5.7 vortec air conditioning

[Squirrelsmith]

Is there a suped up blower motor we can get to push a higher volume of air?

 

[east302]

I’ve been tempted to try to fit a 99-06 motor onto a 400 blower wheel. The shaft diameter (per Rock Auto) is the same. I had an 04 Yukon a few years ago and the full speed fan output was significantly better than my 98. The 2007-14 is also better.

Assuming that the ductwork (pressure drop) loss is comparable between the two models, the difference must be in the blower wheel design and/or motor speed.

 

[alpinecrick]

Assuming that the ductwork (pressure drop) loss is comparable between the two models, the difference must be in the blower wheel design and/or motor speed.

And I speculate the ducting is a big part of it.

In the spring of 93 I bought a 1991 light K2500 ECSB 5.7/NV3500 with 10k on it (it was the dealers personal/demo truck). When summer came I was making numerous stops in town and every time I came out the cab was hotter'n blazes and barely got cooled down before the next stop. I was driving by a friend's mechanic's shop and he had his AC service sign out so I wheeled in and complained to him. He handed me a thermometer with a probe and said "stick it in the center vent, turn the AC on Max and drive around for 15 minutes. It should read 40-45 degrees". It read just over 40 degrees.

The AC on my 96 G1500 w/5.0 and 02 G2500 w/5.7 will give me an ice cream headache. The heaters SUCK.

My 96 and 97 K1500 ECSB heaters will cook everything--including the dash--when trying to keep the snow from building up on the windshield during a snowstorm. I'm afraid to leave my phone in the pocket below the controls with the heater going because the phone gets hot sitting there. The AC in every EC or CC truck or Suburban/Tahoe I have ridden in is slow to cool things down (although the rear AC/heater is nice in the SUV's).

The vans and the trucks are basically the same climate systems, but there are several instances that they behave like different animals--the AC and heat are one of them.

In the sun the dash seems to absorb a lot of heat in the trucks and it takes a while to cool the entire dash down before the AC ducts can really blow cold. I think the routing of the ducts are a big factor.

I'm still wondering how many owners have cleaned the evaporator lately.........

 

[honkon]

The AC in my yukon got chilly, around 45f if i remember correctly, but it still struggled to cool in the summer because the air output at the vents sucked. The heat, however, could almost roast you.
I think the ac on these trucks sucks because of poor duct work and blower fan designs. The directional doors didn't seal properly so air would come out of foot/dash/defrost vents no matter the selection, and the fan felt like it moved hardly any air in the first place. Not sure if there is any solution to this short of overhauling the whole hvac system.

 

[east302]

I redid the entire system on my 98 extended cab truck and my two door Tahoe. That included all a/c components and the damper doors which were pretty much rotting at the edges.

It helped with stopping air flow leaks and center vent temp can get down to 39 in the shade, but the flow through the vents is still poor compared to the subsequent generation of trucks. It does cool down the cab; it just takes a while to make it happen once the outdoor temp gets above 90. The best remedy that I’ve found is to shut the passenger vents to increase flow through the center vent.

We have an 09 Suburban, and I forget how many fan speeds it has but its level three (out of five or maybe six) is comparable to our high speed. Dash temps are actually higher in our 09, but the increased air flow is a great placebo and I never complain about being hot when driving it.

I guess that’s the problem with older vehicles - you can’t help but compare them with newer technology.

 

[CRF450R]

I’ve been tempted to try to fit a 99-06 motor onto a 400 blower wheel. The shaft diameter (per Rock Auto) is the same. I had an 04 Yukon a few years ago and the full speed fan output was significantly better than my 98. The 2007-14 is also better.

Assuming that the ductwork (pressure drop) loss is comparable between the two models, the difference must be in the blower wheel design and/or motor speed.

I'm tempted to try the same thing. Let me know how it works if you get a chance. I just had my A/C compley replaced it's ice cold and cools the cab down at a decent rate but I do feel like if I had a more powerful blower motor it would make a huge difference.

 

[AK49BWL]

99-02 you might be okay, but I believe the 03+ use PWM blower controllers and the motors won't work if used in the 400s, unless you find a way to make the PWM system work... Just a thought. I've had considerations of changing my system to use a PWM blower, just haven't started looking into it yet.


EDIT: So I just had a look through a couple wiring diagrams for the various years 99-09, turns out they use PWM controllers, but only on the automated climate systems.. The manual ones still use resistor blocks until 2007. But ALL the motors still seem to be the same electrically as the 400s. So, nevermind lol

 

[CRF450R]

99-02 you might be okay, but I believe the 03+ use PWM blower controllers and the motors won't work if used in the 400s, unless you find a way to make the PWM system work... Just a thought. I've had considerations of changing my system to use a PWM blower, just haven't started looking into it yet.


EDIT: So I just had a look through a couple wiring diagrams for the various years 99-09, turns out they use PWM controllers, but only on the automated climate systems.. The manual ones still use resistor blocks until 2007. But ALL the motors still seem to be the same electrically as the 400s. So, nevermind lol

Right on so other word I can order a AC Delco blower motor for 99-07? I just replaced my original one with a junk napa one lasted about three days and it's already making nasty noises I'm so done with napa parts . Napa parts = JUNK and fusteration.

 

[AK49BWL]

I don't know anything about whether the mounting holes are different, but electrically you shouldn't have any problem

 

[east302]

I tore apart my factory one, here are pics of it. I haven’t looked to see how a newer style motor could be made to work with the existing flange. The flange includes the magnet, I had thought it may have been separate.

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