older jeep air conditioning

rrhobbs

New member
I have an 88 Cherokee Pioneer 4wd 5 speed man 4.0 litre with about 190k miles.

I dont drive much and love the truck, which runs good (I am pretty dilligent about keeping the oil changed and keeping the other fluids checked) and rather than get under a heap of new car payments I determined to stick with the old hoss for the long run, got it painted and had several other sundry cosmetic repairs made last year. The new coat of Colorado Red paint looks great!

One problem I put off till now to deal with is the air conditioning, which is pretty non functional that is to say it blows but doesnt blow cold. With the warm weather upon us it is going to need to be dealt with.

My mechanic and I put freon in the system a few years back and it helped for a little while but it just only blows ambient temp air at this point. The heater works great! ;-)

Wondering what the possible resolution scenario(s) might be and the possible costs. I was googling around on the subject and saw bits about a current technology retrofit was wiondering what the options and costs might be.

Another annoyance with this particular truck is that it tends to ruin clutch/master cylinders pretty fast. The explanation that my mechanic has is that somehow this model's floorboard firewalls were not constructed heaviliy enough (the clutch shaft (?) (from the pedal to the rest of the clutch assembly) runs thru this and the firewall has deformed with high mileage and use. This presumably causes the shaft to enter the master cylinder at an incorrect angle and wears out the master faster. As this happens particulate matter mixes with the clutch fluid and excaserbates the problem, ruining the slave in the process. On this model's transmission the slave is located inside the bell housing, which has to be removed to replace the slave. OUCH!

I have gotten as much as 4 years use and as little as two years use out of the couple of replacements we have done over the years. The mfr replacement parts are aluminum but we have been using a steel constructed master the past few times and it seems to last longer.

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas about a cost efficient hopefully permanent solution for this issue?

Another minor problem that wont seem to go away is anti pollution system oil blow-by. Just about everytime I replace the engine oil I have the air filter replaced because it gets all gooped up with oil. We have had the black plastic tube assembly that sits on top of the engine replaced but this problem still seems to be present. It doesnt seem to affect the overall wel being of the truck in any major way but it is annoying.

Thanks for any help

RH in NJ
 

About the AC, you likely have a leak which should be detected if pressure tested. If not, they can put a dye in the freon when you have it refilled again to help you find the leak. Hopefully it is not the evaporater. My evaporator has a very slow leak, and a recharge only lasted about 4 weeks. If pressure holds when tested and you then still lose freaon over time I would suspect the evaporater, which (at least on mine) would require removing the entire dashboard, which is why mine is still broke :(
 
Those early XJ A/C compressors were tough, but the front seals leaked in them with regularity. I took mine off and had a new front seal put in and vacuumed out the system, checked for leaks and Bob's your uncle! 40 degree air!

TC is right, you must find the leak, repair it, and evacuate and recharge the system.
If the system has been down for a few years, it might not be a bad idea to replace the reciever dryer. Have you converted the 88's orginal R-12 over to R-134A yet? If not, that will be prudent also.

I was ASE certifed A/C for over ten years, so shoot me a pm, if I can help.

90
 
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