300M ac

Last year we gave my in-laws our 300M. My wife is visiting them and reports
ac has finally failed on the 1999. I assume it is the notorious evaporator.
Any idea the approximate cost of repair? Thanks.

 

By the way, any good ac shops near Ocala Florida?

 

On second generation LH cars it is also common for the AC suction line
to fail -- it rusts/rots through where it runs along the rail. You can
check it visually to see if there is any oily build up on it... It is
my understanding that the evaporator issue has been addressed to some
extent on the second generation of LH vehicles.


The line in question runs from the expansion valve to the compressor.
It is fairly easy to replace and does not require taking out the dash
as it is entirely an under-the-hood job. You just need to take off the
windshield wiper arms, cowl covers and the bar that spans two strut
towers. Then you just need to remove air-filter housing and the
related ductwork that runs to the throttle body and you are ready to
replace the line (provided that the system has been evacuated). Should
take a shop about an hour to two hours of labor to do that... The
failure of the suction line is apparently very common.


The evaporator replacement is a lot trickier as it involves removing
the dashboard in addition to performing the tasks listed above as well
as draining your car's cooling system. So it will probably take the
shop 7-10 hours to do that. You are probably looking for $500-900 in
labor for this.

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks.

 

What is your source for that? The evaporator failure is very common on
the 2nd gen. LH's - that's clear from reading the 300M Club and
www.dodgeintrepid.net forums.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Just cracked 20,000 miles on my wifes 2000 3ooM.
Why does the condensor fail ? poor design ?

The car has spent most of its life in the garage, especially in the
winter.
Every six months or so I have to wipe off a white haze on the vinyl
dash with cleaner.
I've noticed alot of 3ooM's left outdoors seem to have tears and cracks
in the vinyl dash around the passenger side air bag.
|

 

BTW, www.300mclub.com for some reasonably active forums, and good
information.

Clint

 

It's the evaporator (the coils under the dash) that frequently fails -
not the condensor (the coils in front of the radiator). If it fails
often, by definition, it would be due to poor design, though I don't
know the mechanism of failure. I think someone on the 300M forums who
had seen one after removal speculated that it was due to moisture
collecting at the bottom and never drying out and thus corroding over
time - sounds credible to me. I'll be looking at mine sometime soon - I
have the new parts sitting in a box in my living room floor to go into
my '99 Concorde.

I haven't heard that it was due to them being left out doors, but it has
been discussed a lot on the 300M Club forums
(http://300mclub.org/forums/index.php?sid=426876de8fc01e7e267dc347d2afee34)
and it is understood there that the grooves molded into the hidden side
of the dash cover to provide the tear lines for when the passenger bag
deploys were made too deep by the vendor, leaving the tear lines too
weak so that they split under normal use. Unfortunately Chrysler does
not acknowledge what is clearly a manufacturing defect, but that habit
appears to plague many car manufacturers these days.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that they redesigned
evaporators slightly since they extended warrantly (abeit not in a
very useful fashion) on the first gen LH cars. Here in the rust belt,
the suction lines fail usually within 3-4 years -- due to the salt and
other road junk accumulating in the cavity under the suction line
where it runs along the rail. A while back, I was trying to figure out
what would be the likely causes of the AC failure in second generation
LH cars, as I was debating if it was worthwhile to replace our first
gen LH vehicles with the newer (used) second gen LHs, having
experienced the joy of evap failures on the first gen LHs. So, I just
drove around 4-5 dealerships in the area and chatted with techs --
they all seemed to indicate that suction lines were the primary
culprits, followed by evaps and/or fluid lines. So I also called
around parts departments of the dealerships to see what they had in
stock... They all had suction lines in stock, but none of them were
stocking evaps (may be though this was due to the fact that it would
be an overnight job anyways, and the part could be ordered).

Of the three LH cars that I have around, on two suction lines were
already replaced before I bought them (I pulled service history from
the dealership where the previous owner used to take them in an effort
to figure out whether the timing belts were replaced), no evap
failures thus far, though the oldest one is a 2000.

So, I guess, I do not have a good source, just more of a hunch...


Alex

 

Hmmm - I wonder where you learned about that? LOL!

So is your M still doing well after the repair?

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Don't ask... My M has kind of a lemony scent...

Just got it back from the shop. It's leaking coolant from the thermostat
housing area. The shop says they weren't playing in that area at all, so
they're not responsible (timing belt and #5 piston side head gasket
replacement). And I had the air conditioner re-charged since it's supposed
to get up to 30 degrees here for the first time this year (80+) and I was
just getting "cool" air, not cold. I'm hoping the evaporator isn't on the
way out, but the way things are going, who knows. If it is the evaporator,
I'll probably try some form of sealant first, then try finding a wrecker
version of the evaporator.

Clint

 

Would not risk it with a junk yard part for this one -- new part is
around $110USD online, you can probably get it at an autoparts store
for $150-170 USD. Given the labor charge for the job, it is well worth
it to use a KNOWN GOOD PART.

Just 2 cents worth of advice....

Alex

 

Re: Coolant leak -- there is a bleeder screw for the coolant system
that the shop HAD TO TOUCH in the thermostat housing area when they
were refilling it with coolant (otherwise you would wind up with an
airpocket in the system and the car would be overheating). Make sure
that it is not leaking from the screw...

Alex

 

Sorry, I didn't post a complete history... About two weeks ago, I blew the
head gasket on the car, after owning it for only a month. So when I said
the shop said they weren't in that area, it was in reference to the head
gasket work, not the refilling of the a/c.

Clint

 

Condensor? I've never heard of the condensor failing. Evaporator-
definitely and you could argue its a design problem, but its more a
materials problem in that carmakers have switched to aluminum
evaporators for R-134a systems, and they corrode more easily than the
old brass/copper cores.

Condensors fail when small rocks punch holes in them, and the low nose
of the LH cars and open intake below the bumper tend to increase the
odds of that happening. I'm utterly amazed that our LH has gone 247,000
miles *without* catching a rock in just the wrong place. The lower 1/3
of the evaporator looks battered to hell, but its still intact.

 

^^^^^^^^

I think you meant condenser, but typed evaporator! You've had very good
luck with the AC on that vehicle.

Bob

 

Not so. The thermostat is not where you think it is. The thermostat is
down low on the driver's side of the engine. The bleeder you're talking
about *is* on top front of the engine - right where the thermostat
traditionally is - but *NOT* on these engines. However - you are
correct about checking the bleeder screw for not leaking.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Ok but the bleeder screw could have been leaking for 2 weeks and you might
not have noticed. Still something to check.

 

Now he's got you doing it!

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Thank you Bill,

I just *ASSUMED* that it would be there -- thank you for pointing it
out -- assumptions are a dangerous thing...

Take care,

Alex