Evaporator core

Anyones Evaporator core gone out? I hear its a huge job to fix but the parts only 170 dollars the dealer would like 600. to fix. How hard is it to fix? - Andy 2000 Cherokee

remove dashboard, remove HVAC box, split hvac box, install evap core, reassemble

if you've never tackled something like this. have a big trashcan full of beer bottles that you can smash when things go wrong.

it'll have you stringing together cuss words so fast you'll run out of breath and pass out.


I'd rather do a motor swap than change a heater/evap core in a newer XJ.

Not to take over the thread, but what exactly is it that breaks on the Evaps? Is the the cheap metal, or a rubbing problem ( like how it's mounted ), or something else. I'll have to change mine also, and want to avoid putting it back in only to have the same exact problem again in a few years.

they rust/corrode because condensation forms on them when they're in use.

over time, it gets all the way through

On the newer ones alot of them leaked from the factory. I kept taking mine in for service the first year or so and they kept topping it off till it was out from warranty, I noticed my A/C and defroster worked MUCH better after it went in for service every time and even then it took about 2 years for the system to bleed down enough that I needed to refill it once I started doing my own maintenance. About that time I started reading about failed ones on the rec.willys+jeep newsgroup on XJ's and ZJ's and the picture was an ugly one. Alot of owners in the southwest and south east were able to get them under warranty but with me doing 180mi a day I added up too fast and went out from warranty too quick for the thing to really let loose. Same story with my gas sending unit. If you do a 1,000mi a week that 36month warranty goes REAL quick and the extended warrany only covers lubed parts like engine and tranny, etc, not electrical or a/c heat systems.

Its not that bad, get a real factory service manual and follow it to a T... took me like 4 hours to take it out and put it back, I took my time and followed the directions. Plus I learned a lot about AC and own all the service tools now for 1/2 the price of the dealership doing it..

The only thing that really worried me was the factory manual kept saying to watch out for the AirBags..