You may begin to notice, while you have your Dodge Dakota’s air conditioner on, the system is blowing out warm air or taking a long time to cool the inside of the vehicle. These are signs that your Dakota’s AC unit is low on refrigerant, also referred to as coolant, which is the chemical responsible for cooling the air before being blown through the vehicle vents. You can choose to bring your Dakota to a local professional to recharge the system; however, this can be very costly. To save money, you can recharge the air conditioner with refrigerant yourself using a R134a refrigerant recharge kit, which can be purchased at any local auto part store.
Step 1 - Allow the Dodge Dakota to cool down for a half hour. This will prevent any injury or burns while working under the hood of the vehicle.
Step 2 - Open the hood of the Dakota and locate the air conditioning unit and service fittings. If needed, refer to the owner’s manual. Both service hoses come off the compressor. The low-pressure fitting runs to the accumulator and the high-pressure fitting goes to the condenser.
Step 3 - Connect the recharge hose included with the R134a kit to the valve on top of the R134a can.
Step 4 - Turn the valve on the R134a on, doing so will open the can and allow coolant to be released. Turn the valve off immediately to avoid loss of extra refrigerant.
Step 5 - Attach the recharge hose to the low-pressure fitting on the compressor. Begin the Dakota’s engine and set the air conditioner to the highest available setting. Turn the valve on the R134a on. This will begin recharging the system.
Allow the R134a refrigerant to continue charging the system until the can is empty. You will notice the air within the vehicle getting increasingly cooler. Turn the engine off and remove the recharge hose from the low-pressure fitting. Close the hood of the Dakota. Repeat this process anytime the Dakota’s air conditioning unit needs coolant.
THINGS YOU'LL NEED: Owner’s manual, R134a refrigerant with connector hose
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