Air con condenser refurbing

[adam73bgt]

Hi all, So I've got a hole in the air con condenser on the Jag, and as luck would have it the part I need was only used on two years of XJ40 production so is quite rare and therefore expensive.

In short, has anyone had any luck getting condensers repaired like with radiators? or can anyone recommend a suitable company to do this in the midlands area?

The guy I bought the car off seemed to think that a bit of chemical metal would plug the hole and work, though I'm not convinced that would be a long lasting repair..

Heres a couple pics of the condenser in question





Cheers

[Rich]

Doubt that's repairable. You could try plugging it and getting it re-gassed but if it doesn't work you've had to pay to have it gassed.. :/

[adam73bgt]

Damn, I was thinking that might be the case, I suppose fixing a radiator is quite different to a condenser, think I may have a lead on a new condenser though so might be ok, thanks

[colnerov]

Hi, the condenser is in the low pressure side but still has up to 40psi so a repair is not possible. Especially as it's corroded thin wall Aluminium. Try finding an air con company that does work on coaches or plant and get them to supply a universal condenser and get some hoses made up. You will find this might be cheaper.

Colin

[adam73bgt]

Mmm thats a good shout, thing is the later X300 condenser looks nigh on identical except the pipe connection is different from the XJ40 condenser, so thats got me thinking if I could fit the X300 condenser but get some sort of hose connector adapter..

[ChasR]

For the price of the condenser you mentioned the other day I would simply buy that and throw it in . When I have been quoted for repairing/recoring radiators I have often found it far cheaper to buy the rads direct from someone (I was quoted £250 to recore the Stag's rad yet bought one from a specialist using the same core as the recorer for almost half of that price).

As said, regassing it (even if you buy the cans which does not work out alot cheaper) is not a massively cheap exercise. What gas is the car meant to take? What fittings does it have?

[adam73bgt]

Aug 17, 2014 19:26:06 GMT ChasR said:

For the price of the condenser you mentioned the other day I would simply buy that and throw it in . When I have been quoted for repairing/recoring radiators I have often found it far cheaper to buy the rads direct from someone (I was quoted £250 to recore the Stag's rad yet bought one from a specialist using the same core as the recorer for almost half of that price).

As said, regassing it (even if you buy the cans which does not work out alot cheaper) is not a massively cheap exercise. What gas is the car meant to take? What fittings does it have?

Unfortunately it turns out there was a mistake on the site I saw the condenser on, while the part number matches, the price is actually for the earlier and more common XJ40 condenser, though looking at the state of the current one it does look as though its past repairing as its got a couple of nasty dents in it..

Being a late 40 it takes R134a gas, not sure about the fittings, for filling up they were pretty standard I believe as I took it to ATS to have them put some Nitrogen through it to test and they had no problems (it was a pretty hilarious leak though )

I believe the condenser is largely if not the same as the later X300 condenser except for the fitting which goes to the (inlet?) hose which is like this



But theres a different one on the X300

I may have sourced a 40 condenser, but plan B or C may be to try a X300 condenser but get some sort of hose adapter to make it mate up properly

[chairchild]

if push comes to shove - get the connector removed, and fitted to another donor condensor.


End of the day, it's a pretty simple system - but getting it purged with a vacuum is a must, to remove any moisture from atmospheric air that's been let into the system. Any garage that uses the automated systems do this as standard, and cost less than £50 for the purge, leak test, and refill

[adam73bgt]

I 'think' I may have managed to buy a replacement for a reasonable price, but time will tell when the parts arrive.. I'll hang on to the old one just in case for the time being

Cheers for the tip on the vacuum purge too, I'll make sure thats included when I get it gassed up, I'm planning to go to ATS so I reckon it'll probably be included

[chairchild]

yeah, like I said - most franchise garages tend to use the fully automated machines that do that as part of the procedure


If they just check the pressure, and top up... walk away

[ChrisT]

I repaired a pipe on my AC system using Durafix aluminium 'welding' rods and it's held for several years now - surprising as every other time I've tried using them to repair aluminium parts it's been unsuccessful.
Think I used Kwikfit last month to refresh the system, guess they cleaned it all out before refilling as it was an hours job.