A/C line repair

[WDoherty]

Hello, i took my car in the shop about the a/c and they found two leaks in the same spot in the high and low pressure aluminum hoses right there in the center bracket. They told me to look for a compression fitting kit to repair it, but i'm having no luck. I don't even know where to purchase the entire lines if i have too (which would be expensive, and i'd have to rip nearly the entire engine bay apart). Please help, if you know how to fix this problem. We measured the lines and the large is about 15.85mm(.616in.) and the other about 8mm or (.315in.)

thanks,
will

 

[cribbj]

Will, high pressure compression fittings are made by Parker & Swagelok. You can usually find a Parker Hydraulic hose & fitting store near any major city. The smaller tube looks like it's close to 3/8" size tubing, and you might find something to work for the larger in Parker's metric sizes.

Failing that, what about welding/brazing the leaks? Our HVAC techs quite often do that for pinholes in rigid lines.

John

 

[WDoherty]

thanks john,

yes welding/brazing was my first idea, so i took it to these welders i know and they didn't want to do it while the lines are on the car even though they are pretty easy to get to. The thing is that removing the lines is going to be a project. I think most of the car engine bay will have to come out including the ABS system, i just don't want to mess anything up. I did get a reply from a hydralic place and they said to send them pics, so i think i'll do that.

i appreciate the help,
will

 

[Lextreme II]

I have 6 an fitting and ss braided lines. I welded the 6 an male into the oem fitting.

 

[WDoherty]

I'm going to re-charge the car myself and i don't want to convert to r-134a. I have seen a product called freeze 12. It is supposed to be a direct replacement for r-12 without the need of replacing o-rings and similiar efficiency. Thier site is http://autorefrigerants.com/
Anybody know if this stuff works? It would save me a lot of trouble.

 

[Shuey]

AC Line Repairs

Just a thought, if you haven't already got these lines fixed...

You can solder/alunimium braze these lines quite easily, without having to remove them from the car... You just need a welding blanket to cover all the other parts over, then use a aluminium soldering rod with some MAPP gas or butane torch to heat the area then dab on the solder...

Just a though... you can get these aluminium rods all through the US, have a look around and you might find that the fix is about a 5 min job once you have the bits.

I brought some rods over from the US (to Australia) and have used them for all sorts of fixes... Very easy to use.

Cheers,

Shuey

 

[WDoherty]

Thanks Shuey,

I was hoping that the lines could be fixed in the car too. I took it to some welder/machinints i know and they said that they did not to take the risk of brazing or tig welding the lines in the car, because they feared the oil in the lines could catch fire and possibly start a fire and burn my car down. I think today i'm just going to start removing lines from the ABS unit and hope i don't mess anything up and eventually get those a/c lines out of there.