Evaporator replacement in Wrangler TJ
Richard J Kinch
I was able to get the parts as a special order from NAPA. Perhaps they are
hard to find because relatively few TJs have air conditioning? The
relevant parts are as follows:
Evaporator: "Factory Air" brand P/N 54188, sold as NAPA P/N 288361, $135.
This part has the right fittings and bulk size, but the top and bottom of
the core do not have the slight notching of the OEM part. To adapt the new
part to fit, I had to take an Exacto knife to the old foam carrier and
shave off a bit here and there.
Accumulator/drier: "Factory Air" brand P/N 33570, sold as NAPA P/N 408570,
$64. This is not strictly necessary, but a good practice to get new
dessicant after a gross leak admits any humidity into the system.
O-rings: the spring lock (springlock) fittings are standard sizes #8 (1/2
inch) and #10 (5/8 inch). The green Viton rubber orings (suitable for
R134a refrigerant and oil, don't use the common buna-n/nitrile rubber) are
NAPA P/N 407008 and P/N 407010 respectively. I believe these are also
known as AS568A standard sizes -012 (3/8 ID, 1/2 OD) and -014 (1/2 ID, 5/8
OD) in the nominal 1/16 inch cross-section (actual 0.070 inch) series. Most
things in the TJ are metric, but A/C fittings seem to have retained the
fractional inch sizes. These orings are a few cents each in bulk (Enco
240-2551 and 240-2553), but retail at the parts counter you pay 60 cents or
so. You need two for each springlock fitting. My caliper showed that the
4-year-old orings were significantly swollen, so you might as well replace
'em while things are apart.
Springlock disassembly tool: Lisle Corp set P/N 37000 "AC/Fuel Line
Disconnect Set" from Pep Boys. For some reason the nominal tool sizes that
worked were one step higher, that is, I used the 5/8 tool on the 1/2
fitting, and the 3/4 tool on the 5/8 fitting. As noted earlier, a cut and
curled segment of 8-inch nylon cable tie will improvise this tool. I also
note that my TJ has white plastic rings hanging loose on the tubing near
these fittings, presumably to use to disconnect them; however I wasn't able
to get these to work as they are pretty flimsy.
Garter springs from springlock fittings: I managed to not damage any of
these in disassembly, but it is easy to do so. The new accumulator has new
ones in the male fittings, so you end up with a couple of spares that way.
Oil: PAG 150, NAPA P/N 409501, $10/8 oz. Evap and accum replacement take a
nominal 4 and 2 fluid oz respectively of PAG oil make-up.
I used standard gauges, vacuum pump, and R134a to evacuate and recharge the
system after the replacement parts were in.
The "Factory Air" (ugh! what a name!) brand of aftermarket parts is made by
Four Seasons, Inc., a division of Standard Motor Products. As far as I
could find this is the only aftermarket version of the TJ's A/C evaporator.
Autozone also carried this part at a slightly higher price. The Jeep
dealer price on this part was over 3 times the aftermarket version price.
I also had several cross-references to a Factory Air P/N 54192 evaporator.
That may be an error, or it may be an exact fit; I couldn't get
specifications or a sample to know for sure.
Richard Kinch
http://www.truetex.com