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993 air con repair

gilliambot

Member
Joined
21 May 2016
Messages
11
So, I have had my 993 for about a week, its glorious. Although the oil temp gauge confuses and (hopefully) needlessly worries me, the only other issue is completely caput air conditioning- something I knew when I bought it. Does anybody know what sort of price I should be expecting to pay to get it fixed. I assume it will involve a complete overhaul.
 
It depends what's wrong.

Best case would be a £50 regas.

Quite likely to be the condenser and receiver/dryer, ballast resistor replacement. Budget £500 to buy the parts, fit and regas if done professionally.

If its evaporator then suddenly it's a £1000 or more.

Get a professional to check it over and you'll have a better idea of what's it's going to cost.
 
Evaporator is more than £1000, the part is cheap but involves a full strip down to bulkhead to get at it so labour hours are high. That's why most check the condenser and ballast first as relatively easy to get at. Usually never just a regass or the previous owner would have done it for sale. Ps Halford used to check for free but usually takes a few days to leak so hold pressure and works at first but they would refund if returned in a few days, check if that's still the case :dont know:
 
Go to a good indie and they will give you an honest appraisal of the car. Could be anything and might be fixed for a couple of hundred quid. You need to find the leak. Chances are something else might go wrong - it's that sort of thing.

Mine currently at JAZ having new A/C compressor fitted....
 
Changing the evaporator aint complicated its just very time consuming. I have heard some can get it out without removing the fuel tank completely :eek:

All evaporators will fail at some point and if original will be most likely nowhere near as efficient as they should be. I started with the easy option of changing the condensor and receiver/dryer before admitting defeat and getting the evaporator swapped :nooo:
The annoying thing is the part is c£70 but 10hrs of labour aint :pc:

You can DIY if you feel lucky: http://p-car.com/diy/ac/
 
Old cars with old air conditioning can be problematic and they can be expensive to repair ....... good luck ........ I hope it doesn't squeeze your wallet too much.
 
I had the same situation, knew the aircon was patchy (at best) when I bought it. Happy to use the sunroof unless it's raining...

So far I've ignored it but will probably have it investigated when it goes in for a service this year.
 
I ignored my knackered AC for 9 years :oops:
A few months ago I bit the bullet and stated with a mobile re-gas guy, who did a leak test and found the condenser was to blame.
New condenser plus receiver installed, re-gas, has been working away since.
Cost less than €600 all in.
 
Its so easy to carried away with these cars - my aircon was poor, read all the threads went out and bought evaporators, condensers, o- rings, seals for the compressor inlet/outlet, new belts etc. Got a regass at Kwik - Fit (mixed reviews but the Glasgow depot seemed fine once I pointed out where the connection points were) and subsequently a leak was found in the cooling pipe under the passenger sill. Replaced it and it blew cooler - off course I replaced all the other bits I purchased over time and it blew a bit cooler with the only 'piece' left to replace being the fuel tank removal part!

I can live with cold air as opposed to modern chilled air but the moral of the story is start with a regas and replace what is obviously faulty....
 
madalaa said:
That seems a very decent price Barny ........ :)

Saves taking off the donkey jacket in summer. To be sure :thumb:
 
Zingari said:
madalaa said:
That seems a very decent price Barny ........ :)

Saves taking off the donkey jacket in summer. To be sure :thumb:

When it's on full cold , I have two extra donkey jacket hangers :whistle:
 
ColinC said:
Its so easy to carried away with these cars - my aircon was poor, read all the threads went out and bought evaporators, condensers, o- rings, seals for the compressor inlet/outlet, new belts etc. Got a regass at Kwik - Fit (mixed reviews but the Glasgow depot seemed fine once I pointed out where the connection points were) and subsequently a leak was found in the cooling pipe under the passenger sill. Replaced it and it blew cooler - off course I replaced all the other bits I purchased over time and it blew a bit cooler with the only 'piece' left to replace being the fuel tank removal part!

I can live with cold air as opposed to modern chilled air but the moral of the story is start with a regas and replace what is obviously faulty....

I think the pipe issue in the sill is on early cars, the rubber bracket that holds it in this location had a design fault which caused the support to rub a hole in the pipe. Worst part being when they run a vaccum test, mine did not lose pressure as it pulled the rubber hanger tight against the hole, in turn sealing the leak! I believe the part was re-designed. I replaced just about the whole of the AC system and although the Condensor needed replacing Im not sure much else did as the main culprate was the pipe in the sill, which ironically is quite a cheap fix!
 
Mike-M said:
I think the pipe issue in the sill is on early cars, the rubber bracket that holds it in this location had a design fault which caused the support to rub a hole in the pipe. Worst part being when they run a vaccum test, mine did not lose pressure as it pulled the rubber hanger tight against the hole, in turn sealing the leak! I believe the part was re-designed. I replaced just about the whole of the AC system and although the Condensor needed replacing Im not sure much else did as the main culprate was the pipe in the sill, which ironically is quite a cheap fix!

They may have redesigned it but my July 97 car still had the same problem. Pretty easy to pop off the passenger side sill cover and take a look yourself to see if there's any sign of leakage. I could see dye on mine. I tried disconnect the leaking pipe but the soft alloy that the pipes are made of was now welded solid to the connection and wouldn't shift.

I'm not sure where the OP is located but Alpinair at Hanger Lane/Alperton cut the offending leaking piece out and welded new length of pipe in for me and were pretty reasonable. AC has been working fine since for the last year and still very efficient. Problem is that you could fix the leak and then find a weakness somewhere else in the circuit I suppose....

Alpinair had a few Porsches in when I was there - I think they may subcontract to an OPC or big indie.
 
LondonRob said:
Mike-M said:
I think the pipe issue in the sill is on early cars, the rubber bracket that holds it in this location had a design fault which caused the support to rub a hole in the pipe. Worst part being when they run a vaccum test, mine did not lose pressure as it pulled the rubber hanger tight against the hole, in turn sealing the leak! I believe the part was re-designed. I replaced just about the whole of the AC system and although the Condensor needed replacing Im not sure much else did as the main culprate was the pipe in the sill, which ironically is quite a cheap fix!

They may have redesigned it but my July 97 car still had the same problem. Pretty easy to pop off the passenger side sill cover and take a look yourself to see if there's any sign of leakage. I could see dye on mine. I tried disconnect the leaking pipe but the soft alloy that the pipes are made of was now welded solid to the connection and wouldn't shift.

Does anyone have a link to the Technical Bulletin for the air-con pipes in the sill? I have the sill cover off but can't work out how to get the rubber support out to inspect the pipes.
 

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