Heater blower and a/c lines.

[jeepguy_902003]

I'm doing the heater motor this weekend. What do I have to do with the underdash airconditioner unit? This sounds like it will be a pain. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[red89yj]

I did this thing yesterday. It took me a while cuz i had to figure out the A/C on my own, but now that ive finished, i should be able to save u a couple hours of "what the hell...?" time. When it comes to the A/C, i had to discharge the system, because on the back of the unit there is a skinny black metal hose that gets bolted into behind the unit. That is going to limit your movement the most. YOU HAVE TO UNBOLT THAT. ( I recomend putting something on the floor to catch left over ac oil in the system, like newspaper or phone bills) The best way to go about unbolting it is by dropping the unit down from under the dash and muscling it as far away from the dash as possible. do it slowly and make sure you dont kink the lines. (you probably wont, i was moving fast out of frustration and had no problem). once you have the unit off, you can get easier access to that line with an adjustable wrench. after that is removed, you can move it a little further away from the area that you are working in. now the fun part is getting that heater housing out...

p.s. be prepared to manipulate the transfer case shifter, as it may get in the way when you are trying to get the A/C out of yours.

PM me if you hit a dead end

 

[XJNick]

The Best Jeeper's Christmas Present

Hi,

I think you should be informed of two things:

1) The A/C System is under HIGH PRESSURE! Never attempt to discharge an A/C system without proper equipment, unless you either want to a) get frost-bite or b) blow a hole in something!.

2) It is ILLEGAL to allow A/C refrigerant to escape into the atmosphere. This is known as "venting" and is harmful to us and to our environment.

For like $25 you can take the Jeep to a certified A/C shop and have them safely discharge the system.

Good Luck :mrgreen:
-Nick :!:

 

[wm69]

I needed the same info! I'm gonna try my heater motor soon too. My ac system is already discharged because some dumbass (me) tried pulling on the fitting on top of the compressor to tighten the squealing belt and a line ruptured. On the bright note, I had already retrofitted it to R134, so not a huge deal. I "retrofitted" my jeep to R134 and it was just as cold as the R12. Don't let the shop talk you into the $300 o ring replacement BS or tell you to replace parts. Just vacuum the system down, put the adapters on the compressor, and charge it with R134. That's what I did and it worked great until I busted the line.......jeepguy, let me know how it goes......

 

[XJNick]

Actually, If you have an original R-12 system, you DO need new O-rings and hoses. R-134a REQUIRES Barrier type hoses and matching O-rings! Otherwise all your refrigerant and money goes down the drain and into the atmosphere.

-Nick :!:

 

[skyjeeper]

Sully, thanks for showing me your website...I added one too.

woah, you don't need to discharge the a/c.
i had to pull the heater system to replace the heater core in my 89 yj. the ac and heat are two completly seperate systems.

if you drop the windsheild and unbolt the dash, you can minipulate the heater box out around the ac lines if you pull a little slack out of them (there isn't much. it requires a bit of minipulating of the heater and a bit of musceling)

make shure you drain some coolant and disconect the heater lines in the engine compartment, and disconect the cables that controll the heater system. there are three cables. i found an article on replacing the heater core on line. it described all this. i'll see if i can find it again.

 

[XJNick]

woah, you don't need to discharge the a/c.
i had to pull the heater system to replace the heater core in my 89 yj. the ac and heat are two completly seperate systems.

if you drop the windsheild and unbolt the dash, you can minipulate the heater box out around the ac lines if you pull a little slack out of them (there isn't much. it requires a bit of minipulating of the heater and a bit of musceling)

I was thinking it would be possible for him to just remove the heater core w/o the A/C lines being in the way, but haven't worked on my wrangler's heater core and wasn't sure.

Anyways, It would certainly make things much easier :mrgreen:

-Nick :!:

 

[wm69]

I used the original hoses and the ends were flanged (no o rings are used). Mine cooled great for 8 months until I busted a line (by yanking on it like a dumbass) and leaked the 134 out. I've replaced the line now and am waiting till spring to recharge it (not much point in spending the money on it now since I won't be using it). I did a LOT of research on this and finally opted to just charge the system as I didn't know whether or not the used condensor I bought would hold pressure or whether the compressor would work. Most places said NOT to change the hoses unless you charge it and it leaks out. There arent' any O rings in my system to replace, so it was pretty simple and cheap. They vacuumed the system down, charged it, and I had NO problems from it. My system didn't have any o rings due to the flanged fittings on the ends of the hoses, and old hoses get a layer of oil on the inside of them that keeps the refridgerant from leaking out. I figured the worst that could happen was it would leak out and THEN I would look at replacing the hoses. It didn't leak, and blew VERY cold air.

 

[n2jeeps]

Are my hubs working right?

I did mine without removing the ac or dropin' the windshield, but that was in a cj. it is a very tight squeez but all I did was pop loose all your cables to your ducts and take off all the nuts on your firewall that holds the heater box in place about five on a cj, two under the batt. tray two just to the right and one just behind the valve cover (that one took me along time to find) I cant belive they put one there. good luck and let us know how she blows. :wink:

 

[jeepguy_902003]

I seem to like to do things the hard way most of the time and usually break something so I'm gonna slide the top back a little take all the seats out. Drop the windshield and pull the dash out a little. I think this will work. Thanks guys.

 

[n2jeeps]

I'm like that too. just take everything off but the rear tires. :lol:

 

[skyjeeper]

wish i'd have removed the seat when i did it. would have been a bit eaiser (not by much, but wouldn't have had to hang upside down to do it)

 

[wm69]

Just got done putting my heater housing back in. I did this today and other than the original heater hose that was slightly hard (gotta get new hose tomorrow before I can finish the job), I didn't have any problems. I did discover that dremel cutting wheels don't last long. I ended up drilling holes about 1/4" outside the original hole and then cutting between the holes I'd drilled (lot less cutting that way). AC unit just pulled into the floor and left hooked up. Housing was a bitch to get out, but not too bad going back in. Looks like it's gonna blow a hell of a lot better than the old one too. I didn't take anything (seats dash etc) out, but here again I didn't want to deal with all those seized bolts/ screws so I figured I'd leave that stuff alone unless it was something that had to be done. Thanks for all of the advice and I'm gonna get my heater hose back on tomorrow and drive her around. gotta do my trail rig next week when I go to the parents (and do a little duck hunting then too).

 

[jeepguy_902003]

Good luck on the duck hunting wm69. I didn't get to work on mine this weekend. Maybe next week end. I'll take a bunch of pics and see if Tug want to put them on the site. I also got some paint on rhino type liner for the tub so while i have the seats and carpet out i think I'll do that too. I was thinking about using the cutting torch for the hole but don't know if I need to get that drastic. What do you guys think.

 

[wm69]

torch would do well, but you gotta be careful not to burn everything up. I got a sharpie out and drew my line, then got a 3/8" drill bit on my cordless drill and did holes all the way around on that line, then dremeled between the holes. I would suggest taking the batt tray out as it makes everything much easier. My stereo wires were a PITA too as I had them all wound up around the AC lines to keep them from hanging down. Cutting the hole took me about 25 min, and the job (still gotta run new heater hose and put the ac underdash unit back in place) will be less than 2 hours. Anybody know if they make a better cutting wheel for a dremel? I got a pack of 20 "heavy duty" cutting wheels at wal marks (don't you just hate it when people call it that) but they were made of fiberglass so they last about 30 seconds then you put another one on.

 

[jeepguy_902003]

I have a metal cutting blade on my dremel. I got it in a kit with a flex shaft. I'm gonna try that first. how much bigger is the hole you have to cut? I'll get into it this weekend (I hope).

 

[wm69]

I made mine a little oversized to make sure, just went about 1/2" out all the way around with a sharpie and cut on the line (or drill on the line in my case)