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Jeep Grand Cherokee A/C Heating Ventilation

510 messages,  Last post on Mar 23, 2013 at 12:29 PM

You are in the Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Grand Cherokee Forum.

What is this discussion about? Jeep Grand Cherokee, Heating / Cooling, SUV

Messages Page 24 of 51

#230 of 510 Yet another Jeep Cherokee A/C Problem by crumbie

May 28, 2008 (7:13 am)

This is for a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the v6, 4.0l engine.
 
Currently, when we turn on the a/c, sometimes we get cold air and sometimes it's warm. And it's always hit or miss, sometimes cold, sometimes warm. Switches back and forth while driving down the road.
 
We also noticed during the winter, that most of the time there was heat, but other times the air would come out cold.
 
Does this sound more like a blend door type problem or a blockage in the cooling system? I know there has been pages and pages of discussion, but I just wanted to throw my specific problem out there to get help.

#231 of 510 Re: A/C Clutch Replacement [bgafford] by pahefner01

Jun 02, 2008 (7:58 pm)

Replying to: bgafford (Apr 05, 2007 12:41 am)
It is quite possible that the only problem is the "shims" in your ac clutch. I had this happen with my Cherokee. I went to AutoZone and bought a compressor and rented some tools. I found when I removed the front part of the clutch, cleaned it up and removed on little thin "shim" and the ac was fine. No dealers. The shims are actually little washers.

#232 of 510 Re: 2001 JGC limited - driver side blowing heat when AC on, passenger side OK [alcu77] by blendor

Jun 09, 2008 (9:34 am)

Replying to: alcu77 (May 18, 2008 11:33 am)
I don’t know if you have checked the AZC (Automatic Zone Control) fault codes before you started to do the repairs.
The Blen Dor Store on Ebay has a description of how to read the fault codes of the AZC systems. And will explain which fault codes you should be getting for a blend door and an actuator motor failure. The wjjeeps web site has a list of all the AZC fault codes. The Blen Dor Store also has a short description on how to check for a blend door failure for the MTC (Manual Temperature Control) systems.

#233 of 510 Re: Yet another Jeep Cherokee A/C Problem [crumbie] by blendor

Jun 09, 2008 (10:53 am)

Replying to: crumbie (May 28, 2008 7:13 am)
It could be the blend air doors are broke and bouncing around causing the doors to stick in various positions. But you would probably have to be bouncing that Jeep around pretty good to get the doors to bounce up and stick in such away to block off the AC.
It is most likely a blockage or an air pocket or actually it could be a number of things.
But the best place to start is by reading the AZC fault codes. There is also a wjjeeps web site that will have the complete AZC heater fault codes. If you would like to check the blend doors you could go to the Blen Dor Store on Ebay. There is a small description on how to read the AZC fault codes to match the broken blend doors and faulty actuator motors and how to check manually if your blend doors or actuator motor have failed.

#234 of 510 Re: A/C Clutch Replacement [pahefner01] by funpig

Jun 18, 2008 (10:15 pm)

Replying to: pahefner01 (Jun 02, 2008 7:58 pm)
Re: Message 231 above.
 
I also suggest try removing one of the shims or washers from the clutch assembly to get it to work.
 
I have a 94 grand cherokee. Recently, I developed a problem with the clutch on my ac compressor. It was cycling on and off and sometimes not working at all. When it stopped working, I could get it work again for a while by giving the clutch a tap or hit with a rubber mallet.
 
One issue is low coolant. I have a small leak that neither dealer or mechanic have been able to locate in the last five years. Fortunately, the leak is so small, I just need to top up the coolant just once a year.
 
My mechanic said that the clutch on my compressor was worn. Great guy. He said normally shops will just recommend replacing the whole compressor (very expensive). He said that what happens is that the clutch gets worn and dirty over time and the gap between the clutch and the other plate gets too big and the clutch slips when it tries to engage electromagnetically.
 
This is what he did. He undid the bolt on the front of the clutch assembly. He needed a large wrench or pliers (about a 4 inches) to grip the clutch so that it would not spin while he undid the bolt. Then he used two screwdrivers to lever the clutch away from the compressor. The clutch is mounted on a splined axle. He used compressed air to blow out the dust and gave it squirt of WD40 just for luck. Inside the hole of the clutch (this is the hole where you insert the splined axel) are several shims or washers which set the gap between the clutch and pressure plate. He removed one of the washers using a small magnet and the he reassembled everything. By removing the washer, the gap between the clutch and the pressure plate is now smaller. The clutch stopped slipping.
 
Everything seems to be working fine (for now). The gap may be a little bit too small because I notice some occassional minor rubbing sounds inside the clutch when the clutch is not engaged. I'm going to check back with the mechanic, but I think that over time, it should just wear down naturally.
 
If your clutch is malfunctioning, this is worth a shot especially if your option is to replace the whole compressor anyways. Be careful that you don't break or warp the clutch when you try to remove it. Also, if you make the gap too small (take out the skinniest washer or just replace a thick one with a thinner one), you may get some major rubbing or even have the clutch seize up on you.
 
14 years, 215,000 km. Had to get tranny and rear diff rebuilt last year. SUV has almost no value with the price of gas these days. I still enjoy driving it, but I cannot live without ac. If the ac completely goes, I'm going to get rid of it.
 
Good luck

#235 of 510 A/C Leak on passenger side by kodysgrandma1

Jul 14, 2008 (1:15 pm)

Have 96 GCLimited. A/C worked great until about 2 years ago. Have now spent around $1500 at dealer trying to get permanent fix to huge leak which shows up on passenger side floorboard. Also notice trash (leaves, twigs etc.) in the vents. Any ideas?

#236 of 510 Duracool worked for 94 ZJ with slow AC leak by funpig

Jul 15, 2008 (10:07 pm)

I have a 94 Laredo. Since new I have always had problems with the AC. The defective evaporator core was replaced about 8 years ago by the dealer. Over the last 5 years, I still suffered from a small leak. I recharged in June and it would slowly leak down and the cooling would deteriorate until it was gone by about September.
 
I live in Canada. We cannot buy the little cans of R134 like in the US. Each time I would need to go to a shop and spend about $100 -$150 for a recharge. Neither dealer nor shop can locate the leak using dye. They can only guess that it is probably the evaporator again (about a $1,000 repair). I suspect it is some small leak in a seal. Anyways, I decided to take a chance on Duracool which you can buy at an auto parts store or Walmart here in Canada. The stuff is flammable and is not permitted in some states so this is the risk that you have to take if you decide to use this stuff. Also, it will void any warranty on a new vehicle. My rationale for using it is that Duracool is readily available and cheap in Canada and it has a molecule that is about 2.5 times bigger than R134 which is less likely to leak out. Also, it is not poisonous nor corrosive, unlike R134. My 94 grand cherokee is too old to be spending big bucks on a proper fix, which may or may not work.
 
Other than the leak, my AC cooled reasonably well when it is fully charged. (The compressor clutch was slipping but it was fixed, see message # 234 above). The oil is clean (Duracool has a little filter indicator to visually test the oil quality). I got my mechanic to evacuate the remaining R134 out of my system (it is illegal to mix refrigerants). He then pulled a vacuum of 29in Hg for 30 minutes to make sure the system was fully evacuated of any moisture. I then charged the system using duracool following the instructions. There is a toll free number which I called to make sure I was doing everything right. The key is not to overcharge. A slight undercharge is okay. Just put in the first can and take it slow from there. Give the refirgerant a chance to mix with the existing oil in the system. I found that the AC did not initially work well until about 15 minutes of running it.
 
The results have excellent so far. It is cooling much better than before with the R134. After several weeks, the pressure on the low side was still the same (38psi) and I have not noticed any fall off in the cooling so far. Also, Duracool has a stench so that you can detect any leaking gas and I was happy to discover that there is no leak or smell from the evaporator, so it turns out that I did not need to replace the evaporator core (saved $1,000). YMMV.

#237 of 510 Re: A/C Leak on passenger side [kodysgrandma1] by wschiller

Jul 16, 2008 (10:28 pm)

Replying to: kodysgrandma1 (Jul 14, 2008 1:15 pm)
Hi Kodysgrandma1:
 
I have the same problem with a 98 Jeep GC. The problem is the evaporator drain line is plugged with rotted leave matter and such. I can not find the drain hose or evaporator outlet where it penetrates the firewall. This leads me to believe that we are dealing with a double panel situation and the a/c evaporator drains between them to the ground.
 
I managed to clear my line for about a day by removing the blower motor and snaking a small rubber tube down into the evaporator drain area. It worked fine for about two days then it plugged up again because of stuff that has accumulated in the evaporator housing.
 
You will notice that the condensate water is coming out of your floor vent in front of the counsul. Also, because the drain line is plugged, condensate forms on the outside of the a/c plenum unit under the glove box and drips down into the passanger side footwell.
 
I have talked to several shops about this problem and they all had the same answer: Remove the entire A/C unit from under the instrument panel, disassemble it, clean it and re-install it. This entails allot of work including removing the entire instrument panel, etc. This is not the answer that I was looking for so I intend to drill a hole in the evaporator drain area, drain it, try to clear it with a wire or compressed air and re-seal it. If it works, I will post it.
 
Good Luck,
 
wschiller

#239 of 510 Re: A/C Leak on passenger side [wschiller] by kodysgrandma1

Jul 17, 2008 (6:20 am)

Replying to: wschiller (Jul 16, 2008 10:28 pm)
Thanks wsciller. That's what we have paid for 3 times so far and I really didn't want to do it again. Another dealer give me the "well we don't know how well it was done" story when asking why it wasn't a permanent cure. Says if you park under trees the wind will force the trash down. Now if trash wasn't forced down for the first 8 years why don't I get 8 again after it's "fixed"? Hmmm What broke to allow the trash down there, why isn't there a better fix etc. etc.? If your idea works perhpas we can find someone to try it for us. At 70 we're not about to- husband has heart and diabetes problems, I have artificial hip and 2 artificial knees. Crawing under cars sort of out of the question.

Messages Page 24 of 51

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