E51 E51 Aircon Pipe Corrosion (Rear)

[Str8rb]

One of the " MAIN " reasons to have your aircon re-gassed every 2-3 years is because the refrigerant fluid has a lubricating oil in it which helps keeps the main aircon compressor working fully all the time thus it does not dry out the seals and seize up.

2-3 years might be a bit excissive imo, the AC oil doesn’t just dry up inside the system it can stay good for as long as the r134. Then when it comes to a regass it’s imposible to know how much oil gets left in the system and how much oil to really add when refilling meaning you usially end up with too much oil or not enough

 

[BMR]

What a lot of people don't understand is that the air con pipe to the rear is one pipe inside another so the refrigerant travels to the rear down the centre pipe runs through the rear evaporator then returns between the centre pipe and the outer pipe which is very hard to replicate, yes it could be done but with tooling costs and specialist welding and bending of a limited quantity of pipes its likely to be very expensive and not being Rothchilds I am not going to spend multiple thousands to stock a pipe which when I say its £X I get a reply of "that's expensive I will leave it"

 

[Phil]

What a lot of people don't understand is that the air con pipe to the rear is one pipe inside another so the refrigerant travels to the rear down the centre pipe runs through the rear evaporator then returns between the centre pipe and the outer pipe which is very hard to replicate, yes it could be done but with tooling costs and specialist welding and bending of a limited quantity of pipes its likely to be very expensive and not being Rothchilds I am not going to spend multiple thousands to stock a pipe which when I say its £X I get a reply of "that's expensive I will leave it"

how's your idea of blanking plates to allow the front air con to work (mentioned by @blingo ) coming along please Brian?

 

[blingo]

how's your idea of blanking plates to allow the front air con to work (mentioned by @blingo ) coming along please Brian?

Not heard anything yet, was waiting for some plates to be machined - was going to take around a month before they could be done.

Would like to get it sorted soon - my receding hairline isn't happy with the amount of time spent in the sun in the MX5

 

[Phil]

Not heard anything yet, was waiting for some plates to be machined - was going to take around a month before they could be done.

Would like to get it sorted soon - my receding hairline isn't happy with the amount of time spent in the sun in the MX5

You're lucky it's only receeding, mines gone mate

It's been damn hot stuck in traffic with this weather. Going to get mine pressure tested at MOT time - end of the month. Will let you know how it goes

 

[Lpgc]

I have just been searching for the rear section of the 3 part pipe used as a replacement pipe so the suspension dosnt need removing to fit the single piece pipe its 92460-WL062 which Nissan states as discontinued.

Thanks for trying anyway Bri.
I assume this means those of us who already have the aftermarket multi-section pipe setup and only need the rear section are unlikely to be able to get it?

 

[BMR]

Looks like it Simon unless there is some old stock laying around some place.

 

[Lize]

One of the " MAIN " reasons to have your aircon re-gassed every 2-3 years is because the refrigerant fluid has a lubricating oil in it which helps keeps the main aircon compressor working fully all the time thus it does not dry out the seals and seize up.

Yes, to be clear my re-gassing discussion with him was more about any effect on the pipes and making them last longer. One of the other things the air con man chap mentioned was running it all year rather than only the summer, I run mine all year round which helps to keep everything lubricated and working (de-mists windows better as well).

 

[Lpgc]

Thanks Bri.
Before I bought my Elgrand I wasn't really looking much at design of AC pipes so may not have noticed what percentage of Elgrands I converted to LPG had the sectioned (as opposed to single piece) front to rear AC pipe but since I've owned mine I know I've converted a few Elgrands that have the aftermarket sectioned pipe as mine does. That's a few out of maybe 20 Elgrands I've converted since I've owned mine, so maybe the proportion of Elgrands that have the sectioned setup is somewhere around 10%. (thoughts on that 10% guess Bri?). There are Elgrands in UK scrapyards but the numbers probably don't make it very likely that those of us just needing a piece of the sectioned setup would find one easily in a UK scrapyard... So would there be a way of sourcing the sectioned setup from Japan scrapyards?
Someone might buy quite a few second hand sectioned pipes (all sections so complete pipes) and buy 10% (same as figure above) extra rear sections (section that always seems to corrode) to sell on? The advantage for those who already have the aftermarket sectioned setup is obvious, those whose Elgrands still have the original single section pipe would have the advantage of not having to drop the rear suspension if they replaced theirs with the sectioned setup. Thoughts on whether this would be workable? And if so, if Jap scrapyards could be trusted to only sell pipes that are in good condition?

 

[Brendan1969]

Not heard anything yet, was waiting for some plates to be machined - was going to take around a month before they could be done.

Would like to get it sorted soon - my receding hairline isn't happy with the amount of time spent in the sun in the MX5

Hairdressers car eh

 

[Brendan1969]

Yes, to be clear my re-gassing discussion with him was more about any effect on the pipes and making them last longer. One of the other things the air con man chap mentioned was running it all year rather than only the summer, I run mine all year round which helps to keep everything lubricated and working (de-mists windows better as well).

Yes I also run mine in all my cars all the time all year. It does indeed keep things all nice and functional. Each to their own at the end of the day as to how they maintain their systems. I have always stuck to the every 2-3 years and never had an issue ever. I have however listened to many who have said " oh its cost me a bloody fortune to get my aircon fixed " and they never used it until they wanted to use it and then it did not work. Oh well

 

[Brendan1969]

2-3 years might be a bit excissive imo, the AC oil doesn’t just dry up inside the system it can stay good for as long as the r134. Then when it comes to a regass it’s imposible to know how much oil gets left in the system and how much oil to really add when refilling meaning you usially end up with too much oil or not enough

That's your opinion and that's fine albeit its not mine.

 

[Brendan1969]

There must be someone out there who could manufacture a replacement pipe in 3 sections who could make some decent money on these surely.

Surely Purtek's can???

 

[Chris T]

As a matter of fact since it pretty much universally fails at the same point, only a small section and a method of connecting it in would be required to be made, and a premium could be charged for it.

 

[Catweazle]

2-3 years might be a bit excissive imo, the AC oil doesn’t just dry up inside the system it can stay good for as long as the r134. Then when it comes to a regass it’s imposible to know how much oil gets left in the system and how much oil to really add when refilling meaning you usially end up with too much oil or not enough

Which is why the system should be purged and pressure tested before regasing.

 

[Lize]

Yes I also run mine in all my cars all the time all year. It does indeed keep things all nice and functional. Each to their own at the end of the day as to how they maintain their systems. I have always stuck to the every 2-3 years and never had an issue ever. I have however listened to many who have said " oh its cost me a bloody fortune to get my aircon fixed " and they never used it until they wanted to use it and then it did not work. Oh well

Which is why the system should be purged and pressure tested before regasing.

Yes, my car is 3 years old and I'm thinking I should have that done, hadn't really given it any thought before now. Particularly as it's about to go out of warranty and I'm not sure whether I will extend it.

 

[blingo]

Yes I also run mine in all my cars all the time all year. It does indeed keep things all nice and functional. Each to their own at the end of the day as to how they maintain their systems. I have always stuck to the every 2-3 years and never had an issue ever. I have however listened to many who have said " oh its cost me a bloody fortune to get my aircon fixed " and they never used it until they wanted to use it and then it did not work. Oh well

I've always run mine all year round too - yet here's two of us that have had it fail whilst doing that. Maybe the regassing every 2-3 years helps, I would agree it's a good idea for the aircon system overall but I can't really see how it's going to stop that pipe corroding...

Maybe we've been unlucky, maybe you've been lucky - nobody knows for sure.

 

[blingo]

Hairdressers car eh

Ah that old chesnut!

Never really understood it.

Is it the "style over substance / performance" argument? Well, I honestly couldn't give a f**k about what anyone else thinks about my car or how I look when I'm driving it. It's a cheap car that handles pretty well and is fun to drive at non licence losing speeds - the roof coming off is a bonus. Ironically, in this sense my Elgrand is more of a hairdressers car - I specifically bought a Rider because of the way it looks, knowing full well it adds nothing to the driving dynamics...

Or is it because it's a bit, you know "nudge, nudge, wink, wink - homosexual"?

Fancy a trim?

 

[Lpgc]

Running AC all year helps prevent the issue of seals leaking but won't prevent the issue of aluminium pipes corroding from the outside. On other cars I've had (with working aircon.. pft!) during winter I normally run aircon occasionally to keep seals and the pump in good order - aircon helps demist windows but can also be the cause of misted windows due to water that condensed on the evaporator (which of course is in the airflow channel to windscreen air vents). Occasionally because all things eventually wear out including AC pump parts and running AC uses a bit more fuel.

 

[Brendan1969]

Ah that old chesnut!

Never really understood it.

Is it the "style over substance / performance" argument? Well, I honestly couldn't give a f**k about what anyone else thinks about my car or how I look when I'm driving it. It's a cheap car that handles pretty well and is fun to drive at non licence losing speeds - the roof coming off is a bonus. Ironically, in this sense my Elgrand is more of a hairdressers car - I specifically bought a Rider because of the way it looks, knowing full well it adds nothing to the driving dynamics...

Or is it because it's a bit, you know "nudge, nudge, wink, wink - homosexual"?

Fancy a trim?

I have heard you seem like a nice boy