cjlorenz81

Ok, so I noticed a couple weeks ago (here in Florida) that my AC was no longer blowing cold. Hooked up manifolds and took a reading of absolute 0! Lol didn't need to tell me that it was empty at that point. Went ahead and put it on a vacuum to clear it out, and put in fresh R134a, well all seemed to go good. Didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, went to go to work the next day and found that the AC was not blowing cold any longer, luke warm at best. Went on to work, came home (windows down because NO AC AT ALL), ran a can through with UV Dye, parked up under the oak trees and let it run night to fall to come closer. Hit the entire engine bay with UV flash light, did not see any green/yellow sprays, drips or splatters. I pulled the glove compartment off and the floor vent tube by the ac controls... Couldn't really see back there but looks like it may have leaked back in there.

But my question is, if it was leaking back in there, it is most like the evaporator core I would think, correct? IF so, is there an easy way to get to it and replace it?

resharp001

If it is the evap core, no. in fact, @icrashbikes has a thread on here with that exact issue and has torn out the entire dash to get to it. you can scroll down through this thread some to see the gory details.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-g...-build-359192/

condenser is easy to inspect on that '08? thinking you have no tranny cooler on that year. for it to have leaked out that fast it sure seems like you'd see a mess of oil and dye somewhere. **sorry, just reread the original post and see you said it looks like it might have leaked back by the evap**

cjlorenz81

Yea the condenser seems to be fine. No oil/dye on the ground where I park at nor where I parked at when refilling and checking. I had ran a search on the forum and missed that re-build. Thanks for pointing it out, going to read through it... I may actually just go without AC, sucks down here in Central florida, but gotta do what ya gotta do. At least once the rain season stops, I'll be able to go topless and doorless.

Jay2013jk

Understand your pain. The JKU, 2013, in shop (my 5 star Jeep Dealership) now for Evaporator replace. Did find on Summit Racing a Crown Automotive unit for $130 and spoke with the tech dept.. no returns or failure notices over the past 2 years.. That is what is going in this week.. I estimate total $$ to be around $1K. Have other transport so told them to take as much time as needed. Did this as we are not getting rid of this ride ever.

resharp001

having a '13 myself, this is not the type of report i like to see

icrashbikes

I wonder.. If you found dye on the inside of the firewall, there's really not much that can make that happen. The evap core is in there, but it sits in a housing that drains out of the cabin.






It does look possible for the expansion valve to leak and have fluid drip down the lines into the dash. This is the setup at the back of the dash:



That foam seal blocks off the AC line firewall pass-thru but there's no real seal on the lines themselves behind the expansion valve, just a plastic clamp. There are four seals in that expansion valve block that could go bad, two in the rear where a drip might roll down the lines, the back side of the HVAC housing and off the lower vents. Might be worth changing those seals out just to see. The expansion valve is accessible through the engine bay and it's like $20 with new seals so it's not a huge investment to rule it out.