PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

February 19th, 2018:

Did some grocery shopping for the parents before heading home...

 

February 19th, 2018:

 

The dash cam photo dumps make it impossible for me to keep up

 

Now I'm totally up to date on dashcam photos, so you probably won't be seeing many for a while...

Did you see the yellow FJ Cruiser?

 

This is as of February 20th, 2018...

Seriously, 7 people think the scumbag who hit my truck deserves to get his license back?!?!

Keep in mind that he killed someone while driving drunk about three decades before he hit my truck, and then despite getting a DUI, he still lied to his insurance company and said I ran a fucking stop sign!

 

I have always felt you kill someone driving drunk.
It should be the death penalty, three DUI convictions should also be death.

 

I've had my truck for more than 8 years and just over 80,500 miles. We bought the truck in September 2009, and 2010 was the first summer we had it (and thus the first time the A/C saw serious use). Let me tell you, the summer of 2010 was absolutely brutal in my area (Southeast Pennsylvania/Philly burbs) and the A/C in my then-new truck worked perfectly (as it should)

For the first seven summers I had the truck, the A/C worked fine, but in 2014 I noticed what seemed to be a drop in performance (didn't seem as cold). It was this issue that led to me joining TW in the first place. A member from West Virginia told me that he had the same problem with his 2nd Gen, and we mutually agreed that it was due to the unusually high humidity.

At some point in either 2015 or 2016, I had the dealer look at the A/C system. They hooked up their gauges to the system and found that not only was the system not low on R134a, but it was blowing 41 degrees at the vents!

I was satisfied...

In April 2017, I felt that the A/C was not as cold as it should be, bought a couple of cheap thermometers at Pep Boys, and found the A/C to be blowing 45-50...

The packages the thermometers came in said this was normal, but someone on TW said it wasn't. It wasn't that warm yet, and I theorized that it was just an inaccurate thermometer...

In May or June 2017, I happened to reach over and feel the air coming out of the far right vent. It was not even cool, and seemed to be just putting out warm, humid outside air.

The farther left the vent was, the colder it was...

The far driver's side vent was still ICE COLD. The middle left vent seemed marginally warmer than the far left vent, but was still in the category of ICE COLD. The middle right vent was cool, but not cold, and if all the vents had been like that I would have immediately taken it to the dealer. The air coming from far left vent was so warm and that if you didn't feel the other three vents, you'd think the system had no refrigerant in it, the compressor was bad, or the truck just did not have A/C...

I initially freaked out and figured that there was a malfunction of blockage of some sort in the ductwork, which would result in the dash having to be ripped apart, and ended with a heft repair bill...

Thanks to TW yet again, I determined this was probably not the case...

I finally ended up making an appointment and bringing the truck to my dad's mechanic about a week after discovering the A/C problem.

I could have just gotten the system charged and paid much less (hell, I could have just bought a can of A/C Pro and done it myself), but I was convinced there had to be a leak...

A couple of hours and about $165 later, my A/C was blowing cold across all vents; and after a pressure/vacuum test, my mechanic determined that the system did not have any leaks (at least none that were big enough to show up in the test).

Our mutually-agreed-upon theories are that the system does in fact have a very small leak somewhere that will probably take another 5 to 8 years or manifest itself again (by which time I might not even have the truck anymore), or more than 7 years of extreme temperature change and freeze/thaw cycles as a result of Pennsylvania winters had caused various rubber fittings had caused R134a to leak out in varying increments during that time and it just took more than 7 years for it to be noticeable...

 

And that brings us to the present time...

It is unseasonably warm for mid-February (it was more than 60 degrees when I got in the truck to drive to work), so I figured I'd "exercise" the system like I've done for as long as I've owned the truck...

The far left vent and two center vents are blowing ICE COLD, but while the far right vent is cold, it still doesn't seem as cold as the other three vents!

Maybe I just didn't notice this quirk in the past, because it's kind of my truck I can count the number of times I've ridden in the passenger seat in the last 4 years on one hand?

Also, I've never had any complaints from passengers about the A/C being insufficient, even when it's in the nineties! Quite the opposite is true, in fact...

My friends and coworkers have told me on numerous occasions that I keep it too cold!

Picture of my dash, taken today...

 

how Can you tell anything with running your AC when it’s 60 degrees outside?

But yeah, this is a known thing with our trucks. After learning about it a few years ago on here, I just ignored it. People say never to open/add/etc charge to your AC system if it’s not leaking, so I never did anything.

 

There's a "crispness" to it that just isn't there when the A/C is low on refrigerant or just not working...

Also, when it was in the 90s, right after the recharge, the far right vent still wasn't as cold as the other three...

At least it seems to have stayed consistent!

 

It was 63 at my house earlier, and this is the current temperature where I work...

It is definitely warm at the moment, so I'll turn on the air when I'm done walking my boss's dog. I keep the air off and roll down the windows when I'm on a main thoroughfare, but here in Doylestown Borough where the speed limit is 25 MPH and traffic is nuts, I turn it on...

 

If the system needs a recharge/top-off every 5-7 yrs then you're doing pretty good, that's about the best you can ask for. The refrigerant is under such high pressure it's going to find a way to weasel out of there over time..

 

I've talked to other 2nd Gen owners on TW who've had the compressor fail completely!

 

hard to judge what happened from behind a monitor

innocent until proven guilty

 

He was arrested for DUI at the scene of the accident, after he called the cops!

Problem is that the accident happened in October 2015 and the case didn't go to trial until like April or May of 2016...

In the meantime I'm driving around with a smashed back end and I can't open my tailgate all the way.

The drunk's insurance company was ready to pay for the damage to my truck, but they didn't didn't reach the bastard until like two weeks after the accident. He stuck to his story that I'd run the stop sign, and they refused to pay. My insurance company, USAA, believed the drunk was 100% at fault from day one. Before long, almost two months had gone by and I wanted my fucking truck fixed!

USAA had one of their adjusters the damage to my truck and they cut us a check, thinking they could get that money from the other guy's insurance company (a company I'd never heard of called Foremost) in court. They finally got to court in April 2016, and they couldn't agree on who was at fault. My insurance company believed he was at fault, and his thought I was at fault. They came to a draw, which meant my insurance company ate the cost of fixing my truck, waived the deductible, and didn't raise my rates.

His insurance company paid out on his car and dropped him...

 

@Iamraiderpower

You want to see some pictures of white 1994-1997 Dodge Ram diesels?

 

Yes....both of them

 

Usually compressors fail from lack of lubrication. The lubricant is carried through the system by the refrigerant. If the refrigerant leaks out, the lube comes out with it. If i replace a failed compressor, I'm looking really hard for any leaks before I let the car go. usually inject a little oil for good measure whenever I do a re-charge.

 

Now I'm really jealous of that silver '09 you had!

I wanted a stick shift so bad, but I didn't know how to drive one at the time and my dad said it would be just another distraction for a new driver...

Plus, they didn't have any stick shifts on the lot!

 

@Plain Jane Taco

Since your house has two 1.5-ton heat pumps for a total of 3 tons or 36,000 BTUs, I'm guessing your house is under 2,200 square feet, your house is really well insulated, or your area of the country doesn't get as hot as mine...?

As a point of reference, my parents' 2-story, 2,500 square foot townhouse had two 2-ton Carrier air-conditioners and two Carrier 40,000 BTU gas furnaces...