Chrysler Grand Voyager Condenser

[Latte]

Evening all,

Just been out with a friend tonight who has just had his x reg Chrysler Grand Voyager LE Turbo Diesel Serviced at the main dealer in cambridge and been told that his condenser has a small leak on it. They have quoted him approx £2000 to replace which i think is excessive,. Never having done much car work i have a few questions. While i have told him i have no interest in doing the job i do know there are on the market some aerosols for fixing leaks and would get some info and i didnt mind giving one of them a try for a quick fix.
now my questions.

Anyone out there changed one of these comdensers, if so is there any reason for suck a large amount of labour ( Does the bumper and front panels have to come off) or is it just an excessive labour rate ?

2) has anyone tried this additive, does it work, can anyone recomend one and give me a suppliers name

I normally wouldnt consider adding an additive, but £2000 for a condenser is taking the ####

Regards

Raymond

[paul_h]

That has to be a rip off price. It's not like chrysler even make condensor coils, just typical dealer mark up and exhorbitant labour rates.
Replacing a condensor on a car air con would probably be the easiest job in car airconditioning, it just bolts on in front of the radiator.
A condenser wouldn't cost more than US$300.
In australia they're about au$200 for similar sizes, but I'm allowing a dealer markup there.
Allowing 3 hour labour to fit, reclaim, evac, new drier and about 1kg of r134a doesn't add up.
I'm not an automtive speclialist, but in australia the prices would be $200 condensor, $300 labour, $100 drier, $30 refrigerant, that's au$630, which is less than 300 pounds sterling.

I can't see it being any harder than a sedan, I've never worked on that model van or anything, but all the vans I've owned have plenty of access to the condensor from underneath. Lets just say for arguments sake it takes a whole day and removal of the bumper etc. Whats the mechanics hourly rate charged out at? Here it's au$100 an hour. I know you can't compare labour rates across countries, but even if mechanics there were charged out at 100 pounds an hour, that's still 800 pounds labour and 300 pounds for parts, which is 1100 pounds.

edit: as far as an additive, I can't understand how something that could block a leak would not block the TEV.
It's the same story as those radiator stop leak products, they block up the radiator cores, so a TEV would end up totally stuffed. And if you think they charge a lot for condenser replacement, I bet they take dashes apart and change TEVs real cheap.

[coolincab]

Evening all,

Just been out with a friend tonight who has just had his x reg Chrysler Grand Voyager LE Turbo Diesel Serviced at the main dealer in cambridge and been told that his condenser has a small leak on it. They have quoted him approx £2000 to replace which i think is excessive,. Never having done much car work i have a few questions. While i have told him i have no interest in doing the job i do know there are on the market some aerosols for fixing leaks and would get some info and i didnt mind giving one of them a try for a quick fix.
now my questions.

Anyone out there changed one of these comdensers, if so is there any reason for suck a large amount of labour ( Does the bumper and front panels have to come off) or is it just an excessive labour rate ?

2) has anyone tried this additive, does it work, can anyone recomend one and give me a suppliers name

I normally wouldnt consider adding an additive, but £2000 for a condenser is taking the ####

Regards

Raymond

did 1 in 2004 cost
condenser £150
recharge £50
3 hrs labour at very cheap rate not £600 per hr

[The Viking]

Haven't used the leak stop in a car's A/C system yet but I wouldn't hesitate to do so...

I had a VRF system that lost ~5 Kg per year, every spring we went through it, electronic leak detectors, soap water, sprays, dye, pressure test, you name it we did it but we never found that leak. In this system parts of the pipework were inside walls, other parts were buried in concrete, i.e. inaccessible.
About 2 years ago we added this leak seal stuff to this system and we have never had a breakdown on it since (touching my head now).

The way these sealants work is that they use the Oxygen and/or humidity in the air to harden, until then they are (harmlessly) mixed with the oil, following the gas around the system. You might have to top the system up some time after you added it as some gas has to leak out in order for it to work.


In UK, you are able to buy cannisters with refrigerant/sealant mixture from Halfords (Sorry about the bad language but they are well known and nation wide)

[Karl Hofmann]

Haven't used the leak stop in a car's A/C system yet but I wouldn't hesitate to do so...

I had a VRF system that lost ~5 Kg per year, every spring we went through it, electronic leak detectors, soap water, sprays, dye, pressure test, you name it we did it but we never found that leak. In this system parts of the pipework were inside walls, other parts were buried in concrete, i.e. inaccessible.
About 2 years ago we added this leak seal stuff to this system and we have never had a breakdown on it since (touching my head now).

The way these sealants work is that they use the Oxygen and/or humidity in the air to harden, until then they are (harmlessly) mixed with the oil, following the gas around the system. You might have to top the system up some time after you added it as some gas has to leak out in order for it to work.


In UK, you are able to buy cannisters with refrigerant/sealant mixture from Halfords (Sorry about the bad language but they are well known and nation wide)

Sealers are just crap in a can...Sure they follow the oil round the system harmlessly untill the system is opened for work, say the condenser is removed and the car is without a condenser for a day or two, then it starts to set....EVERYWHERE, drier, expansion, evaporator..MY F@##ing recovery equipment.. People who use it need to have their fingers chopped off. Of course the cheaper sealers like they sell in Halfords tend to be of the yype that causes the seals and o rings to decompose and swell, thus plugging the leaks.

New condenser from Auto Air Gloucester are less than a ton plus VAT and carriage. Not done a grand voyager but they look like that the front bumper needs to come off. That price though is taking the piss...Are you sure that the dealer didn't get it wrong and mean the evaporator, that is a dash out job and quite a common leak point

[The Viking]

untill the system is opened for work, say the condenser is removed and the car is without a condenser for a day or two, then it starts to set....EVERYWHERE

But surely if you take the system apart for a day or two, you will flush it with nitrogen and then seal the open ends?

Otherwise, with modern refrigerants/oils, a sealant isn't your only problem.

[Karl Hofmann]

Never a problem with double end capped PAG, but yeah it is common for garages to purge with Nitrogen an seal up the system...Not. I'm more than a little surprised that a professional should advocate correct practice and yet be happy to fill a system with snake oil