A/C Condenser

[Jsdirt]

42 minutes ago, F4Gary said:

I now have to replace my condenser.  Son is a Mercedes tech, so no problem with the freon/vacuum part.

So what is the best condensor to get and does it come with the desicant bag already installed?

I'm doing it myself in my driveway.  Leak is small so with a recharge last week, I should have cool air until I get the part.

Mine is leaking at the standard upper weld.

Up here in the Northeast with road salt flying every winter, I'll normally just grab something with a lifetime warranty and "extra corrosion protection" from RockAuto. That would be an FVP brand for about $66 before shipping & taxes. OE sucks, so any aftermarket company that copies it will suck worse. Can't really win. Best you can hope for is that the aftermarket company saw the design flaw and engineered a fix for it. I would imagine with a lifetime warranty, they did - most are only 12 months.

 

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=13244417&cc=3294345&pt=6708&jsn=952&jsn=952

 

 

I had no idea the A/C Delco one incorporated the oil cooler with the condenser. What an odd design! So when you're using the A/C, the oil gets less cooling. Brilliant ... 

 

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=9160744&cc=3294345&pt=6708&jsn=959&jsn=959

 

Oh, and you'll want to buy a new accumulator. That has the desiccant bag built into it. Any time you open the system, this should be changed. The condenser is just a condenser, unless you bought that Delco one with the built-in engine or p/s oil cooler (first time EVER seeing that in my lifetime).

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by Jsdirt
Forgot key info ...

[Spurshot]

16 hours ago, F4Gary said:

I now have to replace my condenser.  Son is a Mercedes tech, so no problem with the freon/vacuum part.

So what is the best condensor to get and does it come with the desicant bag already installed?

I'm doing it myself in my driveway.  Leak is small so with a recharge last week, I should have cool air until I get the part.

Mine is leaking at the standard upper weld.

 

If I recall correctly, the leak was under an inductive (spot) weld, holding the bracket on the tank or tube.  Vibration/load caused the very small weld to pull out of the base material.  

 

So, look for an aftermarket condenser that has a larger weld in these areas.  I think mine was hand TIG welded.  This provides much larger weld area. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Spurshot

[F4Gary]

AutoZone has a Spectrum brand for $220 that looks to have the full length welds.  Seen some others that have square tube welds instead of the small bead OEM ones. 

I've got some time as my leak is slow so I have cool air right now.

[dfelicia]

Add me to the list.

 

Mechanic replaced condenser and refilled refrigerant. It was $919 out the door after tax. I’ve got a 2016 Yukon XL and he had to take the whole front end apart to get to it, so 4 hours labor.

 

The day after bringing it home the A/C failed, again. It was blowing warm for a good 5 minutes before turning ice cold. Suspect the condenser didn’t kick on. Brought it back and he can’t reproduce. He put some chalk on the condenser clutch so that if I can reproduce I can see if it’s spinning or not. 
 

Anyone else experience any intermittent issues after replacement?

 

Mechanic suspects the relay, but GM decided to make that part of the fuse box so not a cheap guess-and-check. Rather than have him do more testing, I decided to take it back to see if it even happens again.

[Frankielozano214]

On 5/9/2022 at 7:20 PM, diegosaurus said:

2017 GMC Sierra 5.3L 70K miles a/c went out last thursday when i was leaving work.  Drove home and did a visual inspection and noticed the oily spot on the condenser.  Jumped on the forum to see how hard it would be to replace and stumbled on this thread instantly.  Didn't bother with the dealership after I contacted GM support and they offered no assistance.  Luckily, found a local mechanic that did it for $500.  My truck also happens to uses the new R-1234 so that added to the cost....$45 for one 8 oz can.   

I just had mine done cost me 430$ but I have a 2014 so it uses r134, messed up and had them installed a used one first was a big mistake for being cheap lol costed me more to fix (spent 300$ installing the used one and vacuum and recharge for it to also leak a week later) It’s good now

[nfd78910]

I just replaced my condenser on my 2016 Silverado 8 Speed. I did not realize that I had no transmission dip stick to add fluid to until after I was completely done. Anyone know if I should be worried about the amount of transmission fluid I lost in the condenser/ trans cooler during this process? 

 

Thank you. 

[Jsdirt]

You can add fluid underneath at the transmission, but for the amount in the radiator cooler, I wouldn't worry about it unless the transmission is now performing differently than before.

[Spurshot]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:41 AM, dfelicia said:

Add me to the list.

 

Mechanic replaced condenser and refilled refrigerant. It was $919 out the door after tax. I’ve got a 2016 Yukon XL and he had to take the whole front end apart to get to it, so 4 hours labor.

 

The day after bringing it home the A/C failed, again. It was blowing warm for a good 5 minutes before turning ice cold. Suspect the condenser didn’t kick on. Brought it back and he can’t reproduce. He put some chalk on the condenser clutch so that if I can reproduce I can see if it’s spinning or not. 
 

Anyone else experience any intermittent issues after replacement?

 

Mechanic suspects the relay, but GM decided to make that part of the fuse box so not a cheap guess-and-check. Rather than have him do more testing, I decided to take it back to see if it even happens again.

I'm no A/C tech, but I do my own A/C work and have books on the subject.  Failing to engage the clutch on the compressor can be a number of causes.  It can be a low system pressure (not enough charge), bad pressure sensor, bad clutch, bad control head unit, or possibly the relay your tech mentioned.  There may be other causes like bad wiring as well. 

 

But since the last work that was done was recharging the system, first, I'd put gauges on the system to ensure proper pressures.  Your tech should know to do that.  

[dfelicia]

21 minutes ago, Spurshot said:

I'm no A/C tech, but I do my own A/C work and have books on the subject.  Failing to engage the clutch on the compressor can be a number of causes.  It can be a low system pressure (not enough charge), bad pressure sensor, bad clutch, bad control head unit, or possibly the relay your tech mentioned.  There may be other causes like bad wiring as well. 

 

But since the last work that was done was recharging the system, first, I'd put gauges on the system to ensure proper pressures.  Your tech should know to do that.  

The mechanic kept it for a few hours and triple checked pressure. In the end, he reseated the relays and it's never happened, again. He is not confident that is what caused it to fail, but it's been weeks and everything is working great.

[Pacfanweb]

On 5/17/2022 at 3:30 PM, F4Gary said:

AutoZone has a Spectrum brand for $220 that looks to have the full length welds.  Seen some others that have square tube welds instead of the small bead OEM ones. 

I've got some time as my leak is slow so I have cool air right now.

I don't remember which one I put in my Sierra a few years ago but I bought it at Autozone and it's now held up a LOT longer than the original one did.  FWIW.

 

 

[F4Gary]

On 5/17/2022 at 2:30 PM, F4Gary said:

AutoZone has a Spectrum brand for $220 that looks to have the full length welds.  Seen some others that have square tube welds instead of the small bead OEM ones. 

I've got some time as my leak is slow so I have cool air right now.

So we went away for a couple of weeks after this and when we got home, no freon.

I bought the cheap FVP condenser off of Rock Auto that was linked above my post.

Had the old one evacuated (my son is a Mercedes mechanic so it was free), watched a few YouTube videos and did the remove and replace.  Only lost about a cup of tranny fluid so I never put any back in.  Level looks fine.

Had my son recharge it (free!) and it is now working like a champ.

Cost me $65 plus tax and shipping from Rock Auto.  Made in China...of course.

[Frankielozano214]

RockAuto sucks will never buy from them again, 

[shakenfake]

You are definitely on drugs Rock Auto is one of the only places to get genuine parts anymore.

[Frankielozano214]

12 minutes ago, shakenfake said:

You are definitely on drugs Rock Auto is one of the only places to get genuine parts anymore.

Definitely not worth buying waiting two weeks for warranty exchange or refund rather just pay a few extra dollars locally. 

[Frankielozano214]

That’s just my experience with them, you might had better luck