Can a Sanden front seal leak be repaired?

O.K., it's going to be 100 degrees in Oklahoma City tomorrow and I want my A/C.

I bought a 1988 XJ 4.0 auto 4x4 with around 90,000 miles from the family of the original owners. It was a tow vehicle behind their RV for most of its life so I suspect the A/C didn't get used much.

When I bought it the owners said the a/c had been "converted" to r-134a. I asked how it had been working for them and they said "it works pretty well". So, not more than a week after buying the Jeep all the refrigerant had leaked out. So now I suspect that it had a leak and the "conversion" was basically installing r-134 fittings and topping it off with refrigerant from Wal-mart so it would blow cold air until the Jeep could be sold.

Anyway, I bought a D-Tek sniffer on eBay, added a little r-134 and sure enough there is considerable freon detected in front of the clutch assembly. I am assuming it is the infamous front seal. It is a Sanden SD-508.

Since the Jeep has relatively low miles the compressor may be fine. Is it possible to have the seal replaced? Reman compressors are less than $200 locally but why replace a compressor if it's just a leaking seal?

I also bought a vacuum pump on eBay and I have a manifold gage set so I can service the system. I'm just wondering if it's worth looking into having the seal replaced.

Then I have to decide whether to use r-134 or pay to have it serviced with r-12. Maybe Freeze 12?

thanks in advance,
john

everything is repairable if you have the right tools and parts, you would have to take off the clutch, at least.

Now is the time to figure out if you have the tools, if not - how much are they and parts - compared to buying a reman, which usually comes with warrenty.