Shainer

It seems to depend a bit on how the truck has been maintained, operated and stored. I see some guys open the HVAC up and it is packed with trash and all the foam is deteriorated. I literally just finished replacing my evaporator heater core and all doors with the blend door kit.. Only reason for the excursion was to finally address a slow refrigerant leak that I could never locate via dye and UV light (sniffer found the evap at fault right away)... that and a temp probe sleeve fell into the system and was stuck in my mode door so I always had some air going to the floor. My truck is a 98.5. 273k miles on it, single owner, and is generally garaged. My evaporator was spotless except for one corner, and maybe a quarter inch along the bottom. All the doors were perfect except for the reculate door foam facing the exterior. I was quite shocked it was in such good condition. Blend door is really nice stuff, no issues with it. Had I known my system was in good shape I would have left it alone. I don't know that the 2nd gens are so prone to damaged doors or broken blend door collars, but I don't surf the forums much anymore either. I recommend using an OEM heater core. Seven or so years ago I replaced my original with one of the parts store aluminium jobs. Heat never felt the same after that. Picked mine up off Amazon for around $152.

Might be a little generous crediting Chrysler. Charge/discharge rates & float levels for a given battery type have been extremely well tested and documented for longer than I've been on this planet. The only thing this charging system accommodates is adjusting float voltage based on a single battery temp. Even that has been around a long time. The charge rate is linear, and far from ideal to protect the batteries or alternator. Jump start one of these dead rides and the PWM duty cycle goes to 100% and will remain there until voltage gets close to desired float level for the temperature. Tossing 120 amps (or 60 amps per battery) is off the charge rate map. The aggressive charge rate degrades battery longevity. The alternator takes a beating as well. Depending on the discharge state an appropriate recharge rate could take more than eight hours. That doesn't work well in a vehicle so the decision is to charge aggressively. Most replacement alternators warn about operating with a discharged battery. Alternator outputs have been increasing while maintaining the same footprint. They can't remove the thermal energy for sustained full load operation. In my opinion many of the newest vehicles do a better job protecting against a rogue drain after shutdown with some automatic disconnects. I don't know how many guys ruined batteries and alternators in these rides because of the drivers side seatbelt... In summary the PCM implementation was more likely cost driven as it combines multiple functions into a single box. It is not revolutionary, but rather evolutionary as systems moved to computer controls and their analog brethren left behind.

I hear ya. On the flip side I doubt you need full hinges. I used to do a lot of bushing replacements. Lots of old farmers that never lubricate hinges or latches. The only hinges that were replaced were usually the result of the accident. Drivers side top should be replaced to get the detent spring back. The rest I'm sure either a replacement bushing, or an oversized bushing will correct the issue. You can tear into the passenger side with a repair kit in hand. If it looks like oversized bushings will be needed there is nothing stopping you from getting some measurements, and putting it back together with the original pins and bushings. Then you can round up enough parts to do everything.

Personally, I stick with OEM, especially when it comes to body panels and body components. It's the result of my work experience in the industry. Aftermarket frequently needs some sort of tweaking or massaging to fit properly. Not saying that will be the issue with LMC as their quality tends to be better, but not necessarily OEM. You could split the difference. OEM driver, LMC passenger?

I think I mis-spoke. Looks like all OEM hinges are still available. 55075956AC Upper Right 55075957AC Upper Left 55275464AC Lower Use your jazz hand routine on the googler to locate an online OEM retailer. My local dealer parts department is good to work with, and generally pricing is very close to what I find online. Big advantage is they generally have it in a local warehouse and I get parts either the same day, or next day including Saturday. Your results may vary.

Looks correct to me. You shouldn't need any hardware kits, or maybe buy just one. I think OEM lowers can still be obtained at around $50 each.

In a prior life I was a professional refinisher, so I have a stash of bushings, and pins (of course none that fit that truck). I see Jag mentioned LMC. They seem to have decent stuff most of the time. I wouldn't recommend Dorman for anything. I paid a premium just to get the pins because I had the door apart before I figured out I didn't have a set that would work. I know Ace hardware usually has a decent selection of bushings. Personally I'd see what a body shop wants to do the job. By the time you round up parts, maybe figure out the hinge needs to be opened up, then find alternate bushings... a shop would have you on your way.

Thought you said it was the passenger side, isn't that picture of the driver side? You're missing your detent spring. Youre wiring boot is also not seated into the pillar. Can't tell if hinge replacement is required. Depends if the pins have wore through the bushing into the hinge. We seldom replaced a hinge, just used oversized OD bushings and reamed the hole larger. Unibit is recommended for that, as drill bits will favor the worn side of the hole. The arm that is laying there has no influence on door alignment or function other than helping to keep the door open. Pic of my repair. Added some lock collars to keep the arm in position. The bottom collar looks lower because of the bushing shoulder. Last time I looked at a Domran kit I think it only addressed the hinges, and nothing with the detent. I think I purchased a few extra kits, and ended up only using the pins, and sourced bushings elsewhere. Cherry picker with a motorcycle tie down strap to hold the door up. Roll the window down, couple waps of the tie down around the top of the door, and hook on with the lift. Keep them lubed. I use motorcycle chain lubricant. It creeps in where it needs to be, then turns waxy and stays put.

You have a shop in the Springs or Denver to set these pressures? I had one shop in the Denver area check a stock set. Monkey and a football is the only way I could describe it.

Listen you. Come waltzing in with you voice of reason. I'll have none of that! 400 bar is what I demand!!!! Actually I'm calculating risks too. I'm not so worried about cold, but I was contemplating what effect it would have on the IP. Probably minimal, but what else would I do with my time if I didn't over analyze things.

Guess I will fork over $500 for a new set of 7x0.010 SAC. How does a guy get DAP to bump the pop pressure up? I"ll get my 7x0.095 SAC's reset and release them to the wild.

Thanks for the response. SAC. They would have been set at factory pop off pressure. As for settling in, or dropping pressure. IMHO they should not have any significant deviation at 100k miles. Raises quality questions. I have tested 12 valve style injectors with considerably more hours, and typically usually don't see much pop off pressure degradation. Maybe it is the nature of these injectors, seems odd to me though. I'm sure Mike can speak with much more authority on this, but I'm pretty sure the ECM generates that calculation. So scan gauge or Quad just displays the data stream. Do you ever see it come off 0% at maybe the first start of the day, or when the grids or AC compressor cycle?

Question for the guys that have a Quad and suspected weak pop off pressures. So here is my deal. I have DAP 7x.095 aftermarket injectors. I estimate I have maybe 100k miles on them. Frankly I've been a little suspect of their performance from day one. I noticed my idle RPM's have been trending upward. Last few years I noticed idle hovering around 850. I just took a look my idle RPM's over the past few days and now it settles in at around 870. Any time I try to cruise at around 1000-1100 RPM I experience what might best be described as surging (manual trans with ceramic/kevlar clutch). Life is busy so I just put up with it, except now it seems to be getting worse. You know how it is, not bad enough to deal with... until it is. So now I'm determined to improve this situation I was thinking about the low RPM cruise surge condition. Get on my old forums and poke around, initially thinking it may be IP related. Then I find this thread, and it got me thinking it could be one or more injectors are popping early causing uneven combustion spikes. The 1000-1100 RPM range is kind of a resonant frequency for the condition. Then I see you guys reporting on idle engine load. Something I never paid any attention to. The past few days when idle is sitting in that 870 range my engine load reports 0-5%. 1-4% being the norm. I honestly would have figured that to be a normal range... but maybe it isn't? Does what I describe sound like low pop pressure? I performed a compression test a few years back. Don't remember the numbers but do remember there was no more than a 5% deviation. I think I have my injection timing cranked higher than I expected too. Maybe capped at 20-21 degrees, not a hint of rattle. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Gotcha. So this is what is occurring. These ECM "updates" are the equivalent of installing, or re-installing an operating system on your computer. High idle is a feature within that operating system. If a factory "update" is applied to the ECM the high idle feature is disabled as it is not enabled by default. The Dodge tech would have to re-enable those features after the update. So in summary, Smarty is not adding anything to the operating system. It only enables the existing features that are otherwise disabled by default.

You and me both... and I know everything that was mentioned in this thread. LOL Smarty: If at any point your ride has been flashed with a Smarty it updates your ECM with a stock flash that has high idle, and 3 cylinder high idle enabled. There are intake air temp, and coolant temperature requirements for either to kick off automatically. Quad: Has settings for high idle delay. This feature works independently (the ECM does not need the high idle options mentioned above to operate). You can set the delay for 30 seconds. 30 seconds after you start the engine the Quad will kick the idle up to 1100 - 1200 RPM. In addition after the engine is up to temp you can also turn the power level down to 0 and it will once again kick off the high idle. That can be handy for air conditioner operation in the summer while parked. Quad does not have 3 cylinder high idle capabilities. The confusion: If an ECM has 3 cylinder high idle enabled, and you have the Quad high idle enabled it may act wonky if both try to operate in high idle mode. Personally I have never had an issue with that other than it doesn't idle down when I expect (may take a couple throttle blips to get both systems out of their respective high idle states) Clear as mud? I can can always give it another stir... or two.