ram 1500s and just over 477,000 miles I've never had to replace one.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, 18” wheels. Build Date: 3 June 2018. Now at 153503 miles.

 

[Sherman Bird]

I was told in tech school in the 90’s. Auto A/C compressor seal is designed to leak. Up to a 1/4lb of refrigerant a year. I thought that was crazy. But that’s what they taught us.

GM?

 

[rvance]

There is a humidity sensor???

My thought exactly.

 

[Digi]

Good to know about mopar version vs Dorman, my check engine comes on randomly and when I run my obd app it gives me the code for the sensor. Then after a few starts it goes away and then will just randomly come back. Tempted to try that ground connection check and see if that's the problem. Good to know not the only one who has seen the issue happen.

 

[04fxdwgi]

Be careful putzing around with that sensor. Have heard of others popping the metal bracket off the windshield. Then you are heading to glass shop to get the sticky pad to put it back on, if it works at all.

 

[Marshall]

My thought exactly.

Now I just have to put the coffee down and drag my butt out to the truck and then find a light and look for this thing. Never heard of it before.
I was thinking we where talking about auto windshield wipers .
Some of us are still looking for a transmission dipper stick someone stole.

Yep , found it.

 

[Bighorn_Brown]

Interesting to find out information about this sensor. Had no idea it existed.

 

[pacofortacos]

I had to replace mine on my 2016 one time, I left it loose and didn't clip it in on the replacement.

Most people would never even notice if it was bad, I noticed it when I shut the AC off and went to just outside air and noticed that the air coming out of the vent was significantly colder than ambient. Next day checked and the compressor wouldn't disengage no matter what I told the AC to do. Who knows how long it was bad as it took a very specific circumstance to notice it.

 

[04fxdwgi]

Interesting to find out information about this sensor. Had no idea it existed.

Only if you have auto climate control, I believe

 

[Sherman Bird]

Interesting to find out information about this sensor. Had no idea it existed.

Yeah, it does... and in MANY vehicles other than Stellantis.
I was once flummoxed when I was using a high end scanner to diagnose an EATC system. (Electronic Automatic Temperature Control). The scanner read out DTC's that led me to believe that both sunload sensors were malfunctioning, thus, the complaint of lowered cooling performance.

I was consulting a diagnostic tree, pin point tests, you name it.... Until it dawned on me. I was inside of my shop.

There was NO sunshine upon the front dashboard area, at the base of the windshield, where most sunload sensors dwell.

Although I considered it (still do) stupid that the damned algorithm flags a DTC, the manufacturer never consulted me! So, I learned to ignore those codes while under a covered area, but remain diligent as to their presence in the event they truly are defective!

In the particular case of the car that this happened on, it had a slow leak of refrigerant, and I fixed it.

 

[Wild one]

You can tell they give issues just by going to your local dealer,odds are they'll have a few of the sensors in stock,that's your first clue they give issues,lol
The cars use the same sensor,and if the recirculation button won't stay on,you know you need a new sensor
Use an OEM sensor,as i've replaced a few in the cars,and the Dorman ones leave alot to be desired

 

[seems fishy]

I was told in tech school in the 90’s. Auto A/C compressor seal is designed to leak. Up to a 1/4lb of refrigerant a year. I thought that was crazy. But that’s what they taught us.

That is true, thats a sporatic blow off release due to too much pressure on a hot day stuck in traffic scenerio.Mostly to save the compressor reeds.Older compressors did that and they'd leave a wet greasy spot under the hood ,over the compressor.After the Montreal Accord that was not okay anymore.I saw a few compressors in the 90's,leak at the gaskets or orings,and if it was detected you had to remove the freon,and tag it,until it was repaired[ People did not like that and all they wanted was a recharge,could not care less if there was a small leak...noone wants to be HOT]..Same with r134a,during that time frame.ALL the r12 and r134a freon had to be accounted for.Recycling freon became the norm.You had to keep records and if you got caught doing something that would release CFC's you could lose your licence(likely the same today,for licenced CFC techs)
If you were low on freon and there were no leaks that was usually the reason...blow off.
That was what I learned taking HVAC/CFC licence, it wasn't specific to any manufacturer.They had all been designed that way in the 50's through early 90's.
After the ozone layer developed a hole in the ,atmosphere, compressors weren't allowed to do that because of the release of CFC's.That is why in the 90's they gradually changed from R12 to R134a,in the first place.BUT,it wasn't as efficient as r12.

An interesting fact ,next time your at a Cocktail party,Some of the older big American cars like Caddys etc.,had big enough A/C units they could cool a house,back in the day.

 

[Stefan N]

You can tell they give issues just by going to your local dealer,odds are they'll have a few of the sensors in stock,that's your first clue they give issues,lol
The cars use the same sensor,and if the recirculation button won't stay on,you know you need a new sensor
Use an OEM sensor,as i've replaced a few in the cars,and the Dorman ones leave alot to be desired

Interesting, will check that. Thanks!

 

[seems fishy]

Parts are not very available ,generally at dealerships.alot of customer cars are sitting at the Dealers waitng for parts to arrive.It doesn't matter if it's a late model or not.Aftermarket seems to be very a very viable option usually,such as RockAuto

 

[seems fishy]

The early six cylinder turbos Stellantitis put out had thermostat issues and there was a wait for those last year

 

[rvance]

That is true, thats a sporatic blow off release due to too much pressure on a hot day stuck in traffic scenerio.Mostly to save the compressor reeds.Older compressors did that and they'd leave a wet greasy spot under the hood ,over the compressor.After the Montreal Accord that was not okay anymore.I saw a few compressors in the 90's,leak at the gaskets or orings,and if it was detected you had to remove the freon,and tag it,until it was repaired[ People did not like that and all they wanted was a recharge,could not care less if there was a small leak...noone wants to be HOT]..Same with r134a,during that time frame.ALL the r12 and r134a freon had to be accounted for.Recycling freon became the norm.You had to keep records and if you got caught doing something that would release CFC's you could lose your licence(likely the same today,for licenced CFC techs)
If you were low on freon and there were no leaks that was usually the reason...blow off.
That was what I learned taking HVAC/CFC licence, it wasn't specific to any manufacturer.They had all been designed that way in the 50's through early 90's.
After the ozone layer developed a hole in the ,atmosphere, compressors weren't allowed to do that because of the release of CFC's.That is why in the 90's they gradually changed from R12 to R134a,in the first place.BUT,it wasn't as efficient as r12.

An interesting fact ,next time your at a Cocktail party,Some of the older big American cars like Caddys etc.,had big enough A/C units they could cool a house,back in the day.

My 65 Rambler Classic had an AC that would fog up the outside of the windows while driving down the Gulf Freeway south of Houston in July. Olds 88s could keep the car freezing in July with six smokers crammed in it.