Bloody aircon!

[puggy]

Bummer matt !! have you tried cartransplants to see if they have
any coupe's in ??

[Welly]

sh*t, that's no good is it?

Try sourcing the parts yourself and ask the guy for a budget labour figure to fit them - you'd be surprised how little room some of these a/c guys need for such jobs....

[mjb]

Try sourcing the parts yourself and ask the guy for a budget labour figure to fit them - you'd be surprised how little room some of these a/c guys need for such jobs....

I've got the big pipe, just waiting for a response from the coupe club's resident breaker to see if I can get the condenser pipe in time. However the fact I had to wait the best part of a week just to get a leak test out of the guy suggests I'll have no luck asking him to do the work before Monday. Urgh. Nevertheless I shall enquire when I pick the car up.

Think I'll also ask him if he has a pot of O rings I can nick a few of if he can't do the work. I'll have to hope servicebox lists the correct diameters...

(Image borrowed from MrV6's ES9J4 spark plug HOWTO on the coupe club. Hope he doesn't mind...)


There's the AC pipes going into the bulkhead just to the left of the coolant pipes. Inside the huge rubber grommet(?), both pipes are apparently connected to (welded into?) the large plate. Wonder if I can manage to get the plate off with the manifold and strut brace in place... That'd save a whole lot of dismantling round the back at least

[Doggy]

Don''t trrust ServiceBox with the numbers, Matt. (I did & got the wrong ones).

There's only two types AFAIK and while they're expensive for what they are, a few of each would set you back less than a fiver.

[mjb]

I'll give the stealers a call tomorrow, but I'm almost certain they won't have them in stock. I'll just have to re-use the old ones

[teamster1975]

Christ Matt, hope you get it sorted in time

[mjb]

Urgh. It's quite clear that the aircon system was the very first thing attached to the freshly painted chassis in the factory. It runs underneath everything so I'll consider myself extremely lucky if I don't have to remove the master cylinder, servo and brake pipes At the very least the ABS unit has to come out and the engine wiring harness connector needs to be unplugged

Urgh.

[mjb]

DIEEEEEEE!

Just found out that the pipe I paid to be delivered overnight from the breaker's (ade2211 on the coupe club) hasn't even been posted so I've got a 150 mile round trip in the Golf tomorrow morning to go and get it

Why does life hate me so much?

[mjb]

It gets better...

Last night I had a revelation. Went to the garage to check, and yes, servicebox is wrong. It says the bottom hose (my knackered one) is the one that goes to the cabin, but it's not. It only goes to the condenser. WAYHEY! I thought... Job's going to be easy!

So I spent this morning driving 160 miles to the coupe breakers to pick up the replacement hose. No problem.

Just got out to fit it, and what's this? A snap lock connector on the condenser?

Yep, servicebox is doubly wrong. My coupé has a hybrid D8/D9 setup where most of it is D9 V6 components except with reversed compressor pipes, and also with D8 pipes going to the condenser.

So the result is, I can't do this. F**K!

Weather forecast is warm, damp and humid for the next fortnight too

[Doggy]

Bad luck Matt, feel for you.

Weather forecast is warm, damp and humid for the next fortnight too

On the bright side, maybe Michael Fish has been moonlighting for the Deutscher Wetterdienst

[STALLED]

Dude - that sucks!

So we're assuming that the Golf will be doing the holiday journey, as opposed to the mighty 406?

[mjb]

Dude - that sucks!

So we're assuming that the Golf will be doing the holiday journey, as opposed to the mighty 406?

Sod that! Umpteen hours of not-comfortable-enough seats, diesel clatter, crap stereo, and the constant fear of the cambelt snapping?

I went all the way back to Chesterfield and got a D8 condenser with pipes. With the joints I can now separate easily (the ones that aren't corroded solid) using a set of plastic tools I got from EuroCarPart seconds before they shut, I've mixed and matched a set of pipes that should work.

I'm just inside now for a fag break, but I've got the old pipes and condenser out and put the new compressor pipes on. Just got to fit the condenser, clamps, radiator, radiator hoses, coolant, air pipes, air filter box, undertray, then fill and bleed the coolant system... then take it somewhere in the morning for some gas. Hopefully it'll hold it this time (providing the joints are all good and the new (used) condenser hasn't got a hole...

Urgh

[Doggy]

Best of luck with it, Matt.

Just make your mind up you're gonna have a brilliant trip, aircon or not and if it works, it's a bonus.

[teamster1975]

Best of luck indeed! You're sure not one to be beaten!!

[mjb]

Got it all sorted by 11pm last night. 10am I was up and at Kwik Fit for a gassing. 12pm I got the car back with working aircon and started holiday shopping. 2pm started doing the washing and cleaned the car inside and out. 6pm started packing. 7pm finished packing and opened beer

Now the plan is to take a nap as soon as I've finished the beer, wake up at 10:30pm, have a shower, pack the food and beer (frozen 2 litre bottles of water make EXCELLENT ice packs!) and leave for dover at midnight, getting to Hamburg between 11am and 3pm depending on traffic.

Fingers crossed the aircon stays pressurised eh?

See you in a fortnight, hopefully with a Nurburgring lap time to report