txranger14

ok, today i had the air lines 98 jgc 5.2 vacuumed out and recharged. cost me 90. drove it back to work with it on full blast, only about 2 miles, everything worked fine. this afternoon i go on a longer trip of about 15 miles each way, and after i filled it with gas, 40$ worth, crank the jeep, get going down the road and turn my a/c on. the gas pedal seems to have a strain on it somewhat, the gas gauge drops to e, light comes on, and dte on console shows 0 miles left. starts slightly overheating, only getting to about 220-230, runs 195 constant with a/c off. i turn everything off, continue down the road, and the gas and everything resets back to normal level and pedal has regular pressure on it.

also had the cat welded into place rather than just clamped, a/c doesnt seem that particularly strong for being recharged less than a few hours ago. please help!

edit: also when a/c is on full blast, mpg drops from 17.1 to 5-6mpg.

po0dingles

If you have a leak some place recharging it won't help.

When I fixed my ac on my vette, I had a bad ac compressor. The mechanic who specializes in them said the compressors only last about 100k miles. Not sure how this translates to a Cherokee but it might help.

I would have the ac compressor replaced, everything evacuated, and the accumulator replaced. Then charge everything up and you should be good to go.

On vettes replacing the accumulator is mandatory when the system has leaked because it can become contaminated.


You sure are having a lot of problems with your Jeep...

txranger14

the people who charged my a/c tested for leaks and found none. it doesn't leak at all, its the overheating and the coolant that leaks some. yeah, i have a lot of problem with this jeep, considering its a salvage titled jeep that was poorly maintained. what i don't get is why its overheating. the entire cooling system is brand new. i had it all replaced before i had to swap motors due to a cracked block/head. and what would cause the fuel light to come on and show empty?

po0dingles

You're all over the place bro. stay on task and solve one problem at a time.

If you have an overheating issue, that takes priority as ac is pretty much just a luxury accessory.

If you have a cooling system leak, you need to address it immediately. Depending on where the leak is and how bad it is, you may be letting air to escape/enter the cooling system which will cause overheating.

If you overheat too long or for an extended period of time, you risk warping the heads and creating a head gasket leak. At that point you'll be consuming coolant and it'll be mixing with your oil which can cause damage to the bottom end and other components inside your motor.

Have a shop pressure test your cooling system to find the leak. Is it a hose? Is it a cracked neck on the radiator?

Once that's addressed, I'd ask the shop to test for a head gasket leak. They'll put a dye in the oil or coolant and check for it on either side (i forget which side they do). You can also check for this by inspecting the coolant reservoir for discoloration or perhaps smell.

I was told by another shop if you're overheating and the ac system is fine, try riding on the highway with the ac on blast. If you notice that it gets cold on the highway but hot in city traffic, you might have a fan problem.

txranger14

when the a/c is off, it doesn't overheat. in fact it runs at about 195. when the a/c is on, its higher, around the 220-230 range and starts slowly leaking coolant. i only bring up the fuel light/pedal strain because those happen when the a/c is on whether is city driving or country driving. when the a/c is off in those situations, it reverts back to 195, runs great and has no problem whatsoever. no leak, no anything.

dave1123

I've been following this thread for a while. The only thing I can add is about the overheating. My WJ's A/C doesn't work because of a leak in the evaporator core, but My Dodge Caravan's did. What I noticed on the Caravan was the electric fan cycled with engine temp but ran constantly when the A/C was on. Maybe yours doesn't and is supposed to. If you have the viscous drive fan, isn't there an electric fan in front of the condenser also? My 97 ZJ 4.0 didn't but I was told the V8s did.

The gas gauge and pedal pressure has me stumped. Especially the pedal pressure.

txranger14

took it out today. drove n city with no a/c. on way back, (long continuous driving) turned a/c at about 75% and it ran fine, parked it, let it run like that for a few mins, and the temp started climbing and it started leaking coolant. i think i figured out the gas light problem. i put the 40$ of gas in while the jeep was running, and i think i may have caused that.

dave1123

Okay, obviously you have an airflow problem at the radiator. With forward motion, enough air flows thru the rad to cool it. When stopped, the fan(s) is(are) not doing the job. You might check for a bug-plugged condenser or a bad viscous drive fan. I know several guys with Wranglers who put electric fans in their jeeps to help cooling when rock-crawling. I believe the WJ unit is a bolt-in for yours. The hub on my WJ still has the threads for the viscous drive fan. The only thing you need to add is control, unless you want it to run constantly. That's not a bad thing because many classic hot-rods run an electric fan constantly and as a matter of fact, some run electric water pumps.

Hope this is helpful. The throttle pedal thing has me boggled though. Just for jollies, try disconnecting the cruise control link.

You know what REALLY boggles my mind is the fact that in over 100 years of technology, we haven't come up with anything more efficient than an internal combustion piston engine. Don't get my wrong! I love them, but really, it's sad.

andrewjohnson24

your cruise control runs off a vacuum so when your a/c is on it may be pulling a vacuum and slightly engaging the cruise control that will give you pedal pressure like this, check for cracked vacuum lines or lines that are rotted off.

aa7kn

I had the same problem with my 91 XJ. it turned out to be the clutch fan. the fan wasn't running fast enough to keep the engine cool when the extra load of the A/C was on. so I changed the clutch fan, and made sure the aux fan came on with the A/C like it is supposed to do, and not the temp guage never touches the center line....hope this helps.