A/C Repair...
 

This isn't a question; just a vent as much as anything.

For as long as I've owned this truck (12 years), I've had to recharge the AC every few years. They never found any kind of leak. The last time this was done was two years ago, the first Summer after moving to Arizona.

This year, I'm planning a long trip up to Colorado over Labor Day Weekend. A few days ago, the AC crapped out again. Hoping it was just another recharge, I put it in the shop. Turns out the fan clutch had gone out. That's a $400 part. In the end, I spent $648 to get it fixed. I know I could have done it cheaper, but I didn't have the time. The parts from Rock Auto were less than half what the repair shop charged me.

It could have been worse. They told me that often times when the fan clutch goes out, it damages the compressor. If it had needed a compressor, I was looking at $1700 total. That would include the fan clutch, compressor, dryer, tube, condenser, etc. I'm soooo glad it wasn't that.

I also gathered that installing the fan clutch was a pain in the butt. I think it took their guy 2-1/2 hours to do the job.

I feel your pain with expensive repairs. Hopefully I can make you feel just a tiny bit better, though. I believe the consensus on this forum is that you have to get the Mopar fan clutch and pay the big bucks for this part to function correctly. I remember a few threads here where people installed a cheaper (very tempting!) aftermarket clutch and it never worked right.

It's funny, my fan clutch needs repair too and I just got a Mopar one from RockAuto: $430 ouch! The original one is slowly getting stiffer and it's always running too fast, so at least the AC works okay.

Hmm. I'm not actually sure they used the MOPAR one; I seem to recall them saying it was backordered... but the one they used was still $400. Upside is I have a 2-year, 24k warranty on all this, so if it has issues, I won't have to worry about paying a second time.

The thing I've noticed so far in the roughly two miles I've driven is that the fan is noisier... like it was on my 2003 or 2001 before it. I have a 1700-mile trip coming up starting later today, so we'll see how it does.

I'll have to check the paperwork when I get home and see what they used.

Thanks for the info though.. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Really? Sorry about running my mouth; looks like I stepped in it! When I saw $400 in your post, I assumed this meant an OEM part. Assuming gets you every time![duhhh]
It's good to hear you've got a warranty on the part, though.

And about the A/C recharge, it's the same here. Don't see how it helps us, but I thought I read that the refrigerant pressure spikes after the engine is turned off, which causes a safety valve somewhere to let a little refrigerant out now and then. Just another thing I read here but only vaguely remember.

If you have to add, there's a leak. On these trucks it's usually the evaporator core. You can't see it without removing it. Pressure does go up on the low side when the ac is turned off, but not to a level to make any blow out. It's just the high and low side equalizing. High goes down while low goes up. My bet is that your issue is till not fixed.

You may be right, but I'm in no mood to pull the dash until there's a good reason to do so. Once I do, while I'm in there, I'll do the evap core, heater core, and replace all the blend doors with metal ones and new motors, etc.

I need to do that on my 2002 Grand Cherokee sometime this fall... one dash pull in a calendar year is enough for me. :)

Rob

I'm in the same boat. Always a slow leak, luckily it's so slow I only have to top off once a year. They put dye in last summer, so this summer they found it was a leak in the evap core. $1700 to replace it, but they said they would just recharge since it's slow. I'll plan to do the evap core when it's cooler out since the dash is going to fall to piece and need replacement as well. Going to try to redo all the doors while it's out since the blend door has been flaky and now the mode door doesn't always want to move.