A/C Hose Fixed!

[Howie]

With the warm weather just around the corner, I thought I'd post this fix. For a while I'd been losing refrigerant, and just refilling it a can at a time. But after the freezing temps, I had lost more pressure than I did in the past (if you don't have an A/C manifold guage, you should get one because it really helps to diagnose A/C problems).

 

I had the fluorescent dye in my refrigerant (if it came from the factory, they would have put a green sticker on the underside of your hood). When I used a UV light, it was easy to see that I had a leak around the compression fittings where the hard tubing meets the rubber hose on the low-pressure side.

 

 

The replacement Nissan part is for the ENTIRE low-pressure line, which includes not just the rubber hose but the hard line on either side of it which go all the way to the evaporator on one end, and the compressor at the other end. You can get one of these from the dealer for about $180, or from everythingnissan.com for $110.

 

Instead, I found a guy who specializes in fixing hydraulic lines and hoses. I took the line off my car and brought it to him. He charged me $50 to not only replace the rubber hose, but also replaced my O-rings and valve core. For another $75, he vacuum-tested, drained and re-charged my system.

 

This last step you do need, because even though you can recharge your system a can at a time, once you break the seal by removing the line, then all the pressure is lost. While a recharge can is a few ounces, the entire system takes about 1.5 lbs of R-134A. That's a lot of cans!

 

Here is a close-up of where the line connects to the evaporator at the firewall. Removing that single bolt will allow you to detach the line. It will take a little effort to pull it free because the O-ring provides a pretty good seal.

 

Here's where the line connects to the compressor, on the driver's side of the engine. This one is a nut, not a bolt, but same idea.

 

There's also a bracket you have to loosen at the front of the engine. Once you disconnect these 3 points (they're all 12mm), the entire low-pressure side can be removed. You can either replace it with a new one, or get it repaired for cheaper. I plugged the open holes with nitrile gloves so I wouldn't get contaminants in the system while I drove the truck around.

 

By removing the line myself, I figured I saved some $$ on labor costs. I think if you were to take it to a mechanic it would be at least a few hundred bucks to do the whole job. I got mine done for $126, or about the cost of just the new line.

[Panbacca]

Is that a common problem on the 3.5L?

[WOT]

Props on doing it yourself. I changed mine with a piece fabricated by my friends dad (he does industrial hoses for a living) and saved a ton of cash and cleaned up my bay a bit, my line was beat.

 

I would say the problem is not common though, a leak is a leak, shlt happens

[Howie]

Is that a common problem on the 3.5L?

 

I haven't seen any posts on this, so I don't think it's a common problem. But I've been helped out so much by this forum that I thought I'd just add to the database of knowledge with my experience!