- Originally, Freon (R-12) was used in Dodge Ram applications to help cool the passenger compartment. However, in recent years, Freon gas has been found to be harmful to the Earth's ozone layer, and so a different gas was implemented. The new gas (R-134a) does essentially the same job, with much less impact on the environment. It was and is illegal to work on your Ram's air conditioning if it runs the R-12 unit, but the owner of the truck can refill the R-134a applications themselves with over-the-counter cans. The R-12 systems on older Rams can be converted to R-134a, however, and without breaking the wallet.
- The air conditioning compressor compresses the refrigerant gas, which makes it hot because it absorbs any heat that it comes into contact with in its compressed state. It is then cycled through a special series of tubes, much like a radiator, which cools the gas down by dissipating the heat as it travels. After this process, the gas goes through depressurization, which cools it off even more, giving us the cold air we feel when we turn the AC unit on.
- The condenser is the small radiator-like unit the gas flows through on its way to depressurization. The condenser can go bad over time as with anything else and requires periodic replacement. The evaporator is another series of tubes the gas goes through. As it passes through the evaporator, it goes from very cool to extremely cold right before it enters the passenger compartment on a hot day. The thermal expansion valve is what kicks in when you change the temperature of the air conditioning, allowing it to either blow super cold or just cool air. Finally, the drier (sometimes known as an accumulator) prevents the gas from entering the compressor in liquid form. The slightest amount of any liquid present inside the compressor could permanently damage it, so the drier steps in before this can happen, theoretically.
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