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Air conditioner condenser rad

doc_loco

doc_loco

Messages
211
Yesterday I tried to turn on my AC and there was no cold air coming out. So I tried to fill it with a recharge kit and the pressure dropped immediately. I then did some investigation to find to my horror that the condeser seems to be damaged quite badly. Looking towards the rad throguh the bumper it seems like a stone has smashed the right had side corner to pieces and that about a 3-4 inch area is missing!

How long does it take to replace this? I can probably get hold of a new condeser on ebay. Has any one tried this themselves? Anyone have a guide for me? I take it it is a remove bumper job.

HELP! My car seems to be falling apart!
 
I've actually got the same problem. My condenser had a fight with a stone and come off worse, which is slightly annoying as i planned to put it up for sale this week. I'm currently getting quotes of around 600 to fix this :| but got the part number, did some googling and came across this http://www.autoairconparts.co.uk/Ca...-Automatic-Aug-01-to-Jan-06-Part-16-0002.html

Looks a little to good to be true...? Does anyone have any experience with this site and more importantly someone who might be able to fit this.
 
This looks good! I guess you could try it yourself I know I will. Bumper off is 15 mins max then maybe 20 mins for the condenser?
 
I'm...well...i'm a bit **** when it comes to hand of stuff we'll say. You don't fancy doing a second do you, haha.
 
ChrisT said:
I've actually got the same problem. My condenser had a fight with a stone and come off worse, which is slightly annoying as i planned to put it up for sale this week. I'm currently getting quotes of around 600 to fix this :| but got the part number, did some googling and came across this http://www.autoairconparts.co.uk/Ca...-Automatic-Aug-01-to-Jan-06-Part-16-0002.html

Looks a little to good to be true...? Does anyone have any experience with this site and more importantly someone who might be able to fit this.
Click to expand...

I believe someone has bought one of these before with no problems.

Once it is fitted it is worth fitting some meshing around the grill, £15 from Halfords!

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OK when I do it next month I will have an idea of how easy/difficult it is and I'll do you a write up. Seriously though the bumper is probably one of the easiest things to take off on our motors. They are held by plastic screws on the top under the hood and on the bottom of the car. You don't even need to jack the car up. I think there are only 8 plastic screws underneath and maybe 6 on top. Also two proper screws i think hold it against the fender. I'm not sure. But even someone who hasn't got a clue could take the bumper off in about 15 minutes maybe 20. After that I think the conderser rad should be quite straight forward. Remove hoses, mine is empty because the hole is pretty chunky, and remove any screws holding it to the car. I should think it would take an hour at most to do everything including putting it back together.
 
Hmmm i'm not very confident with things like that. But a guide would be useful, if not for me defiantly for someone else on the forums.

Just spoken to Honda to grab a quote...oddly they are coming in cheapest currently.

Honda - £576 Parts, Labour, Regas
Honda (No Parts) - £182.40 Labour, Regas.
So if the part is correct for the £70 odd quid it should cost around £255 all in. Not to bad really.
 
Yeah, labour is a bit more then local ones. But gives people a good base rate for this. Happy to post costs up for anyone in the Hertfordshire area from local garages though.


The Full Break down for the Honda quote is....

Parts £376
Labour £122
Regas £75

Total £576
 
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Honda St Albans.

Been trying to get a hold of DaveS to see if he can do forum discount on this, but not heard anything back yet.
 
Alright fella, just got your message. I have only just logged on properly in ages. Basically I havent done anything with it as of yet due to weather not being great and other commitments. I spoke to my mates who could probably help me do it on the driveway but "because of the hole in the condenser you will also need to change the dryer/accumulator as that has been exposed to atmospheric moisture" his words lol.
 
No worries mate.

Interesting, they didn't mention that at all...might call them back tomorrow and ask if thats in the cost or if it's a "we'll phone you towards the end of the day with extras costs we forgot to mention" jobbie. :)
 
My local Honda did that to me a few times actually. The best one was when I had my valve clearances booked in. I drove to Honda at 8am one Saturday and they rung me at 11:50 (ten minutes before they shut) to say that the engine was very very hot still and they couldn't touch it, eventhough my journey was pretty short.
 
Hi guys,

Update, got my AC fixed today at St Albans Honda. Supplied the condenser my self from CoolAirCon website. Fitting and regas by honda for £182.40, was done very quickly. Perfect day to test it as well.

One slightly funny part when i came to pick up the car. As one of the sales guys reversed the car out he managed to rip the engine undertray off. Whoever parked it had put the front on the curb. My only words were, "i'm so glad you did that!", because i'm sure it would have been my fault if i was driving. :)
But the guys were very apologetic and of course fixed it straight away.

All in all, very happy.

No mention about the 'dryer/accumulator' btw.
 
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oh wicked good stuff.... undertray? Surely that's not right! Compensation? Im sure the undertray does not need to come off the change the condenser! It comes off upwards! But not a bad price mate. I plan on buying it next month and doing it myself, including the recharge... Hopefully it all goes well and I'll post on here how it goes. How many hours labour did honda charge for? Obviously this includes regassing.
 
Oh and the dryer and accumulator is not necessary if the system is evacuated first. This ensures there is no moisture that could freeze and go into the compressor which is very bad news!
 
doc_loco said:
oh wicked good stuff.... undertray? Surely that's not right! Compensation? Im sure the undertray does not need to come off the change the condenser! It comes off upwards! But not a bad price mate. I plan on buying it next month and doing it myself, including the recharge... Hopefully it all goes well and I'll post on here how it goes. How many hours labour did honda charge for? Obviously this includes regassing.
Click to expand...

Hmmm maybe i don't mean undertray. The bit of plastic just behind the bumper that covers the underside of the engine. It didn't damage it, just the clips that hold it in place. So they just replaced those.

The 182.40 was labour and regas. I think it was £118 labour, rest on the regas. It must have only taken them an hour, no sooner had i gotten into the office, i received a call.
 
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