A few weeks ago during a brief spring warm up I found my AC was not working. A code for low refrigerant came up, never had that before. When I hooked up my gauge set the best I got out was a mouse fart. It really had depleted itself of refrigerant. A couple times in the past I had topped it off hinting at a small leak. Also since the day I got my 2006 LR3 4.4 V8 at 105k miles the AC never worked well at idle. So I took this opportunity to take both issues, hopefully.

You can take a project like this as far as you want and after being set on doing the near nuclear method I scaled back to the basics. I did not replace every o-ring in the system. I did not replace the compressor. And I did not replace the evaporator cores. I also did not flush it and it seems I did not need to anyway. But thoughts on that later.

What I did:

• New condenser w/dryer and o-rings (just two at lines, dryer came installed on condenser)
• New low pressure switch/sensor. Pretty sure mine was fine but these can fail so now is a good time. Also they do have an o-ring on the base.
• New valve stems for low and high side ports. I think this is a VERY often over-looked item and a source of leaks. I know in the past when I removed the caps I would hear a very brief hiss of air.
• New Four Seasons expansion valve. See this thread: https://landroverforums.com/forum/lr...-valve-112697/
• Add 1.4 ounces of PAG46 with leak dye. (best to add to condenser just before you drop into place, it absorbs moisture quickly)
• Add 810 grams of R134a - without stop leak. Stop leak is nasty stuff and generally just not a good idea. If you do not have rear HVAC, you only need 510 grams of R134a.

For a condenser you have many options. I happened upon a very good deal for two CarQuest units. They were not the same so I picked the nicer one for this project which appears to be a Nissens rebox. And besides OEM, Nissen or Four Seasons would probably be the only brands I would go with. When opening the ports, just before install, the condenser let out a lot of air. This is a bit of insurance to know the unit has not been compromised. The low pressure sensor, same - go with name brand but there are more options. OEM is priced very high. You do not NEED to replace this but like I said above it seems like a good time to do it now. Valve stems were a little tricky to locate. A couple kits did not have the size I needed. On my 06 the high and low used the same size. I ended up going to NAPA and they worker grabbed a kit for my Rover, again it was wrong. Same as the ones I already had. So he pulled out the entire inventory. We found that NAPA Temp Products 801803 Cap and Valve kit was perfect. In fact it has three valve stem cores that I needed.

For o-rings, see this thread:
https://landroverforums.com/forum/lr...ioning-125843/

There are three way to replace the condenser:

1 - LR Time has a great video that involves loosening the magnesium crash brace and pulling it back. I started with this until one of the T40 bolts got a little stripped. In the end I think my way was maybe a little faster and less work.
2 - Shop manual method. Have fun with that.
3 - My DIY method which involves not removing the radiator. In fact only one radiator hose comes off with very little coolant loss. Transmission cooler lines also stay attached.

DISCLAIMER: The procedure I used puts some stress on the radiator and lower hose. This is not at all an issue if your stuff is new. If old, I would not do what I did. When I replaced my radiator I found the plastic coolant hose bit and the inlet/ouput parts of the radiator to be in horrible shape. Very brittle plastic. And have your system professionally evacuated of refrigerant if needed. Most shops will do this for free because they keep your refrigerant. If you did use leak stop, then the shop may turn you away as it can damage the equipment.

First steps are pretty straight forward, give yourself some working room.
• Remove grille and headlights.
• Peel back the hood foam seal and lay onto engine.
• Dismount the coolant expansion tank. Two 8mm bolts then lift up and back on the forward end to remove it from the bracket. It can now move around a bit.



Next move the power steering cooler out of the way.
• Remove plastic rivet holding the plastic cover to the right side of the condenser.
• Pop the two cooling lines off of the clips on the radiator.
• Gently pull to the right the end of the power steering cooler end loop. This will free it up and let it flow around.







Some radiator stuff to make more room.
• On top the radiator remove the plastic wind guard thingy (pictured below)
• Remove the upper radiator shroud.• Remove viscous fan.
• Remove lower radiator shroud.
• Remove both 13mm radiator mount bolts. Passenger side was a bit of a pain, swivel and LONG extension helped. Driver side only needed a long extension.



The upper radiator hose doe not need to be removed. Instead I backed off both clamps, as seen below. Then I pulled one end from the radiator as I quickly turned the "L" shaped hose upward to reduce coolant loss. Cover with a glove if you worry about something getting in there. I think I lost less than a quart of coolant doing this.



Next disconnect the condenser refrigerant lines. Two 8mm bolts. BUT THERE IS A THIRD that secures the condenser block to the radiator. It is a little hidden and below the lines. Remove that as well. Cover the lines and tuck then aside.



At this point you should be ready to carefully dismount the radiator/condenser as a unit. You need to lift the radiator up to get it off its mounts then move it backwards towards the engine as best you can. Try to tilt it a bit as you have two screws to remove. The condenser it attached by a lower slot on each side. At top, 8mm screws that thread into the radiator plastic. While the driver side is slotted I think it may be easier to just remove it all together. Your call.




Once those smaller 8mm screws are out the condenser should simply slide up and out!

Installation of the new is in the reverse, you will see these slots at the lower part of the radiator. BUT FIRST ADD OIL! The shop manual says 1.4 ounces is needed to be added when replacing the condenser. It is much easier to add it to the condenser itself while you have it out. Simply measure and pour in. Once that is done, place the condenser up to the radiator and slide down into the lower tabs. These are what the two lower condenser tabs look like. No screws down there:




Once you verified the condenser is in the slots, install the two upper screws to secure it to the radiator. Make not that the slotted side sorta has a key. So make sure it is in position before tightening.




Then you have to work the radiator/condenser unit back onto the radiator mounts taking care not to get mad at the power steering cooler which want to flop into the engine bay. Then you may want to connect the condenser refrigerant lines to keep atmosphere and moisture from getting into the system. The rest is easy, just assemble the rest in reverse as above.

For recharging the system we have a vacuum at my work shop but I decided to buy one from Amazon anyway. Pick your flavor, just make sure it comes with oil or you buy your own. The pumps are about $80 USD. I pulled vacuum for one hour, rested for 20 minutes for boil off, then pulled for another 30 minutes. This was because there are two evaporator cores in mine with the rear HVAC. Then I gave about an hour to make sure vacuum held. It did! If it did not I would have went on to replace all the other o-rings. I then added the required refrigerant.

 

Thanks for the write up, as I will be digging into my completely nonfunctional AC system. Running 5-60 AC from the UP back to the tip of the mitt in 90 degree was not the most comfortable of trips.
I do have a significant leak, as my system holds nothing at all. I will likely be looking at the O-rings , or worse.

 

The funny thing is that its so cold now. Kinda want some heat to try it all out now! LOL For the record I never planned on replacing the condenser. I happen to have two on hand and with my winch and aftermarket skid plate doing just the dryer only, as planned, was way too hard. Was simply easier to do the entire condenser. And I am glad I did because barely any oil came out (more than one ounce should have poured out) and the bottom edge was really beat up from all the trail fun I have done. Also at the bottom on each side is some sorta sponge cushion in the frame. I think its there to protect the air line and wires. These holds moisture. So condenser to on the bottom is a bit of a common issue. So in the end replacing the condenser was probably a good idea right off the bat.