Air Conditioning Pipe Replacement

[Galaxy23]

Hello

My car has a leaking air con pipe.It is the one that runs underneath the air filter and along behind the engine .

My mechanic has had a lot of trouble in trying to remove the pipe as there is very little room to manoeuvre it.He has ended up cutting the pipe into sections in order to remove it,but he hasn;t been able to remove the last bit of pipe due to a tight joint.He has sprayed the joint with penetrating fluid in the hope that it will free the pipe from the joint when he carries on with the job next Sunday.

Does anyone know how to re-fit this pipe as there is no room apparently to put it back.Surely the engine doesn't need to come out ????

 

Please can someone help.

 

Regards

 

Paul :rolleyes: :( :(

[sparky Paul]

Is yours a mk.I or mk.II car? The aicon pipework and other components are different.

 

Speaking from my experience of the mk.I and that particular pipe on mine, the pipe can be replaced in situ, but it can be tricky and the replacement pipes sometimes need to be 'modified' very slightly to persuade them around the tight bits. Plenty of twisting and turning is involved too, and you need to make sure that the new pipe is correctly routed around the other stuff in the engine bay. I got the old one out in one piece and knew that the new old should go back in the same way.

 

If the problem joint is the one on the receiver/dryer at the front of the o/s wheelarch (mk.I only), you may find that the bracket fixing it is also corroded, and this is part of the pipe which goes behind the bumper to the condensor. If the system has been open for any length of time, you also need to consider replacing the receiver/dryer.

[Galaxy23]

Mine is a mk 2 seat alhambra tdi on a 54 plate so am not sure of the set up with the pipes ???

[sparky Paul]

Yes, the pipe routing is different on the mk.II, and the problems around the receiver/dryer don't apply. I believe all of the pipes on both the mk.I and mk.II cars can be replaced with a bit of 'persuasion'.

 

Which joint is the problem? If it's one of the springlock couplings, you must have the correct tool to split them.

Edited March 10, 2012 by sparky Paul

[Galaxy23]

Thanks.I will ask my mechanic and get back to you.

[gsxrgrowler]

Had the same problem with the joint under the air box when the pipe from the pump to the joint snapped.

 

Remove the box

Remove Bumper/ head lights and enforcement bar

 

With some wood prise the from radiator plastic panel down and this should give you room to get at the pipe joint.

 

The joint was a git to part so i cut leaving about 5 inches from the joint used mole grips to clamp the pipe and used a hair dyer to heat up the joint. after a while it finally popped apart. The good thing is the 3 o rings are on the snapped cut part of the pipe so the other side is intact. On ebay they sell joint splitters and joiners for about