2002 306 air con

Hi,

I have a corroded air con pipe which is passing fluid badly. The pipe
appears to be aluminum, is about 10 mm diameter and the corrosion area is a
circular patch about 5 mm diameter. Is there any way of successfully
patching this pipe or is it a replacement job? I was hoping that there would
be a repair comprising of a rubber patch secured by some type of jubilee
clip?

Thanks,
Lenny

 

Sorry to say you have to replace the pipe as no repair to these sort of
pipes work .(as i have tryed it)

 

Thought so!

Thanks Chris anyway.

 

Unless you got a very good plumber that will do a repair.not many of
then would touch it as it is ali.

 

I've repaired ali pipes before - make a cut, sleeve with larger diameter ali
pipe, and braze with ali repair rod - can be a good fix in some
circumstances


www.poolecool.co.uk

 

Thanks "ib"

I'm keen to give your suggestion a go. Just one more question, do you know
where would I find some ali pipe (to sleeve 9mm OD pipe) and an ali repair
rod?

Cheers,
Lenny

 

Try Halfords or a place that recharges air con,or some one that does
frige and freezer repairs as they must have things like that on there
van.

 

Good suggestions, thanks Chris for the help.

Lenny

 

You must have some one near you that does things like that.or a shop
that can help you with a repair,

 

...or find a suitable bit of AC pipe at the breakers - even b+q do ally pipe
/ tube of reasonable thickness and strength

 

Assuming this is the pipe along the bottom of the condenser, getting
it off is most of the job. On mine the holding screws have rusted
solid into the body.
The replacement pipe is also available, as this is a common fault on
this model. At least you know this will work when refitted. Your
repair may not.

 

"Assuming this is the pipe along the bottom of the condenser, getting
it off is most of the job. On mine the holding screws have rusted
solid into the body.
The replacement pipe is also available, as this is a common fault on
this model. At least you know this will work when refitted. Your
repair may not".

Yes, it's only really worth attempting a repair if the corrosion is
obviously local (due to moisture trapped under a clamp for example) and the
rest of it looks in very good condition

 

I enquired about a replacement part --> £285 +VAT!
The pipe damage, near to a sensor in the pipe, is close to the dehydrator, I
think. The corrosion appeared to be aggravated by the pipe rubbing against a
plastic plug protruding through the upper wheel arch.
I cut across the pipe at the hole and fitted a 'Wade' 10mm copper pipe
connector, with brass olives, which I carefully compressed.
I did this a week ago and all is still well as I thought it was worth a try
opposed to £285 +VAT ;-)

Lenny

 

So how much did it cost you in the end ?

 

2 x £19.99 AC fluid from Halfrauds (one wasted finding the leak) and 'wade'
fitting donated by mate.

 

I think you can consider that to be a success then.
I must admit, I had no idea that a pipe would cost that much, the
condenser is cheaper.

 

The bean counters probably realised that the pipe gets replaced more often
so upped the price accordingly with an eye to the profit. Ouch, that's my
cynical gland kicking in again.