My VW Service Manager at the local dealership tells me that the AC hoses I need have been discontinued by VW and cannot be obtained. All the salvage yards tell me they toss all such hoses when harvesting the AC compressors. No luck finding them so far. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Russell O
A good AC specialty shop can make up hoses from bulk. Sometimes they can reuse the fittings and metal sections by replacing the rubber hose only. On a few old imports it has been necessary to weld up fittings. I repaired an old Mini-Wini that required a great deal of costly re-engineering.
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Rod, thanks for replying. However, it’s not the rubber part of the hose that is the problem. It will not seat properly into the compressor. There is a bracket that presses both hoses into place with a bolt in the middle. The bracket is permanently attached to one of the hoses but is open on one end to allow the other hose to be secured. The technician put a new O-ring in place but that did not help. The fitting still leaks. I suggested welding the fitting in place but he said the heat may damage the compressor. Looks like I need to get a new (or used) hose that has the bracket attached to it.
If all that is needed is a bracket a machine shop could replicate one from the old one. Will not be cheap but may be all you can do.
The Eurovan is still at the VW dealership but your suggestion is good. I think I will get the technician to take the hoses off and I will see if I can find a machine shop that will tackle the project. Thanks.
You might consider taking the hoses to a diesel truck repair shop. They have the press and attachments to crimp ferrules on various types of high pressure hoses.
I had an oddball A/C hose some years ago and I seem to remember they only charged me 10 bucks for the ferrules and to crimp them onto my hoses. So cheap I felt guilty about it.
Good suggestion; thanks. I can use a cheap fix about now. This Eurovan has been milking me big time over the past couple of years.
O rings were once as common as table salt but these days there seems to be a special class of O-rings for each system for each manufacturer and they change from year to year. The O-rings for a late model VW may not have the same cross section diameter or shape or density to seal your fittings. Your description of the fitting is similar to ones that I recall being somewhat common some years ago. You might do some serious searching on google to determine what O-rings were used on your system.
Maybe “universal as table salt” would be more correct.
have you googled for this a/c hose? There are several hits but am not sure what would fit on your compressor.
I wonder if it’s a bracket problem, or a sealing problem. It could well be that the seat for the o-ring is damaged or corroded, either in the compressor or on the hose end.
The most infamous O rings were made by Morton Thiokol (which also makes TABLE SALT), and caused the Shuttle disaster.
The shuttle disaster was caused by a lack of testing the O-ring under various conditions. In this case freezing cold. The O-ring did meet NASA specifications.
Didn’t realize that but shouldn’t the VW mechanic know what “O-Ring” to order for my Eurovan. I will ask them about it tomorrow when I go pay my weekly visit to my van.
Maybe a gasket in connection with the O ring would do the trick. You or your mechanic could make one using the connection and fittings as template.
Good thought. I will mention the gasket idea to the mechanic. Thanks.
You can ask, but I’d be amazed if an add-on gasket would work, we’re talking about high pressure gas here, not a valve cover gasket.
Have you posted this on VW-specific forums (thesamaba, vwvortex)? That’s where folks who have dealt with this problem are most likely to be found.
No, I have not posted this on those forums but I will. Thanks.
I bet 16 or 18 gauge “dead soft copper” sheets would work just fine and are frequently used to seal leaking compressor heads.
Edit: air compressors