2000 Concorde Lxi Evaporator Failure Rate?

With my 1995 Concorde, I suffered the transmission failure issue; replaced
at 25,000 miles. Now I understand Chrysler has an evaporator issue. My local
dealer, however, tells me that was fixed and the incidence of failure on
evaporators is "normal."



A friend of mine is an independent mechanic and offered to scan my sealed
sir conditioning system with his trouble light that detects R134a freon. He
found nothing and told me the connections look clean and dry. However. he
can't see the evaporator. Since my system stopped putting out real cold air
last week, I suspect the leak in that evaporator.



My car has 61,300 miles on it. If the evaporator issue is/was as bad a the
transmission problem they faced, it may be worth my while to ask for some
relief from Chrysler.



Anyone have any experience that approaches this so I can get an idea of what
to expect? If there's no chance of getting Chrysler to eat part of this, it
may be less expensive for me to take the car to a local radiator/air
conditioner specialist here who has a good reputation and may well be less
expensive than my dealership.

 

There do seem to be some evaporator failures. However, my '99
Concorde's a.c. quit cooling this summer. I though maybe it was the
evaporator or compressor seals. I charged it up with 134a with UV dye.
Sure enough, two weeks later, it quit cooling again. But the dye had
left a nice trial on two metal hose clamps that secure a metal line
(that goes from the condensor back to the dryer/accumulator) to the
frame and fender well (the UV light costs $15 at the auto parts store -
on the same shelf as the 134a). Absolutely no dye residue around the
compressor. Examination showed corrosion and rubbing wear between the
clamps and the metal hose (even though the clamps had that rubber layer
on them between them and the hose). And I don't live in the rust belt -
seems those aluminum lines have pretty thin walls.

I repaired the line (made two epoxy/gauze bandages to avoid opening the
system up to replace the line) and charged it back up, and it's been two
months - still cooling normally.

You might go thru that excercise with the dye to do your own more
fool-proof leak test - or simply look for corrosion at those points.

Did your friend leak test it when it was low in charge? From what I
understand, using those leak testers is a real art (dependent on the
skill of the user) and require very controlled conditions.

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

 

Have him retest the leak with the lite, this time have him raise the
vehicle and put the lite on the a/c drain tube and look on the
transmission for traces of dye.
Normally you can smell the compressor oil when the blower turns on.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

HE did that... found nothing. However, I have noticed an odor when the air
conditioner comes on. IT disappears shortly thereafter.

 

the evap. failures are way ahead of the trans failures now
i was doing at least one a week in the lh cars ( concord,300. and,intripid) for
a while during the summer
and just so u know the dye does work but a sniffer wor\ks a whole lot better

 

So UV dye is put in the system at the factory?

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

 

I have one of those electronic leak testers, and yes it takes some
practice, it is not a job that can be rushed. But if you do it in a garage
when nothing is blowing air around, and keep the sniffer at the bottom
of the tubes (refrigerant is heavier than air and falls down in still
air) and keep readjusting the sensitivity, and go slow, you will find
the leaks.

Ted

 

That's why, to me the dye makes so much sense for the DIY'er. Little
investment, very little skill, and no special, almost laboratory,
conditions required to positively identify the existence and
location/source of a leak - *and* traceable *after* the fact.

My question still stands - does UV dye get put in at the factory on DC
or other brand vehicles? (I'm thinking no, but...)

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

 

No Bill they do not put dye in the system from the factory, as a matter of
fact , At the beginning Chrysler didnt want us to use the stuff. Now its a
part number on the shelf

 

I assume there's little to no hope of financial consideration from Chrysler
on this; 2000 Concorde Lxi with 62000 miles. Right?

 

Chrysler has extended the warranty to 70k miles on some years. You may what
to contact Chrysler and ask them. I forget what year it was but it was the
LH

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

Well, I asked because there is no mention of dye having been put in his
system, yet you and the OP are talking about looking for dye.

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

 

(sorry for this late reply, but I replied before, but it did not post
since my ISP's newserver crapped out on them just before that - and I'm
just now getting up and running again)

The reason I asked is that the OP never stated that dye was ever put in
the system - and since it doesn' come with dye in it from the factory,
is it possible that the guy was trying to read leask with a light when
no dye had been put in? May sound like a stupid question, but to not
ask it is assuming something that we don't know for sure.

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

 

don't know till ya ask nicely