Poked hole in my condenser! What are my options?

[satek]

Hello everybody,

I finally finished my install of the transmission cooler after the car has been sitting in the garage for a week or so.

Anyways, I had my dad cut off the zip ties for the mounting and SOMEHOW (i have no clue) he poked a huge hole in the condenser. So the hole happened and I heard a lot of high pressure air (R134a?) coming out for about 1 - 5 minutes. Is there an easy fix or do I have to replace the whole thing?

Anyways, what are my options?
1. I looked online and saw it was pretty easy to replace my condenser, but I was reading you had to replace other stuff such as the dryer and you had to get it vacuumed and recharged or something. Guessing this would be around $100-$200? how much does it cost to charge the AC?
2. Get a shop to do everything but that's gonna be like $500+

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Stick Figure]

You could probably swap in a condenser only and refill it at home with a R134 charge kit and be just fine. I've done or seen that done plenty of times. Not quite the proper way, but it has worked in the past for me.

 

[quicksilvr]

Buy a new one. Welding aluminum is pricey (probably $75 just for one little spot) and if you take your original out and pressure wash it to clean it up, you'll see that a LOT of the fins are weak and might even just blow out when you hit it with pressure washer.

New one is about $100 from RockAuto. Spectra makes a good one, but sometimes the mounting holes don't quite line up. Make sure if you have to enlarge the holes on the new one, you don't puncture the new one! Been there, done that. Thankfully RockAuto replaced it for free, because I shouldn't have been trying to enlarge the holes in the first place. I still had to enlarge the holes on the replacement, I just was more careful. lol

I simply replaced my condenser, and took it to an AC/Radiator place to have them pump it down and recharge it. It was $90 for that service. No replacement of dryer, etc.

 

[satek]

Okay, sweet. Thanks for the help.

How much did it cost to vacuum and recharge it?

 

[wildryan]

At the stealership....

I just recently paid $110 for labor on a vac and recharge, $25.11 for the UV dye that they put in (so that they can spot the leak when the system starts blowing warm), and $24.95 for R134A.

Total cost was $160.06, which probably cost me a touch more than finding an independent AC shop, but I know that it's done right.

Okay, sweet. Thanks for the help.

How much did it cost to vacuum and recharge it?

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Mine has a pretty good hole in it from a chunk of flying wood. It's been like that for quite a few years and I haven't had any problems with it. A/C still blows ice cold. Maybe see how it goes for a few days and see if it really needs to be replaced. Maybe I'm lucky and my condenser just isn't leaking.

 

[quicksilvr]

Mine has a pretty good hole in it from a chunk of flying wood. It's been like that for quite a few years and I haven't had any problems with it. A/C still blows ice cold. Maybe see how it goes for a few days and see if it really needs to be replaced. Maybe I'm lucky and my condenser just isn't leaking.

Your condenser must not have a hole in it, lol. If it does, then you have no refrigerant. No refrigerant = No AC.


satek, I paid $95 for the full AC service with like 2.5-3 lbs of R134a I believe. That was a couple years ago though. Might be more now.

 

[Richard808]

the drier has dessicant in it which absorbs the moisture in the system. If you leave the system open to air it will go bad. Especially if you live in a humid climate. Most places would recommend replacing it if its been open longer than a day but im sure it will still work but if you wait too long it may not blow as cold.