E51 E51 Aircon Pipe Corrosion (Rear)

[Indidreamer]

Aircon question - should the air be really cold? the lowest setting on mine is 18 degrees, front and rear, it does blow cold but not freezing cold as older aircon systems I have had. It does cool the bus down but the cold air is about 18 degrees coming out of the vent, is this normal or does it need re-gassing?

I had mine regassed every year.

I'm not a whippet of a man, and when mine was functioning perfectly 2 weeks ago, it was noticeably cooling from hot and steamy within 2 mins and would then get so cold I often had to turn it back up to 20c.

When it's in good shape 18c is plenty cold.

 

[Nevillerover]

I believe that modern-gas AC isn’t as cold as in the olden days.

 

[Lpgc]

I believe that modern-gas AC isn’t as cold as in the olden days.

Something like an old American car could get -8degC coming out of the vents while driving through a hot desert in 'desert mode' (low humidity mode). Different spec compressors, evaporators, refrigerant gas and set up to cycle differently (temps / pressures etc).

I believe the old R12 gas was more efficient than R134. A lot of systems that used R12 could work well using my favourite gas propane (LPG) lol.

 

[Nevillerover]

I bet you watch telly sniffing LPG.

 

[LeStempy]

I bet his telly is powered by lpg.

 

[Greendragon]

Sorry - this may be a stupid question, but on my 2007 e51, the aircon has been working fine for a few years, but I've noticed in the past couple of weeks that it takes about 15 mins for it to start blowing cold. Once it starts getting cold, it works fine.

Does this sound like low gas, or maybe another issue?

I'm going to check the rear pipe at the weekend. Cheers

 

[Londonglide]

Probably worth getting the aircon checked as it may just be low, unless you think the pipe has corroded. Regas shouldn't be too expensive

 

[Tino]

Sorry - this may be a stupid question, but on my 2007 e51, the aircon has been working fine for a few years, but I've noticed in the past couple of weeks that it takes about 15 mins for it to start blowing cold. Once it starts getting cold, it works fine.

Does this sound like low gas, or maybe another issue?

I'm going to check the rear pipe at the weekend. Cheers

Could be low gas, our old Ford would do that, like it needed to 'get up to pressure' to function correctly. We had it filled and it was perfect afterwards. Here is the amount of gas required from under my bonnet if you choose to go that way

 

[Steve~Mk1]

Just to update - 14 months on and the AC is still blowing cold within a minute of switching on.
Used it a lot for demisting over the winter tbh - but my Elgrand definitely needs AC in the sun as it's black/G30 - the sleeved pipe seems to have done the trick on this E51!

 

[l4mbert]

Just bought an Elgrand, my aircon works so will check this and do some preventative maintenence, thanks all

 

[bliss]

Hi all! Just got an 2008 Elgrand and ideally would love to keep it forever. Just had a look at my Rear AC pipe and it looks fine atm but there's no flap?

My idea is to spray rust converter, rustproof paint, then dynax UC or s50 as underseal. But not sure what sort of DIY removable cover I could use to close it off? Many thanks!

 

[fpan]

There are 2 versions of the part for the rear AC pipe. Yours has the later version that is open and has an angled metal to prevent crap going into the recess. Mine was the same as yours and was corroded so I bought a good second hand version of the one with the flap, protected it and had it fitted and undersealed when the car was undersealed by Adrian earlier last summer.

 

[WhatsThisFor]

There are 2 versions of the part for the rear AC pipe. Yours has the later version that is open and has an angled metal to prevent crap going into the recess. Mine was the same as yours and was corroded so I bought a good second hand version of the one with the flap, protected it and had it fitted and undersealed when the car was undersealed by Adrian earlier last summer.

Me too.

 

[bliss]

There are 2 versions of the part for the rear AC pipe. Yours has the later version that is open and has an angled metal to prevent crap going into the recess. Mine was the same as yours and was corroded so I bought a good second hand version of the one with the flap, protected it and had it fitted and undersealed when the car was undersealed by Adrian earlier last summer.

I see. How did you install the one with the flap, did you just use self tapping screws? Did it need any modification or did it just fit fine?

Was wondering if spraying underseal on the rear ac pipes ok? Or just apply and coat it in some sort of grease to prevent rusting?

 

[Lumberjack1980]

Looks like mine , 2007 E51, is also the later version. Condition looks good I reckon!?!

 

[Andyzz]

they can rot from the inside out mine did

 

[Steve~Mk1]

Looks like mine , 2007 E51, is also the later version. Condition looks good I reckon!?!View attachment 120554

The pipe corrodes inside the rubber 'sock' that goes over the pipe, under the front end 'horseshoe/hoop' bit of the cover - about level with the rubber exhaust hanger in your pic. So you can't really tell the condition before you peel that sock back and check, hopefully finding some nice clean alloy that you can paint over to protect.
The sleeve repair I did to mine is still working fine after 2 years thankfully.

 

[Lumberjack1980]

The pipe corrodes inside the rubber 'sock' that goes over the pipe, under the front end 'horseshoe/hoop' bit of the cover - about level with the rubber exhaust hanger in your pic. So you can't really tell the condition before you peel that sock back and check, hopefully finding some nice clean alloy that you can paint over to protect.
The sleeve repair I did to mine is still working fine after 2 years thankfully.

Thanks. Do you mean here???

 

[Steve~Mk1]

Probably from that point to about 50mm outside the 'cover' - I think it was LPGC that said it's galvanic corrosion from the steel in the cover, even though there's a rubber 'sock' over the pipe. Pics in this post indicate where they go: https://forum.elgrandoc.uk/threads/e51-aircon-pipe-corrosion-rear.8597/post-523468