Hot air entering passenger side

[Viper X]

Hi group. Picked up my 04 SRT10 friday. Former vette owner. WOW. WOW. Quick question. Hot air entering pass side. Hole in fresh air intake under and towards the front, about 2 inches long, 1 inch wide. Looks like it should have a plug. Likely this is to drain water from intake vents. No problem with A/C or when set on recirc. Major heat flowing in when set on "vent" mode. Could someone check and let me know? Going to duct tape it today. Dealer monday. Thanks.

 

[Twosnakes]

Hummmmmmmmm, I think I have the same problem. Please keep me posted.

 

[qtr_mile]

I had exactly the same complaint with my'03 SRT-10 when I picked it up last June. Driving around town I measured the air temperature out of the passenger side air duct with the fan on maximum speed and venting outside air. The air temperature coming out of this duct, which would blow on the passenger, was 118 degrees F while the outside temperature was 90 degrees F (i.e. a temperature rise of almost 30 degrees F). You could probably roast a turkey with that air. I would expect the temperature out of the duct to be much closer to the outside air temperature but this was not the case.

My first thought was that the heater's hot water valve was not completely shutting off (i.e. in effect, leaving the heater partially on all the time). I inquired about it during my first oil change and the dealer said that they would be glad to check it out if I'd leave the car with them for a day. He did mention, however, that the outside air intake is located where the windshield intersects the hood on the passenger side (i.e. same place where the louvers are located on the right side of the hood). And those louvers ARE functional venting lots of hot air off the engine.

Rather than make another appointment to leave the car with them for a day, I decided to check it out for myself. I bought a $10 indoor/outdoor digital thermometer and attached the outdoor sensor to the top of the air intake. The outside sensor comes with a 10 foot length of wire. This "outdoor" sensor would then measure the vent-air temperature coming into the car at the outside air vent intake. I placed the "indoor" sensor at outlet of the vent that directs air to the passenger. Here is what I found:
a. Driving down the highway at about 60 mph the air temperature at the outside air vent was about 10 degrees higher than the ambient outside air temperature. And the air temperature coming out of the air vent (onto the passenger) was an additional 6 degrees hotter for a total 16 degree rise above ambient temperature. This was measured when the ambient temperature (i.e. outside air temp) was about 50 degrees F.
b. Driving around town at slower speeds the total temperature rise is closer to 30 degrees F, as I mentioned above. This is much higher than the 16 degrees above at highway speeds. Reason - the air coming from the louvers will not mixed as much with the ambient air in slow stop-and-go traffic compared to traveling at 60 mph on the highway.

So, most of the hot "vent" air comes from the very hot air flowing out of the right side hood louvers.

However, there is some good news:
1. With the top up, the air conditioner will keep the cabin at 74 degrees with with outside ambient temperature at 90 degrees (i.e. very confortable). The air temperature coming of the passenger side vent was 52 degrees F. The airconditioner was set to recirculate, maximum fan speed, and lowest temperature setting for maximum cooling.

2. With the top down you can bend the sun visors ALL the way up and get a GREAT refreshing blast of ambient air down into your lap at any speed. This was a godsend when I discovered it. Without this I would have been very disappointed in the Viper's heat situation. The visors will stay in that position until about 80 mph when the force of the wind will reposition them.

I've heard so much about the excessive heat situation that I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong with my Viper. But if you find out anything different with your Viper, I'd appreciate your letting me (i.e. us) know.

Ed H

 

[GR8_ASP]

Great info Ed. I agree wholeheartedly with your information, though I have made no measurements.

I also eliminated the converters and that moderated the heat somewhat, but not enough for mid-summer temps.

Has anyone tried blocking some of the most rearward hood vents to see what impact that would make? The SRT vents are considerably further back than Gen II's which may be why we have so much more hot air coming around and over the windshield. We have not had enough hot weather yet to try but I plan on trying by blocking the rearmost vent opening. Probably around half of the vents initially.\

Given you test with electronic thermometers, it would be interesting to see the results of back to back testing of this sort. Hmmm, things to do when it finally gets warmer!

 

[Viper X]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info. I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow, 8 AM. They are a "company store", so they may have an edge in solving this issue. In the short term, I simply placed duct tape over the small opening at the bottom-front of the air plenum on the passenger side of the car, as I discussed in my first post. This solved the problem. Based upon this "quick fix", the hot air I am feeling (well, my passenger is feeling) is coming in from the engine compartment. I punched a small hole in the duct tape to allow water to exit in case this plenum is where the A/C or outside water might drain. Living in so Cal and never driving this car in the rain, this is a cheap fix. If I were driving this car in the rain, it would be another issue. I suspect that there may be a vaccum operated door in the air plenum that may not be working correctly or, as stated previously, a missing one way rubber grommeted "valve" that allows water to exit here would also solve this problem, but without a service manual, I don't even know if this valve is missing. This is my first Dodge product (was a GM guy for years, spent 10 years in management with the General, solving unusual types of probelms for many customers). I feel a little weird using duct tape to fix an obvious problem on a car in this price range, but maybe the dealer knows of this issue and can fix it. I'll let you know. Thanks again for the replies.

 

[GR8_ASP]

djesrt10 can you take a picture of what you are talking about. Easy to compare then and see if anything is different.

 

[HiYoSilver]

I agree with you guys. The engine heat vents out the right side if the hood directly into the intake of the Ventilation & A/C unit at the base of the windshield. Some sort of air flow diverter could redirect the heat stream away. Or different hood vent pattern or side vents ala the Mercedes SLR with its side fender vents for the exhaust system would be a real fix.
The solution I have found working best is to set knob to one of the recirculate positions with or without A/C and the Visor Extender to keep the sunvisors up to speeds over 80 mph with increased air ducted into your lap.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Okay, went out to the car and figured out what you were talking about. There is a small opening on the bottom of my HVAC box as well. I can't believe an opening that large would be for water drainage. The RT/10 has a small hose to drain, and it is open directly above to the speaker grill.

 

[Viper X]

Hi guys,

Went to the dealer today and they had not worked on one of these cars yet but said that they would call back east and let me know anything they could find out.

Meanwhile, taking the lead from our "qtr mile", I fired the car up, took a portable laser thermometer and started taking readings. The air intake chamber or plenum that I speak of is black plastic, located just below the air intake on the passenger side. I poured water into the vents just below the windshield to see if I had the right location and I did, as water drained out that large hole in the bottom of the air chamber. I then took temperature readings with a laser temperature device that I use in my business. The plastic plenum's temperature ran about 150 F in just 2 miles of driving. It is located under the hood right next to the exhause manifold, which was also 150 F, and just above the hoses that feed the heater. I suggested to the tech and the service writer at the dealership that perhaps we could remove the plenum, wrap it in some sort of aluminized foil insulation and reinstall it, hopefully lowering it's temperature. They both thought that this might help but did not know of any such "fix".

On the inside, I measured the initial temperature of the air leaving the vents. I started at 75 F, the same as the air temp this morning. In about 5 minutes, the air temp coming from the vents was 130 F. This is with the controls set on "vent" or outside air. I agree with HiYoSilver, I have achieved the best results with the control unit set on recirc, A/C on or off. The sun visor trick is also cool, I tried it last night and it really helps. Just don't go over 80 or you'll get a big surprize when the visor snaps down, like I did on me last night.

Finally, the duct tape placed over the large water drain hole seemed to help initially, but heated up and failed in only one day. I'm not certain it helped that much, so I am anxiously waiting to hear from the dealer.

 

[Brian E]

Hello everyone. We definately need some help from Dodge on this issue. My wife and I went for a Sunday drive. The day was sunny and about 90 deg. Top down. We drove around in stop and go traffic for about half an hour and my wife got so hot, she made me drop her off at a friends house and refused to let me drive her home. I thought she was joking until I sat in the passenger seat. @#$$ it was HOT!!! I have the Corsa Track Exhaust on my car and it is supposed to run about 125 deg. cooler than the stock exhaust. I didnt have any way to check the actual temperature, but I can tell you it was very uncomfortable! We put about 100 miles on the car in about 55 deg. weather, about a week ago and it wasnt an issue.
I did turn the air conditioning on and it did help, but what surprised me is when I turned the air off and just had the system on recirculate, with the temperature knob set at the coolest setting, I had warm air coming from the vents.
Are all the SRT/10's having this issue?

 

[Viper X]

Hi Brian and group. I got the call from the dealer. Not and issue according to them and Dodge. We should kidnap one of the engineers (or bean counters) who put this thing together and make him / her ride in the passenger seat on a warm day. In 20 or 30 minutes, he or she, like your wife and mine, would be cooked. This really is an issue that the factory should provide a fix for. I know that this is an unlikely scenario, but imagine driving with a baby in the passenger seat on a warm day. If this problem cooks one kid, it could really cost them.

I've done some more homework on this issue as it appears no help is forthcoming from Dodge. Parts Rack carries an HVAC Cool Kit, part of which includes an HVAC wrap kit. This is for Gen II cars, but one for ours should be forthcoming. I contacted Dan Cragin, a local Viper Guru and he was not aware of one, but said he could make one up if he could see the car and discuss it with me. The company that makes and supplies the Viper Cool Kit is ATP Wrap (www.atpwrap.com - I think). I emailed Tim Thompson at ATP and will plan to visit his shop this week. Tim's company is local and makes heat shield products for race cars and has some good info on heat protection for Vipers on his web site.

The other issue is one that I mentioned earlier. The opening in the bottom of the fresh air plenum is quite large and will allow engine air to enter the cockpit. This hole really should have been plugged and a drain hose added. Anybody live in the Detroit area? Do us a favor and offer a Dodge exec a ride on a warm day. I'll let you know what I find out.

 

[Viper X]

Hey Brian E,

How do you like the Corsa Track Exhaust. I am considering changing to this set up. I have heard that with it you can eliminate the crossover pipes, and eliminate some heat from behind the seats. Did it hurt or help your power? How much louder than stock is it? Any other comments would be helpful.

Thanks, Dan E

 

[fred]

I believe Dodge knows about the "heat" issue but until it significantly impacts sales look for no "improvment/help" from dodge, imo! ps It was one of several reasons that caused me to get rid of my SRT-10!

 

[Brian E]

Hi Dan.
The Corsa is a definite improvement over the stock exhaust. It does omit the crossover.
That being said, my opinion is that the Viper still doesn't sound like a 500hp sports car should. If you close your eyes and were to hear it drive by, you might think it was a mufflerless truck that just pulled out of the local trailer park.
I did have the exhaust installed by Woodhouse before they delivered the car.
The installation process is very straight forward. Corsa has a very good set of instructions that you can download in pdf format on their web site. ( there is also a great thread on this site dealing with removal of the forward most 10mm bolt on the side sill ) I had to adjust my drivers side muffler. When the car was cold the tip lined up in the opening of the side sill very nicely, but when it got hot the tip moved towards the rear of the side sill opening about 1/4 inch. My exhaust tip was actually touching the sill when it got hot. I moved the muffler towards the front of the car about 1/4 inch and rotated it about 5 deg. clockwise. Rotating the assembly allowed the tip to be below the opening in the sill and thus allowing expansion and contraction without interfering with the sill. A note to Corsa, if they made a design change and allowed the tip to be adjusted independently of the muffler, that would simplify the alignment process.

 

[g3173]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't noticed much heat on the passenger side but I did notice that the weather stripping near the right side view mirror and the door jam was melting

I did switch to the corsa system and installed high flow cats which dramatically reduced the temp and gave her the nice deep sound that a 500hp car should have. If you are considering installing the corsa exhaust system, you should also install the high flow cats. I've heard both setups and the setup with high flow cats sound so much better!

If you are looking for a more old school deep sound then the Borla exhaust system is the way to go! Borla + High Flow Cats! Awesome combo!!! I will probably change my setup in a few months so look on ebay for a 2 month old Corsa Exhaust system!

For those of you with temp. problems, or who sweat as much as I do, changing your exhaust and installing the high flow cats is a must!

Regards,
Gene

 

[Viper X]

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the input. Whose high flow cats? Where to get them? How loud is the Borla at cruise, any idea? The stock system sounds like a UPS truck at idle and low speeds (to me). I really don't want to be too loud while cruising at freeway speeds, but like some "deepness" at idle and volume at full throtte. Do you know of any exhaust system recordings that might be available? Thanks.

 

[g3173]

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the input. Whose high flow cats? Where to get them? How loud is the Borla at cruise, any idea? The stock system sounds like a UPS truck at idle and low speeds (to me). I really don't want to be too loud while cruising at freeway speeds, but like some "deepness" at idle and volume at full throtte. Do you know of any exhaust system recordings that might be available? Thanks.

The Cats are customs made by Valaya Racing. They are 3 inch hi flows and are major plus to the corsa exhaust system. Very nice non Obnoxious gurgle at idle and very smooth at high way cruise. Full throttle is a blast with major gurgle and nice pops! My friend told me yesterday that he heard me coming from a block away You should check out Corsa's website. They have a recording of their system. Borla... hmm not sure of any recording.. you'll have to trust me on this one! Man the overall sound is twice as nice as the Corsa. Wish I had waited

Good Luck
Gene

 

[Viper X]

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the note. Does Valaya Racing have a web site? Is installation a "bolt on" or "weld on"? Having 3.55's installed next Tuesday.