Aircon condensor

Datatek · Jun 14, 2013

L322 diesel.

Just helped a friend replace a leaking condensor. Apart from the 2 dozen bolts to undo on the slam plate, it's a really easy job. The slam plate can be eased out without disturbing the headlights, mark round the lugs if the dirt does not show where they go. After the slam plate is out, remove the plastic strip across the top of the front cowl, then 2 allen bolts and pull the aircon pipes. there is then one screw on the block the pipes went into and 2 plastic pieces on the corners of the condensor and RAD that have to be unclipped then the condensor just lifts out. Reassembly is the reverse, dead easy 40 minutes from start to finish apart from the cleaning.
Now the horrible bit. The lower two inches of the RAD in the space between the RAD and the condensor was chock solid with mashed insects and rubbish, the top was the same and perhaps 50% of the rest of the RAD was well covered with muck, took longer to clean all the crap out than replace the condensor.
So, if your L322 overheats, suspect a blocked radiator.

2.0_hippo · Jun 14, 2013

You love working on L322's

Nice and easy aren't they ? Lol

Datatek · Jun 14, 2013

2.0_hippo said:
You love working on L322's

Nice and easy aren't they ? Lol

Condensor replacement is certainly easy, clearing all the crap blocking the RAD was not.

2.0_hippo · Jun 14, 2013

Datatek said:
Condensor replacement is certainly easy, clearing all the crap blocking the RAD was not.

Does your friend maintain his car ? Lol

Datatek · Jun 14, 2013

2.0_hippo said:
Does your friend maintain his car ? Lol

No pays to have it done at LR. However due to the design, it's impossible to clean the RAD without removing the condensor, perhaps that's why the condensor is made to fail every 3 years.

Paul271 · Jun 17, 2013

Cheers for the write up mate. I've no doubt it'll go eventually!

holidaychicken · Oct 16, 2013

Bit of an old thread but surprise surprise I need a new condenser
For my 04, 4.4 l322.
I've seen a few cheaper condensers for sale but most seem to be around the £200 mark
Is there any to avoid or are all much the same?
I don't want a used one really.

Datatek · Oct 17, 2013

holidaychicken said:
Bit of an old thread but surprise surprise I need a new condenser
For my 04, 4.4 l322.
I've seen a few cheaper condensers for sale but most seem to be around the £200 mark
Is there any to avoid or are all much the same?
I don't want a used one really.

I think just over £100 was paid for the condensor

holidaychicken · Oct 17, 2013

Datatek said:
I think just over £100 was paid for the condensor

thanks for the reply, thats not bad, any ideas where from, sorry i know its an old thread and i must remember to subscribe to threads i post on
cheers

Datatek · Oct 18, 2013

holidaychicken said:
thanks for the reply, thats not bad, any ideas where from, sorry i know its an old thread and i must remember to subscribe to threads i post on
cheers

It was bought in Holland but I've seen them on Ebay. None of them last very long so don't overpay.

holidaychicken · Oct 18, 2013

Datatek said:
It was bought in Holland but I've seen them on Ebay. None of them last very long so don't overpay.

ok thanks i'll have a shop around, ive been quoted £400 to supply, fit and gas using a hella OEM type part, so i think i might wait until summer.......

Datatek · Oct 18, 2013

holidaychicken said:
ok thanks i'll have a shop around, ive been quoted £400 to supply, fit and gas using a hella OEM type part, so i think i might wait until summer.......

It's a piece of cake to fit, just lots of nuts and bolts, having done one, I reckon I could do another in an hour

£100/£150 for the condensor, £50 for a regas.

holidaychicken · Oct 18, 2013

Datatek said:
It's a piece of cake to fit, just lots of nuts and bolts, having done one, I reckon I could do another in an hour £100/£150 for the condensor, £50 for a regas.

sounds good to me, cant be harder than my gearbox remove recon and refit and a lot cheaper........

Datatek · Oct 18, 2013

holidaychicken said:
sounds good to me, cant be harder than my gearbox remove recon and refit and a lot cheaper........

After what you have done, it's a piece of ****. I would not have the courage to do what you did with the gearbox.

holidaychicken · Oct 18, 2013

Datatek said:
After what you have done, it's a piece of ****. I would not have the courage to do what you did with the gearbox.

you need a loony to help / manage the project and bemble on stand by to do the valve block and give advice when needed without which i wouldnt even consider it

i probably took some tools that we had for granted but i dont think there was much that was really difficult, the best bit was the ramps as 4 axle stands on a block paving drive holding up 2.5 tonnes..... fook that

once you start taking bits off it soon starts to look more straight forward but i must admit it took me a while to decide as i had an option of paying a garage £1250 to do it but we did so much more than they would have done to the cooling system, oil breathers, vacuum system, oil cooler even waxoyling the exposed chassis etc etc ......

holidaychicken · May 22, 2014

i bought a nissens condenser for £145 of egay, going to try the slam panel out method at the weekend
i cant find anyone on the net that has used this method but it looks like a good option to me so stand by as i'm sure now the better weather is on its way, more of us will need the a/c

Datatek · May 23, 2014

holidaychicken said:
i bought a nissens condenser for £145 of egay, going to try the slam panel out method at the weekend
i cant find anyone on the net that has used this method but it looks like a good option to me so stand by as i'm sure now the better weather is on its way, more of us will need the a/c

Tis easy once you find out which bolts to undo to remove the slam panel

Be prepared for a pile of crap between the RAD's, vac and/or airline needed on the one I did

holidaychicken · May 23, 2014

cheers mate, i had the rad out when we did the tranny as fitted a few new coolant pipes and we also swapped the tranny cooler and pipes and fitted new belts and just about everything we set eyes on......
.
it was like worzel gummidges inside pocket between the rads with also sorts of crap nesting in there

holidaychicken · Jun 4, 2014

Bit of an update
The slam panel removal was a piece of cake and this method worked a treat so thanks to Datatek :clap2:, much better than fannying around removing the fan, was that a pun?

I undid most of the bolts but i don't think i needed to. i undid the top headlights ones, the ones on the wings, the screws holding in the bonnet catches and a couple of others but some others i didn't need to but didn't hurt. I used a cordeless drill and a set of hex nut spinners which made it really fast and the adjustable torque setting helped to not overload anything.

There is a small torx bolt under the pipe manifold that needs to be undone along with the two holding on the pipes and that's it. the grill and a few bits of trim later and the condenser just slides straight up and out.

I spent a bit of time cleaning and rust proofing just because the job itself was so easy.

I bought the Nissens condenser for £145 of ebay but wasn't impressed with the quality. it had loads of weld spatter that had been painted over, it was all black which didn't look right and there is supposed to be 2 location pins for the connector block that were on the old condenser but not the new one so i made a couple out of a drill bit as the old ones wouldn't come out of the old part.
The Nissens part only has a 1 year warranty so i think i would be tempted to buy the cheaper £89 condensers off the bay which come with a 2 year warranty but hopefully wont have to.
Finally back to Kwikfit for a £49 refill and 1 week in i still have a fridge rather than an oven
Thanks for the original post

holidaychicken · Jun 4, 2014

more of an update, i forgot i emailed nissens and didnt see this reply but this does instil more confidence in their product.
Dear sir

Sorry I have not replied sooner , But we were on a bank holiday yesterday .

I have checked a unit here today , And I do see what you mean .

We have since 2013 added a protective coating to these condensers , As the position of where the condenser was mounted had suffered with corrosion from the general road salt etc which on this model was not giving a expected life of service we would expect .

The Anti corrosive coating was added in 2013 and with this we are confident of a extended life of the condenser .

The Overall appearance I grant you could be better and I will take this up with the Quality dept .

The Connections you ask about are not supplied with the condenser and have never been they are re used from your existing condenser .

I trust this email answers your question , I am sorry that the product appearance gives you a negative view to our usual high standards and I thank you for highlighting this so we can take this up with our production

Should you have any further questions , Please contact me directly

Aircon condensor

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