New AC evaporator install

Are you EPA certified and do you have a clue? If not enough said pay the price and you will be better off. Coasty

Get another estimate. You do not really have to be EPA certified to do this job, but you should have a clue. ;^)

You can buy R134a and hoses to charge your system at any auto parts store, but you really, really need a vacuum pump and a scale to do the job right. R134a systems want to have the correct quantity of refrigerant, in order to work properly. Charging station? Theoretically required, unless the system had already leaked down before you initiated repairs. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)

Good place to start,

Earle

No I'm not. No I don't. No I won't. Thx Klif

Thx for the USEFUL info Earle. Klif

Klif,

I have the same AC leak (evaporator) in my 97 TJ Sport and was qouted at around $550-$600 for the repair which I have not done yet. We'll see how long I can survive the PA summer without AC before I get it fixed.

Howie

Klif wrote:

I am 'really' curious about something. How can all these 'leaks' be on the only part you can't get to??????

I mean who diagnosed it and how was it diagnosed?

'Normally' leaks happen at fittings. Fittings on parts that move are usually the first suspect, which means parts vibrating around the engine area. Nothing moves under the dash.....

I would 'sure' want to see proof before I forked out $500.00 to $1000.00 to a "$tealership" of all people. Yes, I have run into 'WAY' more thieves at $tealerships than honest people by far. Way more.....

And for that kind of money, I would gladly read the repair manual to find out how to do it. It isn't hard, just labor intensive.

Mike

Good points Mike, but most people don't have a charging station, or even a vacuum pump and a set of gauges. Now you can replace the evaporator yourself, and take it to an AC service center to have the system charged, but I don't know how they would like taking on this job halfway through.

I have to laugh at Bill's picture, when I think about the labor to replace the evaporator in my Honda Civic. Maybe half an hour, not including the time to evacuate and charge the system.

Earle

On Wed, 31 May 2006 09:45:52 -0400, the following appeared in rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys, posted by Mike Romain :

For a while CC had a problem with shoddy evap coils; they tended to develop holes after a couple of years. My wife's '93 Concorde went through 4 in 8 years (paid for by CC, since they acknowledged the problem). I don't know if they had the same problem across all lines, but it's certainly possible.

In the XJ it starts out with "Remove the dash" (I don't recall if this also requires removing the steering assembly, which gets into airbag/clockspring issues, and my manual is packed away, and I don't know if the TJ has the same requirements), since apparently no one seems to have gotten the brilliant idea of putting it in a housing *ahead* of the firewall for easy access. Not really complicated, but a good

If the AC place didn't want my money to charge it up, I would find one that did. It isn't really any of their business 'why' I want my empty system filled up.

There wouldn't be much 'evacuating' to do I wouldn't think after a major component change....

I have been on the removing end of a few dashes for heater cores, etc.... Bill's photo says it all....

Mike

Earle Hort>

On most, you just have to drop the steering column loose from the dash. It drops a bit and then the dash move enough to get behind it.

If they have known since 93 their supplier is crap, well, a 'normal' person would change suppliers....

BUT wait, they can 'sucker' thousands of people to pay out a grand each to get it fixed, I guess that is good enough reason to stay with the same supplier eh?

Mike

Bob Casanova wrote:

A major component change lets water into the system, but a new dryer, accumulator, or whatever they use in this system should take care of that. I like to pump the system down, and make sure it stays down for a few hours. But then I have a vacuum pump and a set of gauges, I live in the middle of nowhere, I am going for longest time possible between service, and I don't charge myself, to leave the vacuum on all night. If I were going to replace the evaporator myself, and then have a shop charge up the system, I would make darn sure I hadn't screwed anything up, before putting the dash together.

This is the rub, I think. How do you plan to check for leaks, before you put the dash back together? This is not an unsolvable problem, but one worth looking at.

Earle

For $200.00 the stealer put a blue dye in the system to help locate the leak.....when I brought it back 1 week later. Klif

That's more reasonable.....$500 that is. Klif

Hey Earle, Is there a better quality evaporator available than the OE stock one? Thx, Klif

What about plain old compressed air from a bicycle or tire pump and a brush with soapy water on it to check for leaks before bolting things back up? Same as we do on a new gas line install or an under pad plumbing install final test. Actually I think we got tanks of nitrogen for that but...

Mike

Earle Hort>

Where the heck is Nathan, now that we really need him? Compressed air is bad, because it carries moisture. Nitrogen is better, because it is dry. Professional HVAC-ers use an electronic or chemical leak detector, because a leak doesn't have to be very big, to cause problems. In other words, a leak that you might miss, with the soap bubble test, can make your system leak down in a season. There is a cheap halide detector, that you may have seen, made from a propane torch and a copper disk that is heated red hot. The flame changes color when exposed to a gas containing halides, refrigerant for example. I assume that the electronic detectors are "better". They are more expensive, anyway.

Reiterating that I am a mere amateur at this, the best way to test for the presence of a leak, is to pump the system down, and verify that it can hold a vacuum, preferably for several hours. This is better than a pressure test, because a vacuum gauge will move a lot, from just a little air leaking in. If the system holds vacuum, then you are ready to put the dash back together. It is when there is a loss of vacuum, even enough to make the gauge move a smidgeon overnight, that you absolutely have to identify the source of the leak. (The idiots who worked on my Suburban could tell that something was leaking, but none of them had the presence of mind to expose the rear AC unit for inspection. Not finding a leak, is not the same as holding vacuum and having a tight system.)

If you are on budget in the back yard, the best alternative might be a chemical leak detector. These come in cans, similar to refrigerant cans, and contain a mix of refrigerant and a red dye. These work best if the system is running, circulating refrigerant and oil. They are not so good for verifying that the system is tight, before you put the dash back together.

Earle

Adding 'nathan' to a thread is normally the 'last' thing a thread needs if it has any chance of staying on topic...

The vacuum idea is the best then. Plumbing supply houses do have tanks of nitrogen you can 'rent' for a couple days for testing purposes also. I wonder if any places will rent out a vacuum pump?

Mike

Earle Hort>

Mike, I happened to go to Autozone yesterday, and I looked over the air conditioning supplies and tools display. Some of the leak detectors are beginning to appear affordable. I don't know about renting vacuum pumps, but a hundred dollar leak detector might just be good enough, and inexpensive enough, to make a project like this doable.

Earle

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