P38A Air con pipe leak / repair

AndyF07 · Aug 3, 2023

Hi Guys,

I have a 2002 P8 4.0. The air con has sprung a leak in the pipe as it runs along the firewall at the back of the engine bay before going down into dash and the evaporator. I can hear it hissing out and think it is the low pressure pipe.

It looks like a mother of a job to replace the pipe as I assume the whole dash needs to come out as well as getting stuff out of the way in the engine bay. Does anyone know of a way to repair rather than replace, for instance with some sort of splice ?

Any advice appreciated as can almost guarantee a hot spell now

Cheers

Andy Burrell · Aug 4, 2023

There seem to be splice kits available on ebay some in the UK and others in the US. Not used one myself as when my parents car had a pin hole I was lucky enough to be able to get the section of pipe out and the local hydraulics shop inserted a joint where the pin hole was, also made it easier to get back on the car.

AndyF07 · Aug 5, 2023

Andy Burrell said:
There seem to be splice kits available on ebay some in the UK and others in the US. Not used one myself as when my parents car had a pin hole I was lucky enough to be able to get the section of pipe out and the local hydraulics shop inserted a joint where the pin hole was, also made it easier to get back on the car.

Thank you @Andy Burrell. I jumped the gun a bit and on further investigation there is a join at the bulkhead going in to the evaporator so won't need to get after the dash. Hopefully should be reasonably easy to swap the pipe out with a new one now. Looking forward to some cool air

Grrrrrr · Aug 7, 2023

AndyF07 said:
Hi Guys,

I have a 2002 P8 4.0. The air con has sprung a leak in the pipe as it runs along the firewall at the back of the engine bay before going down into dash and the evaporator. I can hear it hissing out and think it is the low pressure pipe.

It looks like a mother of a job to replace the pipe as I assume the whole dash needs to come out as well as getting stuff out of the way in the engine bay. Does anyone know of a way to repair rather than replace, for instance with some sort of splice ?

Any advice appreciated as can almost guarantee a hot spell now

Cheers

You could try Quiksteel. Might get lucky if there is room.

AndyF07 · Aug 15, 2023

In case anyone comes across this post looking for a similar problem, It is much easier than first thought. I popped in a new low pressure line from expansion valve in firewall to compressor and high pressure line from expansion valve to a joint approx half way to compressor, Bit fiddly to get to expansion valve connector behind air intake if you have big hands but otherwise pretty simple. Only had to pop out air cleaner box as pipes run under it. Nice to have a bit of cold air for the three hot days per year we get here in mid Wales

P38A Air con pipe leak / repair

AndyF07

Active Member

Andy Burrell

Retired to the country

AndyF07

Active Member

Grrrrrr

Technician, Bodgit & Scarper Ltd

AndyF07

Active Member

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