05 4.0 AC Expansion valve replacement?

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dmos.eneterprises
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Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 2:20 am
Location: Alabama

05 4.0 AC Expansion valve replacement?

Postby dmos.eneterprises » Thu May 07, 2020 2:28 am

New poster, First post, so I have much to learn as far as this forum goes. I believe mine would be an R-51?

I'm doing as much of a "total" AC repair as possible. Already replaced the condenser, am replacing the compressor soon. I wanted to go ahead and tackle the expansion valve tonight, but I'm stuck.

I've pulled apart most of my dash to get to the heater core, and I gave up because of time constraints.

Has anyone ever replaced the expansion valve? If so, is there a way to do it without removing the ENTIRE heater core?

I really hope there is. I can't find anything specific to the expansion valve itself on youtube or anything. I've only found heater core videos that don't really detail the expansion valve itself. There are some videos for a few 03s, but nothing I can see for an 05-> Path/Xterra/Frontier.

Thanks in advance for any tips.


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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Thu May 07, 2020 11:24 am

Unfortunately, no. You have to remove the front heating and cooling unit, which requires dashboard removal, to replace the expansion valve. FYI, if you have rear heat and A/C, there is another expansion valve on the right side of the vehicle, behind the interior finisher. If you need any instructions, you can find them in the factory service manual, which NICO Club's site has for free in online form.

dmos.eneterprises
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 2:20 am
Location: Alabama

Postby dmos.eneterprises » Thu May 07, 2020 1:08 pm

smj999smj wrote:Unfortunately, no. You have to remove the front heating and cooling unit, which requires dashboard removal, to replace the expansion valve. FYI, if you have rear heat and A/C, there is another expansion valve on the right side of the vehicle, behind the interior finisher. If you need any instructions, you can find them in the factory service manual, which NICO Club's site has for free in online form.
Ughhhhh. Yeah... To my dismay, I found a free service manual after posting this.

It DOES have rear heat/ac.

Yeesh. Recommended to change both then?

Also, if I'm getting no rear heat...what's the culprit there? Is there another heater core in the rear?

EDIT:

Nevermind. I DID find a rear heater core in the service manual :shock: :x :cry:

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ShipFixer
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Location: San Diego, CA

Postby ShipFixer » Thu May 07, 2020 6:33 pm

Just curious, what are you trying to fix?

I've looked at the whole length of my A/C and heat systems and have had all the usual problems with it: compressor, rear A/C line leak, and starting to show the tiniest little drip of rear heater coolant leak (which I will cut and replace with heater tubing when it comes to it). I still have my original condenser and other lines, and looked inside the clean side of the heat and A/C. No problems.

I don't trust the compressor but that's about it...


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