How do you change an AC condenser on a Jeep Grand Cherokee limited 1993?

Answer 1

There are lots that have been written in this forum as well as others concerning this sticky problem. I really urge you to get as much advice from these sources and also take your vehicle to a reputable garage that specializes in automotive AC/Heating issues and if you want the highest possible quote to take it to the dealer.

First, I guess, I'd have to wonder what makes you believe that you need to change out the condenser in the first place.... Does your vehicle leak water onto the floorboard on the passenger side? Does it run cold for a very short while and then seem to quit putting out cold air but the fan still works? Does it put out cold air from one side but not the other? All of these questions are symptoms of a defective AC unit in your Jeep but not all would point to the same issue and not all would suggest that a condenser (or evaporator) is the problem. Unfortunately however very few of these things can be addressed without also being able to address the other issues. Here is why:

Jeep engineered the AC unit to be accessable for repair only if you are willing to totally remove the dashboard, and console. I have to assume that this wasnt done in a spirit of "let's charge them huge amounts when this stupid thing goes bad" but that's basically what happened. There are several kinda half-assed fixes and one of them seems to be an actual Jeep memo to the mechanics. More on that in a sec.

See, the problem is that the Jeep is a unibody car and the condenser unit does not drain humidity (as water) from the system via a hose to the ground but rather the condensate is collected and goes into a closed frame rail that drains then to the middle of the car. This is a system that gets clogged up in EVERY AC unit alive be it your house central air, your window AC unit or your car. Lots of vehicles have a rubber hose hanging down that can be blown out with air pressure and then it drains ok and you're basically good to go for another year. Some vehicles, such as older pickups even have clean outs that provide access to the Condenser. Not so with the Jeep Grand Cherokee in any form. The condenser unit is down at the floorboard level on the passenger side, is a totally closed system, and lives half in the engine compartment and half in the human side down low around the floorboard and pretty much covered up with the carpet. When this box gets filled up with water because it can't drain, the Cold Goodness stops and becomes a smelly, wet problem.

Now, I have a bulletin that would appear to be from Jeep to their mechanics that suggests drilling a hole and sticking a wire in there to hopefully clean out the drain hole. The bulletin suggests a billing time frame and a part number that might be available after you've drilled the hole. I make no claim that this is an official Jeep document. That bulletin can be found here with some sketchy diagrams included:

http://home.sc.rr.com/janet/TSB/24-06-96.htm

I've also read several shortcuts that include the same kind of fix.....but those are not valid links anymore due to one reason or another and I've deleted them. These were folk that had the same AC problem and fixed it creatively instead of paying the dealer to take out the dash and do it right.

Finally, and this is what I've learned from talking to reputable AC mechanics as well as a dealer mechanic that asked to remain anonymous.....

Jeep engineered this AC system into the smallest possible of places and therefore its unusually hard to get to. In fact if your condensor or heat exchanger were to develop leaks then you absolutely have to completely remove the dash and console in order to get to it. This would be a two day project probably and the cost will be significantly over $1000.00 dollars. I suspect that the labor alone would be close to $1000.00. Once the dash is apart and assuming that you want to continue to drive the vehicle it might be a good idea to replace other things that require the dash to be taken apart. The condenser box is lined with a very thin piece of styrofoam. This piece of foam disintegrates in a very short period of time and causes chunks of styrofoam to become trapped in the ductwork leading to the dash and the underseat vents. You may have already seen what looks like pieces of styrofoam cup inside the vents? This material is not bonded to the inside of the condenser box and its purpose is to prevent condensation on the outside of the box in the passenger front floorboard so that water drops dont drip on your passengers feet. When it deteriorates after a couple years it clogs all those fancy automatic blend doors and restricts the air flow to the human side of the car. It also blocks the drain where the water goes and where you cant get to to blow it out. Pretty neat engineering trick by Jeep eh? So, what you are left doing is fourfold: Sell the vehicle (and a 93 is probably not worth the cost of the "correct" repair), do a half assed job by drilling holes, hunting around with a coathanger wire (and hoping you don't damage the A-Frame in the process of drilling and poking) and hoping for the best, paying someone big money to do it yourself (I'm also including a link with unbelieveably detailed directions for doing the dash removal yourself) or just living without AC.

So far I've been living without AC and am dedicated to one of the other 3 options this summer.....Remember, the AC is NOT the only poorly engineered systems on these vehicles and things could be worse !!!

Sorry for the long rambling answer.....the following is a URL that gives additonal info or validates what I've written. You can also find more info by seaching the internet. Please, if you find an easier answer to this send me a message !!!

Good luck !!!

http://www.wjjeeps.com/hvac_ip_remove.htm

(while this site is for Jeeps of a later model year than your 93 and my 95, my anonymous Jeep mechanic assures me that the info is still pretty valid because, hey, if you create a really nice boondoggle of a repair problem why change it in later years to make things easier for us owners of older cars?)