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[J22P]

Hello all

I'm new here, hope someone can help. Aircon on my '98 Cherokee Limited 4.0 packed up, the "specialists" say compressor has gone. They want £ hundreds to replace, and will then be able to check out rest of system. More £ hundreds if other faults found.

Where can I get a recon or working used compressor/clutch unit from to see if system then works when recharged? Or is there a UK source who can recon existing unit? I see there are loads of choices from USA, cheapest new being Replacement REPD191107 @ $136

Any pitfalls following this path? My local mechanic is happy to fit the unit, then off to Kwik Fit for recharge, their machine does a system analysis at same time.

Thanks

[Dave69]

ebay is your best option but there are obviously no guarantees with those.

just take it to kwick fit as they were doing a good deal of if it doesn't work then no fee. They will only tell you what the machine tells them so no point arguing with them as they just might not understand

be warey as they wouldn't even check the tracking of the front wheels of my jeep as its a 4wd and they can't measure 4wd. spent ten mins arguing that one.

[JamesH]

The pulley bearing is the bit of the compressor which packs up 9 times out of 10. Some air-con people seems to blame the compressor when something else is wrong with the system - just had this with my Dad's Jeep and it only had a new compressor about 2 years ago for £££. When I had my compressor changed it cost about £600 all in (incl. labour - I don't do air-con repairs).

Kwik fit are very good at hooking the air-con up to a machine and reading what messages the machine tells them. It can detect leaks and other stuff and will let you know where to start looking. If you just go in and ask for an air-con re-gas they will hook you up and if it doesn't work they will read you the errors found and not charge because they haven't successfully re-charged your air-con. Did this recently on a Golf and was advised to come back in the week when the trained air-con man was in. He repeated the process and all was good, he even did me an ECU diagnostic to try a new bit of kit for free while I was waiting.

[The Transporter]

Hello, Auto Air Gloucester are listing a brand new compressor and clutch for £164+VAT but depending on how your compressor has failed may require more work... If the guts of the compressor have failed, then there is a fair chance that bits of metal from the compressor have been passed round the system. It would be best to strip the system down, flush out the pipework/ condenser & evaporator and rebuild the system with a new accumulator, orifice tube and lubricant... If all this is done then £6-700 is a fair price for doing the job right... Most mechanics will just bang on a new compressor and hope for the best. Also bear in mind that your car is a few years old now and corrosion will have started eating the "Springlock" connectors so pipework repairs may be on the cards too. They had corroded on my '99 cherry and I had to cut them out and fabricate new pipework to fit the new condenser (Auto Air Gloucester's condensers are cheap but abysmal and don't fit) Hope this helps..

[tim_aka_tim]

Pointless spending hundreds on a car worth £1.38. Buy an aircon delete pulley instead. OK, you'll
lose your aircon, but for two days a year, you could just be hot.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1431776&parttype=10329 less than
53 quid delivered.

[Nosebolt]

 

the man talks sense

[willo]

Hello, Auto Air Gloucester are listing a brand new compressor and clutch for £164+VAT but depending on how your compressor has failed may require more work... If the guts of the compressor have failed, then there is a fair chance that bits of metal from the compressor have been passed round the system. It would be best to strip the system down, flush out the pipework/ condenser & evaporator and rebuild the system with a new accumulator, orifice tube and lubricant... If all this is done then £6-700 is a fair price for doing the job right... Most mechanics will just bang on a new compressor and hope for the best. Also bear in mind that your car is a few years old now and corrosion will have started eating the "Springlock" connectors so pipework repairs may be on the cards too. They had corroded on my '99 cherry and I had to cut them out and fabricate new pipework to fit the new condenser (Auto Air Gloucester's condensers are cheap but abysmal and don't fit) Hope this helps..

What are you gonna flush it out with?? R11??

On a serious note, if the compressor has failed there should be no reason why the system can't be pressure tested, at least that way you can decide whether its worth replacing compressor and leaking pipework, (if it leaks) or be done with it as TAT suggests

[Mike Pavelin]

Hello, Auto Air Gloucester are listing a brand new compressor and clutch for £164+VAT but depending on how your compressor has failed may require more work... If the guts of the compressor have failed, then there is a fair chance that bits of metal from the compressor have been passed round the system. It would be best to strip the system down, flush out the pipework/ condenser & evaporator and rebuild the system with a new accumulator, orifice tube and lubricant... If all this is done then £6-700 is a fair price for doing the job right... Most mechanics will just bang on a new compressor and hope for the best. Also bear in mind that your car is a few years old now and corrosion will have started eating the "Springlock" connectors so pipework repairs may be on the cards too. They had corroded on my '99 cherry and I had to cut them out and fabricate new pipework to fit the new condenser (Auto Air Gloucester's condensers are cheap but abysmal and don't fit) Hope this helps..

What are you gonna flush it out with?? R11??

On a serious note, if the compressor has failed there should be no reason why the system can't be pressure tested, at least that way you can decide whether its worth replacing compressor and leaking pipework, (if it leaks) or be done with it as TAT suggests

Yes, the system is flushed with clean refrigerant through a flushing filter.

[willo]

Hello, Auto Air Gloucester are listing a brand new compressor and clutch for £164+VAT but depending on how your compressor has failed may require more work... If the guts of the compressor have failed, then there is a fair chance that bits of metal from the compressor have been passed round the system. It would be best to strip the system down, flush out the pipework/ condenser & evaporator and rebuild the system with a new accumulator, orifice tube and lubricant... If all this is done then £6-700 is a fair price for doing the job right... Most mechanics will just bang on a new compressor and hope for the best. Also bear in mind that your car is a few years old now and corrosion will have started eating the "Springlock" connectors so pipework repairs may be on the cards too. They had corroded on my '99 cherry and I had to cut them out and fabricate new pipework to fit the new condenser (Auto Air Gloucester's condensers are cheap but abysmal and don't fit) Hope this helps..

What are you gonna flush it out with?? R11??

On a serious note, if the compressor has failed there should be no reason why the system can't be pressure tested, at least that way you can decide whether its worth replacing compressor and leaking pipework, (if it leaks) or be done with it as TAT suggests

Yes, the system is flushed with clean refrigerant through a flushing filter.

Maybe so, but perhaps not R11 or you may find the ozone depletion police are chasing you  .

On that note its worth knowing what refrigerant was used in a 98 xj A/c unit as you may find its obsolete and therefore really not worth replacing the unit at all

[MOCAJ]

it has to be replaced with "a good gas" anyways, not sure what is in the systems but r12 and 22 are not allowed after 2014

you can still use it now but no new stuff available so pricey

just doing this excersise at work on office air con

[willo]

it has to be replaced with "a good gas" anyways, not sure what is in the systems but r12 and 22 are not allowed after 2014

you can still use it now but no new stuff available so pricey

just doing this excersise at work on office air con

Rip it out and fit new, I know just the people to do it 

[MOCAJ]

as tim says tho, is it worth it on a truck worth nowt

[The Transporter]

Blimey! It's been years since I've seen R11 which is a shame really, it did a really good job. Normally If I was flushing an R12 system then I would use a solvent brakes parts cleaner to flush out the old mineral lubricant (Cars changed around 1992-1993, My K plater was probably the last Jeep to use it. After that all cars used R134a with a PAG lubricant) but for R134a I built a closed loop flushing machine from an old recycling machine that flushes the components with liquid R134a and called it the Crapzapper 2000.

R12 systems are simple to convert to R134a but at the age of the cars, as has been said, you have to really love your car to spend that kind of cash on it, though another way of looking at it could be that older cars may be worth while preserving as they are pretty much the last cars that we can maintain ourselves without too much specialist equipment...

[Mike Pavelin]

A '98 will be R134a for sure.

[Dave69]

look at the charge ports, if they look like car tyre valves then it's not R134

[The Transporter]

Honest, it is R134a.... R12 had been long discontinued by '98