AC Condenser and Dryer change Walk Through.

I have just changed the AC condenser and Dryer in my 2001 4.6 Vogue. As I’ve read other peoples walk through’s I thought I’d give it a go myself.

1. [FONT=&quot]Remove the front grille which has 6 screws holding it on.



2. Remove the 4 x M8 bolts that hold the top plate above the radiator, taking care to release the 2 x cable ties supporting the bonnet release cable.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Yours will be 13mm hex bolts, but as you can see I’ve replaced mine with stainless steel Allen head bolts.

[/FONT]3. Using 10mm socket remove the 4 bolts and brackets holding the condenser at the top.

4. Remove the plastic shield seen to the right of the condenser by popping out the 2 plastic fasteners with a small screwdriver.

5. I didn’t remove the bumper as the last 2 bolts holding the condenser are accessible through the lower grille with a 10mm socket and extension. Remove the 2 bolts.

6. Now undo the 2 x connector pipes with a 19mm AF spanner. These are on the right hand side. Keep them very clean once disconnected. I sealed mine with rubber glove fingers that I cut off a disposable glove. Lift up the condenser off the 2 lower alignment dowels then remove the 2 x fan plugs. Now remove the condenser complete with fans from the car.

7. As all my R134a refrigerant had already left the car via the damaged condenser NO gas came out when the pipes were removed in section 6 above. If you have gas in your system it should be recovered by a professional AC engineer. I don’t know how nasty R134a is to the ozone layer, but I heard that one molecule of old fashion Freon could destroy 40,000 Ozone molecules in the atmosphere. My condenser was leaking from the top RH corner, shown here by the greenish oily residue.

8. Swap over the fans to the new condenser.

9. Now I changed the Dryer as access was better without the condenser in place. This caused me the most agro as the connectors were very tight having been on for 10 years or so. Dryer is located to the right of the condenser attached to the chassis rail effectively behind the right spot light.

The top pipe connection seen here was very difficult to remove. The torque required to loosen the nut was so great the mounting of the Dryer began to buckle. I had to brace the Dryer with a piece of wood so the fragile alloy pipes were not too strained. Once the pipe was off I removed the whole Dryer assembly with the rest of the pipe work and switches attached after unplugging the electrics from the switches.

10. Transfer the switches and U pipe to the new Dryer. Old Dryer shown.

11. Refit the Dryer with new “O” rings lightly lubricated with oil from the new condenser. Fit new condenser to car again with new “O” rings which in my case came with the condenser.

12. Refit top plate and make sure bonnet release cable is re-secured. Refit front Grille.

I suspect most people will leave the old Dryer and just replace the condenser. I replaced the Dryer on the advice of an AC engineer who said that one should change the Dryer whenever the system is opened up. Estimate that to change just the condenser an hour should be enough time, more if you do the Dryer as well. Now I just need to get it re-gassed which I hope to do later this week.

LW......

Well done.....pic's as well !!!!

The majority of condenser leaks are at the top l.h. corner.

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Nice post, Have to admit I put mine in one of my customers to do coz I couldn't be arsed to do it lol.
Where did you get the condenser? Have read that there are a couple of different sizes. I got my from one of my suppliers - Nissens which was spot on.

I bought both the condenser and Dryer from an E-bay seller called trading_consumables. Check E-bay item number 230616688417 which is exactly what I bought for £75 plus postage. Condenser is supplied with oil and dye and new "O" rings. Time will tell if this was a good buy or not. Appears to be well made.

Regarding size, all P38's except very late built 01 cars have the same size condenser. A LR mechanic told me that these late cars have smaller condensers than the rest. There is a post on here from someone who has one of these cars and he is having trouble getting a new condenser at a resonable price.

LW....

That's a pretty keen price, much cheaper than what I would sell it for lol.

Yeah I read that about late P38's, mine's a 09/01 and still has the larger, squarer condenser. God knows why they changed it!

Just a quick update on this post to say that I had the system re-gassed this morning and it appears to be working fine now.

So fairly simple job I'd say.

LW.....

simple job that we found three problems with:

1) the brackets at the bottom of the condensor made it really hard to pull out and the bolts were all misaligned at the bottom. it wouldn't just pull out that easily at all.
2) there was no way we could get to the bolt at the bottom of the dryer - could see it but not reach it, prevented us from replacing it.
3) brackets again and alignment of the last bolts at the bottom to get the new condensor back in was a nightmare to jiggle around and line up so it would slot in.

we have a P38 2.5 DSE 2000

orlad said:

simple job that we found three problems with:

1) the brackets at the bottom of the condensor made it really hard to pull out and the bolts were all misaligned at the bottom. it wouldn't just pull out that easily at all.
2) there was no way we could get to the bolt at the bottom of the dryer - could see it but not reach it, prevented us from replacing it.
3) brackets again and alignment of the last bolts at the bottom to get the new condensor back in was a nightmare to jiggle around and line up so it would slot in.

we have a P38 2.5 DSE 2000

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When you run into trouble like this it is best to remove the bumper so you have better access. The bumper is held on by 2 screws and two clips and less than 15 mins effort.

thanks for your reply, I think we should have done that in the first place! I still dont know how much effect it is going to have on the bottom bolt of the dryer but it has to give more space.

Just tried this. All came to pieces easily enough but for the life of me the 19mm nut holding the top ac pipe to the condenesr would not undo, and instead preferred to simply crumple and shred when I approached it with spanners, mole grips, pliers and harsh language. Extremely frustrating as now I'm likely to have to go to a professional.

This is the story of my P38 maintenance life it seems. "Simple" jobs made almost impossible by shoddy quality parts. Extremely soft metal in this case.

This is made all the more annoying by the absolute ease of replacing a part on my E46 BMW which is only a year or so newer than my Range Rover.

So if the AC gas when released after taking the condenser pipes off will murder 40,000 ozone grommits, how many were killed when the gas escaped when it leaked out?

Thought the reason they changed rom R12 to R134a was because the latter was better to the environment..??!!

better- not good.

My gas has all been sucked out by a garage, once they diagnosed the issue as condenser related. "No", said I foolishly, "Don 't replace it. I'll change the condenser myself, save a bit of money." More fool me.