981 Boxster S A/C Condenser/Dessicator replacement
Discussion
Hi all,
Back in 2020 I hit a pheasant and it went into one of my front radiator grilles. I replaced the actual grille by taking off the front bumper of my car and doing the work from the rear side of it. I couldn't see any damage to the condenser and I figured I'd see how I went. I made a bit of a thread about it with photos at https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
During my last service at an OPC in August 2022, they reported that the condenser was definitely damaged and quoted me a LOT of money to replace it. As I'd already done the bumper myself, I looked at the price of the parts and figured I could probably do the work myself for a fraction of the cost.
On a road trip down to Spain and the Pyrenees last September, my A/C finally gave up. It wasn't really the hot weather that was the problem, but without the A/C working it was difficult to clear the windscreen of mist when driving in the rain (and parts of my trip were VERY rainy.
I'm taking another trip at the end of July, this time down to Portugal and I hope to take the Boxster again. But I'd really like my A/C to be working. I tried the quick fix of a regas but that lasted a couple of months. So I'd like to do the work myself before I go.
So here I am. I'd really like to do the work properly and to the same standard or better than if I'd got my OPC to do it. That means replacing the dessicator that lives under the right front wing, and it also means replacing the oil that should be in the circuit but I can't recover from the condensers.
I do have a PDF copy of the Porsche workshop manual and it details how much oil to add to the system when replacing components of the system. My difficulty is that when fitting the new dessicator, the workshop manual stresses the importance of not exposing it to atmospheric air and of evacuating and refilling the system within 20 minutes.
Even if I were working at superhuman speed, there's no way I can get the desiccator fitted, reinstall the wheel well liners, refit the wheels, get the my local friendly garage and get the car on the A/C machine all within 20 minutes. I don't know how critical this 20-minute time frame is, but I thought of driving the car to the garage all finished except with the desiccator fitted but not connected to the refrigerant lines and with the wheel well liner not fitted, so that I can break the seals, fit the lines, and have the system evacuated all in quick succession there.
But it occurs to me that the most important step after breaking the seal on the desiccator is evacuating the system, and I know you can get manifolds and vacuum pumps to be able to do that. I think if I can evacuate the system after breaking the seal on the desiccator, then that should satisfy the requirements and get most if not all of the moisture out of the system.
Does anyone know of a good quality a/c manifold set and vacuum pump that I can get without spending a fortune? Or does anyone within about half an hour of M25 J13 have a set I can borrow for a week or so?
I'd like to get it finished this coming week.
I have the following:
2x Mahle condensers from Design 911
1x mahle desiccator from Design 911
6x new A/C O-rings from Design 911
1x Denso ND8 Refrigerant Oil from Opie Oils
All of the other tools necessary. I'm going to do the condensers tomorrow and leave the desiccator until shortly before I can get to the garage.
Any suggestions welcome!
Back in 2020 I hit a pheasant and it went into one of my front radiator grilles. I replaced the actual grille by taking off the front bumper of my car and doing the work from the rear side of it. I couldn't see any damage to the condenser and I figured I'd see how I went. I made a bit of a thread about it with photos at https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
During my last service at an OPC in August 2022, they reported that the condenser was definitely damaged and quoted me a LOT of money to replace it. As I'd already done the bumper myself, I looked at the price of the parts and figured I could probably do the work myself for a fraction of the cost.
On a road trip down to Spain and the Pyrenees last September, my A/C finally gave up. It wasn't really the hot weather that was the problem, but without the A/C working it was difficult to clear the windscreen of mist when driving in the rain (and parts of my trip were VERY rainy.
I'm taking another trip at the end of July, this time down to Portugal and I hope to take the Boxster again. But I'd really like my A/C to be working. I tried the quick fix of a regas but that lasted a couple of months. So I'd like to do the work myself before I go.
So here I am. I'd really like to do the work properly and to the same standard or better than if I'd got my OPC to do it. That means replacing the dessicator that lives under the right front wing, and it also means replacing the oil that should be in the circuit but I can't recover from the condensers.
I do have a PDF copy of the Porsche workshop manual and it details how much oil to add to the system when replacing components of the system. My difficulty is that when fitting the new dessicator, the workshop manual stresses the importance of not exposing it to atmospheric air and of evacuating and refilling the system within 20 minutes.
Even if I were working at superhuman speed, there's no way I can get the desiccator fitted, reinstall the wheel well liners, refit the wheels, get the my local friendly garage and get the car on the A/C machine all within 20 minutes. I don't know how critical this 20-minute time frame is, but I thought of driving the car to the garage all finished except with the desiccator fitted but not connected to the refrigerant lines and with the wheel well liner not fitted, so that I can break the seals, fit the lines, and have the system evacuated all in quick succession there.
But it occurs to me that the most important step after breaking the seal on the desiccator is evacuating the system, and I know you can get manifolds and vacuum pumps to be able to do that. I think if I can evacuate the system after breaking the seal on the desiccator, then that should satisfy the requirements and get most if not all of the moisture out of the system.
Does anyone know of a good quality a/c manifold set and vacuum pump that I can get without spending a fortune? Or does anyone within about half an hour of M25 J13 have a set I can borrow for a week or so?
I'd like to get it finished this coming week.
I have the following:
2x Mahle condensers from Design 911
1x mahle desiccator from Design 911
6x new A/C O-rings from Design 911
1x Denso ND8 Refrigerant Oil from Opie Oils
All of the other tools necessary. I'm going to do the condensers tomorrow and leave the desiccator until shortly before I can get to the garage.
Any suggestions welcome!
The best answer is to get an AC place to evacuate the system, take the car home, do the work & then take it back to have the regas completed.
Ignore the 20 mins, it isn't relevant as the first thing the AC place will do when they regas is to again evacuate the system & check for leaks.
Ignore the 20 mins, it isn't relevant as the first thing the AC place will do when they regas is to again evacuate the system & check for leaks.
There’s no point evacuating the system before working on it as the refrigerant has already gone and moisture will have saturated the desiccator.
Don’t see how ignoring the 20 minutes is going to be helpful. I’ll just end up with two saturated desiccators. They are very specific with warnings about not breaking the seals until ready to evacuate and regas the system straight away.
Don’t see how ignoring the 20 minutes is going to be helpful. I’ll just end up with two saturated desiccators. They are very specific with warnings about not breaking the seals until ready to evacuate and regas the system straight away.
LunarOne said:
There’s no point evacuating the system before working on it as the refrigerant has already gone and moisture will have saturated the desiccator.
Well, there is because we don't actually know there is no refrigerant in the system unless you evacuate it. Recently had mine re-gassed & although it wasn't working there was still around 30% of the required total in the system.LunarOne said:
Don’t see how ignoring the 20 minutes is going to be helpful. I’ll just end up with two saturated desiccators. They are very specific with warnings about not breaking the seals until ready to evacuate and regas the system straight away.
Correct, and it takes more than 20 mins to evacuate & regas, so how is it even possible to achieve what they say?Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff