TL;DR
My main question is, Is it even possible to replace the suction line in this van without tearing the entire car apart?

Hello, I have a 1999 Plymouth Grand Voyager with a 3.3L engine and Dual A/C. Recently I turned on my A/C for the first time this spring and found it to be making a hissing noise that didn't go away like before when the A/C worked. The sound was coming from both expansion valves, front and rear. The A/C was not blowing cold.

So I rented some manifold gauges. Low side was reading about 69 PSI, high side was reading 130 PSI.

Then I just drive the van for a while, and turn the compressor on once again to see if it's still doing this. The compressor clutch does not turn on. Took car in for A/C diagnosis. It was out of freon. They recommended replacing the expansion valve, which I pretty much knew already. They also say I have a leak in the high side A/C line or the suction line.


My main question is, Is it even possible to replace the suction line in this van without tearing the entire car apart? I've done valve cover gasket replacement myself in this car, and that's pretty difficult. Not sure I want to take that kind of repair right now.

The shop's estimate for the high side a/c hose replacement alone was $115, that seems pretty cheap so I can't imagine it's that difficult.

 

Gotta ask yourself one question.......do you feel lucky....Punk? Sorry, had to go there. High side hose and suction hose are different. The suction line is the low side and you would have to remove the plenum and alternator to get it out. The high side line is the discharge line and goes from the compressor to the condenser. Quite the easy repair.

 

Thanks for the reply.


Well I'm confused then. I rented the manifold gauges, and connected the high pressure to the connector, which is on the suction line, and the low pressure connector the connector which is right above the compressor. It's on the line that has insulation around it, which I don't think is part of the discharge or suction line. These are the correct connections with the gauges, aren't they?

Also, I took out a UV light I bought, and the only spot I could see the Dye was pretty much only where the valves were, because it leaked very slowly from the valves.

I'm going to cancel the suction line repair attempt and just get the discharge line. The system has no refrigerant or almost none since the compressor clutch doesn't even turn on. Autozone rents a vacuum pump. Think I can take this on?

 

The red hose with the larger connector is for the discharge line (danger) and the other which is the blue hose smaller connector is for the suction (safe) line. If the valves are leaking, have you tried to replace the valves?

 

Well the discharge line at rockauto has no valve port on it, unless there is another discharge line. Apparently I didn't realize that the large A/C hose on the very top of the engine is also part of the suction line, and the low side port is on there where it connects to the compressor. And the high side, which had an "H" on the dust cap, is in the left rear of the engine bay, near the passenger side strut column. I'm sure of this now.


Discharge line here.



There is still oil in the system I assume, even if the freon is gone. Does the vacuum pump remove the oil?

 

The line with the high side port is the liquid line. The line with the low side port is the suction line and your picture is the discharge line. The suction line is low pressure gas coming from the evaporator to the compressor. The compressor compresses the gas to a high pressure and sends it up the discharge line to the condenser which cools the Freon and turns it to a liquid. Up the liquid line to the evaporator where the expansion valve meters it into the evaporator to absorb heat from the passenger compartment.

Common leak areas for the '99 model were the compressor itself, condersor and the most common was the evaporator coil. You can fold down the glove box and pull out the grommet for the evap temp sensor. Then you can look in there with your black light for dye.

When Freon leaks out it always takes oil with it. Vacuuming the system will also take some oil with it. You will want to put a couple of ounces back in when you charge it.

 

Will pulling a vacuum clear out any debris that might be in the passages, if any? And yes, I will be replacing both valves.

 

No, it only removes moisture from the system. If there is crap in there from a compressor grenadeing, the system needs to be flushed to remove the material. And make sure you replace the filter / drier as well.