Leaking Heater Core

Hi Rich, The heater core is the last thing to come out of the dash:

I've replaced an '84 and an'89 Thunderbird's, next time I'll pay a thousand, if I can find someone todo it for that. God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O mailto: snipped-for-privacy@billhughes.com

Hi Bill,

Your response was not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but it is the one that I expected from what little info I could find. It looks like a pretty big task. I think I pass on this DIY job!

Thanks for the advice and the picture, Rich

The dash removal isn't the big thing. If you R&R the evaporator you have to find a safe, preferably friendly to the environment, way to do it. Then it has to be evacuated and recharged with refrigerant. It's not that the work is hard, but it takes a lot of equipment. I think that commercial garages need an EPA license to handle refrigerant too. Now when you have this done there are some tips that can save you future expense. Ask the people performing the work to replace all O-rings in the system, hoses if they look suspicious and give their opinion on the compressor too. Give them the impression that you want the system restored to new performance, not just patched to work a season. Take some time, ask around, and find out who in your area has the reputation of being conscientious, because there are plenty of certified auto air conditioning shops, but really very few good ones.

O-rings, if one is leaking all are marginal.

Good luck,

Earle

Actually, if your system has a receiver/drier, you can skip evacuating the system with 134A. Unless something has changed in the last four years or so, that small quantity of air will make no difference at all. The voice of experience-seriously.

Dan

From what has been posted here over the years, it is more than evident that Chrysler is intentionally putting badly made AC condensers into Jeeps to give their mechanics a sleazy $1000.00 labor repair bill down the road for every defective one.

I therefore would 'highly' recommend you replace this part while the dash is off so you don't get suckered into a second thousand dollar job.

That way even when the incompetent mechanic doesn't put it (AC condenser) back together right or it up and quits because it was 'handled' so it leaks out in a couple months, it will be under warranty still.

Just my $0.02,

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail > Hello,

That's the evaporator, but it's a good point. The condensor is the part in front of the radiator. Wrt the opinion about evacuation, you really want to know that the reassembled system can hold a vacuum. Also if you have done refrigerant recovery in an environmentally responsible manner and already have a recovery station ready to recharge the system, then skipping the evacuation step doesn't really gain you anything.

Cordialment,

Earle

Right, I keep thinking on it's use as a condenser for the defrost humidity, the biggest use for it up here in The Great White North.

Mike

Earle Hort> That's the evaporator, but it's a good point. The condensor is the part

It's got a lot of water in it already. You can even mix it with R-12 without a problem. Folks can go to their local NAPA or Auto-Mart and BUY R134 in a can, ready to dispense. Just to charge up for spring. :)

Thanks Mike, Good point. Odd as it may seem, a mechanic I called for an estimate actually suggested I replace both the heater core and the evaporator at the same time in order to avoid future labor costs. He wanted almost $1000 to do the job, but at least his shop was honest enough to suggest only doing it once.

Rich

As noted it was the evaporator I was thinking about. Nice to find a reasonably honest mechanic. It is a thousand dollar job.

Just labor intensive. If you got the time, it isn't 'that' hard to do, just time consuming. I have done a bunch of different dashes for that over the years, the Jeep one isn't the hardest.

Mike

Rich D wrote:

Auto air conditioning is a sealed system with a small amount of refrigerant in it. If you want your repairs to last as long as possible, seal it up as tight as possible (this means all new O-rings for example) and make it as contaminant-free as possible. Then you will get a repair that lasts five years or more, and not a fresh can of R134a every spring. While it is true that these systems contain bound hydrogen and oxygen, they do not contain free water, unless you have had someone like Mr. Barndoor work on yours. That is what the vacuum pump is for, to make the system as contaminant-free as possible. The system will also work better, i.e. more efficiently, if it is charged properly.

Cordialment,

Earle

Bullshit. Moisture in an A/C system is certain death, the more water the quicker it happens.

You can even mix it with R-12

WRONG. The two are not compatible.

Folks can go to their local NAPA or Auto-Mart and

It's not "air" you are trying to remove, it's moisture, and it WILL damage your A/C system. It reacts with the freon to form an acid and turns all the internal components af the A/C system black. When that happens it's time to replace the whole system because if don't don't get it all out you will be doing it again.

That's simply untrue, tardling. Perhaps you should study up a bit?

I've not had the chemical reaction problem with moisture but the internal freeze up was always a problem in South Texas.

I would take issue (OK, nitpick) your comment on the mix: R-12 and R-134a mix OK in either gaseous or liquid state. The problem is the lubricating oil - the two refrigerants require different formulations which are not compatible with each other and generally not cross compatible between the two refrigerants. R-134a doesn't dissolve and carry mineral oil worth a damn while that is the lube of choice for R-12.

There are some universal oils >

Um.... I said they WERE NOT OK to mix.

The problem is the lubricating

That is one problem. R-134a doesn't cool as well as R-12 so the 134a system has to be designed accordingly, and 134a is supposed to require better quality o-rings.