Rear AC line leak

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cpapeter

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98 Suburban with rear air. Finally took the time to add a can of dye to the AC lines, and was able to locate a leak. Of course, it in the lines to rear AC, below the passenger side door. It looks to me like there's a pair of lines running from under the hood (under the air filter) to a junction point under the door. The leak appears to be in that line. There was no dye on the connector to the line running up the side of the truck. It was all coming out from the inside side of the frame rail.

I haven't fully crawled under the truck yet - just took the UV light and started looking around for the dye and found it there.

So - anyone replaced that line? How nasty a job is it? I'm also considering a block off kit for the rear air. That's quick and easy. But I'd like to keep the function if it's not crazy to do so.
 

cpapeter

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I'm starting to answer my own question. From what I have been able to find, the aluminum line for the AC that run to the back of the truck are a common place for corrosion and holes. I'd hazard a guess that electrolysis is the main culprit, but that's kind of irrelevant. Because these lines are so hard to replace - long with lots of bends and such - no one actually replaces them with stock originals. The replacement is an appropriate flexible hose that is available from a couple of different places. Disconnect the original lines, fish the replacement in, zip tying them to the originals to keep them in place, hook up the new lines and off you go. And I think that's what I'll do. As long as you don't screw up the rear evaporator in the process of getting the old lines off, it's relatively straight forward. Maybe I'll see if I can find a lift bay to rent for a couple of hours. That would certainly beat the pants off lying on my back to fish the new lines through.
 

SUBURBAN5

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I'm starting to answer my own question. From what I have been able to find, the aluminum line for the AC that run to the back of the truck are a common place for corrosion and holes. I'd hazard a guess that electrolysis is the main culprit, but that's kind of irrelevant. Because these lines are so hard to replace - long with lots of bends and such - no one actually replaces them with stock originals. The replacement is an appropriate flexible hose that is available from a couple of different places. Disconnect the original lines, fish the replacement in, zip tying them to the originals to keep them in place, hook up the new lines and off you go. And I think that's what I'll do. As long as you don't screw up the rear evaporator in the process of getting the old lines off, it's relatively straight forward. Maybe I'll see if I can find a lift bay to rent for a couple of hours. That would certainly beat the pants off lying on my back to fish the new lines through.
If heard of this aftermarket remedy. Keep us posted and take photos.. when my goes bad I'll eventually have to do this.. I've heard the kit expensive?
 

cpapeter

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If heard of this aftermarket remedy. Keep us posted and take photos.. when my goes bad I'll eventually have to do this.. I've heard the kit expensive?
I will document the job, assuming I go for the fix. I didn't see anyone else giving it a shot, so that would be something I could do to give back to the community a bit.

One kit I found is here: https://www.autocoolingsolutions.co...+Suburban&catid[0]=10&catid[1]=11&catid[2]=18 . About $325 for both lines and fittings. The block off kit is still going to be about $70 once you add in shipping. I suspect factory replacements (if still available) would be quite a bit more. And definitely a lot more work to put all of those hard lines in.

If I'm going to do that job, I'd replace both lines at the same time. There's no point in doing just one. You just know if you do that, the other will start leaking in pretty short order.
 
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