dodgeparts may have them for cheap but they will not ship them, so unless you can pick them up you're out of luck there. The lines measure 10'2" in length and I couldn't find anybody that would ship them so I bought them locally.

I found a local dealership that sold me the recall parts (CEU1F010) for ~$126 which I thought was one hell of deal given that the rest of the dealerships wanted ~$350-$400 for the non-recall parts.

I bought my extension tubes from Rock Auto, and just as a warning they don't come with the stud. You'll have to salvage it from the old ones, replace it with a bolt or order the underbody lines under the recall part number since they do include the stud.

The local dealership that worked on my van told me that one of the reasons I had the leak between my old underbody lines and the new extension tubes is because the aftermarket extension tubes I bought were incorrectly made. After they replaced them with new OEM ones I took my calipers to them and can discern no measurable differences between them and the OEM ones I removed from my van so I just don't buy that excuse. That, and, the new OEM ones they put on there actually leaked WORSE at exactly the same location (further confirming the underbody lines as the second part of the initial problem).

After the dealership swapped in new factory extension tubes I was left with a very small leak between the extension tubes and the expansion valve. I did not have this leak with my aftermarket ones.


Tizzy, thanks so much for confirming that. I fit the small black ones on the tubes before re-installation, I just wanted some peace of mind that I had done the right thing and that I don't have to pull it apart to swap them

 

Well, I recieved my extension tube from Rockauto. Noticed that something was not right. Went to back to the web site to look at the picture, but not that helpful. What the part has was the two tubes that mount to the expansion valve where not lined up, so it looked as if the part was dropped, and the tube bent. The small liquid line was about 1/2 inch higher than the other line, and they where about 1 inch apart. The 2 lines mounted to the valve are about 2 to 2 1/2 inches apart. Rockauto sent the tube in a bag and a 12x12 inch box with no bubble wrap or popcorn for shipping. The part is on the way back to Rockauto.

 

Mine arrived the same way. I just adjusted the ends of the lines until they were in the right place. There were no ill effects from doing this, though I was quite scared that I was going to break the part.

 

I will order them, and if they look to be out of being lined up I can bend them back. I didn't want to break them. Any help on getting the old ones out, did you remove the entire heat/ac box, or wiggle them through the opening. I did a vaccum on the van, I have the vac. from harbor freight that hooks up to a compressor. I was only able to get -15 bar of vaccum, is that enough? After about 15 minutes I noticed the vaccum going back to zero. Yes a leak.

 

You can leave the heater lines attached and sort of flop the heater box on it's side into the van. Just be gentle with them so you don't pull the inner tubes off their mounts. With the underbody lines detached and the 2 fixed-nut studs on the bottom loosened off (they remain attached to the body but turn free of the heater box) you can then lift the heater box assembly up, wiggle it around until the lines come through the floor then lay it down on it's side into the van to change the extension tubes. I recommend putting down a tarp or some towels you don't care about in case any A/C oil or dirt falls.

The venturi vacuum "pump" from harbour freight just is not good enough. You want far more vacuum than that. I believe in the US Autozone rents a proper refrigeration vacuum pump (possibly loans it for free). As far as your leak is concerned, if UV dye is leaking from above the extension tube block you need to replace them at a bare minimum, however one thing to consider is the vacuum reading is only as good as the gauge itself and the fittings on your manifold. If any of them are inaccurate or leak then you can spend a long time chasing a problem that doesn't exist.

For what it's worth it looks like I am finally done with my A/C ordeal. I had it recharged friday night and my sniffer does not detect any leaks at any of the fittings I touched. It does go off very mildly at the rear blower and in the front vents (it indicates the lowest possible level it can detect) but since it also goes off if I touch the tip to my fingers or some plastics I don't believe it is anything to worry about (hence the extra confirmation with UV dye). After 3 days I see no signs of UV dye anywhere and the air is still blowing as cold as the night it was charged. Unfortunately it only seems to get down to 6*C, however it will hold that temperature whether it is 20*C outside or 31*C (the hottest I have tested it so far) so I suppose that's alright.

 

Thanks for the info zero10, what I did do over the weekend is, I removed the heater box with the heat lines attached, removed the extension tube with the core as one unit. I did not have the new tube yet, I returned it to Rock. My thinking was. I looked at the tubes that are on topside of the block, yes there where some corrosion. OK. I cleaned off the area with a small wire brush and some emery cloth, then I coated the area with JB weld. I figured that I was going to replace it why not try to fix it. I did use that vaccum pump, I would like to use a stronger pump, but I held vac. -15 to -18 for about 30 minutes. Then after 1 hour it was -5. Thats not to bad. I charged the system, and there was freon leaking from manifold/blue side connection, thats why I was loosing the vaccum. So far nice cold air. I am going to check with the light when it gets dark. Let you know what happens. Glad to hear that your job went well.