Manual Temp control to Single Zone Auto - 4th Gen

[Oilbrnr]

So my '16 is just a tad step higher than a Tradesman. 8.4 Uconnect, tow mirrors were the only options. (that 8.4 must have also triggered the Dragon's Puke decals too). So pretty much the poverty package.

I was content at the time when new with it being a fairly base truck though there were some features I wished it had, like steering wheel control for the audio (done and simple), auto temp control for the HVAC (spoiled with having it in other vehicles, heck even my '97 80 series Lexus has it), Homelink for the gate and garage door openers (easy), inverter (next mod, have the plug and bezel), footwell courtesy lights (DS in, pass next with cabin air filter mod).

After getting AlfaOBD to set tire size/psi I started looking into other things that could be done and stumbled upon a thread in RAMForum on changing from manual temp control over to auto. Apparently on our 2500 trucks, things are a bit different as we do not have a variable compressor like the 1500's do, so there is no humidity sensor that also needs to be installed, making the conversion fairly simple. For my '16 just temp sensor 55111178AC was needed, $45. The sensor goes in the DS knee bolster, and the plug was just electrical taped by hand to the rest of the under dash harness.

These are the steps I took with Alfa:

- Connect to Body Computer > go to "raised hood" icon > Car Configuration Change (bottom of list)
- Scroll down to Vehicle Configuration 3: HVAC Configuration:
- Select Dual Zone ATC
- Disconnect AlfaOBD app & shut off the truck and exit for a few minutes (you must wait for the Dual Temp sliders to display on the 8.4 radio before proceeding with single zone ATC change. I waited 30 min)
- Start truck and verify dual zone auto and voice temp control.
- Shutoff truck and go back to same settings on Alfa, this time select: Single Zone ATC
- Exit Alfa and the truck, again I waited 30 min.
- Verify functionality with voice and manual temp buttons.



Pretty quick and painless. I don't know if all the 4th gen's have the pigtail behind the bolster or not, but I came across at least two other guys in various threads with 2500's that said it was there. Look up behind the little vents on the bolster and see if there is a 4 pin pigtail plug taped to the main harness. If it is there, you're in biz.

Next step would be to modify the single zone fan control button to include the Auto button from the dual zone control unit. A bit of a hack given the SMD control board, so I'm going to evaluate how much I'll want to do that going forward.

I know this is not a new mod, but thought it might help some other Poverty Packaged Power Wagon Dude out there that didn't know this was possible.