Looks like the stuff they use on the vapor liner inside the door panels? kind of like sticky black snot, to be disgustingly descriptive.

 

Well, I'm now in the land of reassembly, so it won't be THAT much longer I think before the D is on the road again finally. Had to hose all the stop leak gunk out of the bottom of the housing, that stuff was nasty. I got the heater core and evaporator coil installed last night, along with resealing the housing cover and getting all those screws back in. As far as sealant, I used the Permatex Ultra Black RTV sealant that's OEM specified, and it worked great. I checked on the texture this morning and its just like the stuff that was on it before. I'd recommend getting the bigger caulk can size of the sealant if you have to reseal your box. Much easier than trying to work with a squeeze tube of RTV, the caulk gun just made it a breeze to work with

 

FINISHED!

Well guys, its no longer a work in progress. The D is back on the road!! I can't believe everything works after this long, agonizing process :bugeyed: I have a total time of about 21 hours into the project at this point. After sitting a total of a month, the D idled a little rough the first few minutes, and had quite a bit of nasty smelling steam under the hood from the coolant I had spilled from taking off the heater hoses.

When I get time, I plan on writing up a how-to guide to the best of my abilities for anybody else that has to tackle this beast of a problem. I'm just so happy that it's all back together now, and not even a SINGLE screw, nut, or bolt leftover on the installation :cheesy:

All that's left now's to replace the lost refridgerant oil with some PAG 100 oil, evacuate the A/C system, and have it recharged for HOPEFULLY some nice, cool air again

wayra2, did you ever get you heater controls etc to work? If not, I still have the diagrams I drew up that specified which colored hoses connected where on the actuators if you need them

 

Oops!! missed page two? :doh:

 

I'm going to do this in the coming weekend, my heatercore and evaporator are broken I'm pretty sure, steam all over windows that doesn't go away and the heat doesn't work. and smell of rotten fish (nasty crotch) which equall antifreez burning. so yes time to replace parts for $172 that people want over a grand to install.

any tips for me :?)

 

Patience

All I can say is good luck and Patience Grasshopper!
You're about to embark on a very difficult quest
Steve
DOC Pres

 

I'd say one of the major reasons it works is because of your great education at VT?ahah Just thought I'd congratulate you on a job well done?and Go HOKIES

 

I don't think flushing after the new evap is in is wise. After all you'll just be forcing crap into the new unit IMHO. However once you've used stop leak you need to flush the system out and you need a pro system (you can rent them I believe but don't tell them you have stop leak in as it'll gum the system up.)

Most dyes are usually purple.

FWIW I'll be doing what you went through on the 11th on the wife's 300M - ain't looking forward to it. 35k miles and the A/C (including compressor) blown?

greg

 

Adde,
Good luck bud, if you need any info on it, let me know. I'll say that doing it all in one weekend will be extreme. It took me a month from start to finish at my own pace. But with confidence and a lot of will it can be done

Briko,
Yea, I think the education did help some actually. I don't know why, but I think it was the engineering way of thought that helped me through it. I swear, I think somehow they brainwashed me into thinking like they do amongst the 4 years I spent there hehehe.

Greg,
FWIW, I didn't flush my system, just pulled vacuum on it once I got it all back together. And honestly, when I looked at the A/C lines, they were dry except for thin layers of the green refridgerant oil. I'm wondering if when I had that leak, the hole was so big that every bit of that stop leak went out the hole or was still in the dead evaporator core. But still haven't had any problems, and have used the A/C off and on ever since I fixed it. Good luck on the 300M. Don't know if its as bad as a Durango on dash removal etc, but knowing Dodge, it probably is hehehe.

 

My mistake, I must have read it wrong. Sure once you put it back together you need to draw a vacuum in the system before pressurizing it. This ensures you have a good seal all around and allows for the input of the refrigerant. I assume you checked both pressure and quantity of refrigerant with the 3 nozzle set-up and not the cheap A/C gauge they sell you.

As for the 300M, I'm planning 8 hours and the car ain't even 5 years old :wall:

greg

 

Oh yeah, I had the super expensive $100+ triple hose setup, which was very nice. I pulled vacuum on it and let the system set for an hour, just to make sure that nothing leaked down at all.

I can't believe the A/C on the 300M went out that fast, that's insane! If you can get it finished in 8 hours, you deserve a pat on the back. I'll say that the first 16 hours was tearing mine apart, and only 5 hours to put it all back together. I guess once you know how it comes apart, its easy to figure out how it goes back on.

 

Heater core

Let's hope the 300m isn't like the Dodge Stealth. I couldn't keep a system in that beast for more than a year. I owned one for 7 years, as I loved the way it drove and handled. But I had to rebuild the entire A/C system every year. Everything failed in the A/C system. Too expensive to keep.

 

Which is why you should have bought the Mitsubishi 3000GT AWD version :wall:

The 8 hours is counting on a friend of mine who has an A/C shop

But yes, it's got 35k miles and as soon as this is finished I'm gonna look for something else for the wife. Now if I can convince her that she'd look good in the Ford GT40?

greg

 

I believe my evaporator is leaking too. my brother is a mechanic but he stays so busy I don't know if he'll ever be able to do it.

anyway I was reading this and I too when the AC is filled and leaks has a green antifreeze look leaking. it's not antifreeze though. wondering if there was a leak before I owned it and someone used stop leak.

I don't know if you have a single post or email that you can send to help someone out to make this fix go smoother please send it my way.

thanks

 

Someone put in leak detecting Dye
That system has leaked for a while
Steve
DOC Pres

 

That green stuff is uv dye,most of the D,s came from the factory with that in there so the dealers could check for leaks. Found out yesterday my evap went bad,so much for my vacation next week. :wall:

 

I don't believe that most D's came with that
I have never seen it in my system
Steve
DOC Pres

 

I don't know how many Dakotas or Durangos you have worked on since they were sold new,but I have repaired a sizable amount,some with less than 1000 miles and I'd say about 85 TO 95% had the UV green in the A/C system. 9 out of 10 times on a front impact you have to at least replace the condenser. May depend on the service zone they were sold in?? :?

 

I have only had mine and 1 other 01 apart and an 00 Not saying you're wrong but normally leak detectant becomes acidic (at least it does in Res Hvac systems) after time so it'll become detrimental to the system.
I Know the sytems home to car are very different but I have studied many types of AC systems for my licensing
Steve
DOC Pres

 

Yes you're correct that home and auto systems are different. And yes some leak dyes can become acidic.but in a home system,you may only use the A/C 5 months a year so the dye will lay dormant. In an auto system it's cycled summer and in the winter with the defrost cycle.

 

Very True
I'll tell you that my D has sat for a few months at a time and never a problem with AC
With Radiator another story believe it or not
I'm gonna read the FSM tommorow to see if it changed over years
Steve
DOC Pres

 

I talked to a mechanic and he says some dodges do put itin from the factory. My ac work for over a year before I had a problem.

Just wish it wasn't a pain.

my brother and his mechanic say you shouldn't have to remove the whole dash to fix? I told them they did but what do I know? is there a was of fixing without removeing everything?

 

Tell them they need to tell someone here how Even the dealer takes the entire dash out
Steve
DOC Pres

 

:? The FSM says you got to remove the dash,all my friends at the Stealerships say to remove the dash,and all my years in the autobody trade,I know I got to remove the dash. The flatrate manual says 4.8 hours to change heatercore and evap,my friends say at LEAST 10 hours to do it right.

 

Guess that's just one of those Job paid at flat Rate that just doesn't pay!
When and if the time ever comes I'll pay anyone 4-5 Hrs Labor to do it
Well worth it IMHO
Steve
DOC Pres