• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

a/c accumulator removal

trippe

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Alexandria, VA
i have a 97 and my a/c compressor took a crap on me. while i'm replacing the compressor, following the advice of almost everyone i've talked to, i'm replacing the accumulator too but i'm having a helluva time getting the old accumulator off. it looks like it should just pull right off but it does not. the replacement i have came with some rubber o-rings and a metal coiled ring so these are the only things, i can think, that are still holding it on. is there some sort of trick to getting this thing off that i'm missing?
 
Don't have one in front of me, but if what your describing as a "metal coiled ring" is what I think your talking about, it's kind of a quick disconnect of sorts. They make a set of tools for this which slide over the line, into the fitting, and release a spring retainer. Used on a/c lines, Fuel line, etc.
 
cool, thanks. doing some more research i also saw them referred to as "round spring grommets" too. looks like a trip to harbor freight is going to be the order of the morning.
 
trippe said:
cool, thanks. doing some more research i also saw them referred to as "round spring grommets" too. looks like a trip to harbor freight is going to be the order of the morning.
Careful with the trip to Harbor Freight, I got their set of quick disconnect tools for the same thing you're trying and couldn't get any of them to fit in to release the metal coiled spring. I have no idea what I could have been doing wrong but it didn't seem to budge at all. This was on a 99 XJ which is the same as your 97 I believe.
 
the accumulator on the 99 would be the same as the one on my 97, from what i've been reading 97 is the first year of the newer accumulators. how did you get the bugger off if the QR kit didn't work?
 
Last edited:
trippe said:
the accumulator on the 99 would be the same as the one on my 97, from what i've been reading 97 is the first year of the newer accumulators. how did you get the bugger off if the QR kit didn't work?
Eh...My whole goal was to just pull the heater box out of a junkyard Jeep and got so pissed off I cut the lines with a tubing cutter. I really just wanted to save the evaporator since I figured I'd replace the accumulator later anyway though. Sorry I can't be of more help, I was hoping other people would chime in.
 
No worries, I'm figuring this out slowly but surely. Apparently, not too many people have experience dealing with a/c accumulators, I know I didn't before this week.
 
There are different types of these spring disconnect tools. Some are for fuel lines and might not work on A/C lines. Make sure you are getting A/C line disconnect tools.
 
If you are talking about the quick release connects, they use the same tool as you would use on a quick release fuel line...It is split on one side so you can place it around the line....compress it while pushing it into the connection and pull on the other end. Then she slides out. Sounds harder then it is to do.

All the auto parts store carry the tools.......usually plastic and run about $10 for a assortment of them.

Good Luck.
 
Sig220 said:
If you are talking about the quick release connects, they use the same tool as you would use on a quick release fuel line...It is split on one side so you can place it around the line....compress it while pushing it into the connection and pull on the other end. Then she slides out. Sounds harder then it is to do.

All the auto parts store carry the tools.......usually plastic and run about $10 for a assortment of them.

Good Luck.
See I got the metal Harbor Freight version of them, I got the size that fit around the OD of the line and pushed as hard as I could but I couldn't get them to go anywhere. I also tried them on a 97+ fuel line, I couldn't get it either.
 
Hmm, have you tried to push them together? Sometimes you make it easier when you do...it just frees them up a little. Then apply the squeeze and push routine....should just slide off.....although some I have seen had to be rotated a little as well.

BTW, the system has no pressure in it...........right??
 
Sig220 said:
Hmm, have you tried to push them together? Sometimes you make it easier when you do...it just frees them up a little. Then apply the squeeze and push routine....should just slide off.....although some I have seen had to be rotated a little as well.

BTW, the system has no pressure in it...........right??
As mentioned above, I was using the wrong type of disconnect tools, you were right. For people who find this thread down the line, this is the tool set you need.
http://www.partsamerica.com/productdetail.aspx?MfrCode=PBI&MfrPartNumber=648339&CategoryCode=2109
648339.jpg
 
Awesome! I saw those at Advance today but I opted to go with the washer-style disconnects instead because they were cheaper; what a mistake. They didn't work for crap. I wound up getting pissed and decided that since I was going to throw the accumulator away in the end, I could destroy it to get it off. So I took a pair of channel-locks and bent up a part of the flange on the accumulator that covers the spring. Once I could see the spring, I took a pair of needlenose pliers and ripped the spring out. After that the accumulator popped right off. I can't say that I recommend doing it the way I just described, especially since we've found the right tool to use and its relatively cheap, but it did work for me. The downside to my method is that I put some surface nicks in the pipe going into the firewall whereas the right tool wouldn't have done any damage at all plus I'm sure my way takes longer to do.
 
Back
Top