2008 LR3 HSE

Long story short, my AC was leaking when I bought the LR3. I was told the rear AC was leaking and the condenser needed replacing. I put in a new condenser, as that was shot, plugged up the lines that go to the rear AC, and then recharged the system. The front AC worked great until the lines I plugged up began to leak. I'm going to repalce that line and hook the rear AC back up.

As I was getting the front AC to work I realized I probably need to actually fix the rear AC as I do plan to have passengers.

So, I need to now where to look in the rear AC system for leaks. I bought an AC o-ring kit for the entire car, so I can take care of the simple things.

I know there is a coupler in the middle of the car under the driver side and then there is a second coupler above the rear axle.

Is there anywhere else I should be looking for a leak? I want to make sure I have the new lines in place and all I can DIY before I take it into the AC shop for a recharge.

 

 

Are those lines that accessible with the spare tire dropped?

 

the diff is whats really in the way, but still accessible. Photo is the drivers side.

 

Well, I seem to have found my issue. I mean, I'm pretty sure this is THE issue.

The damaged part is line that goes from the middle of the driver side and goes under the compressor. The damaged are was right under the compressor. I undid the mid section and this just fell right out of the insulated tube. I can only imagine that at some point some work was done on the compressor and the line was smashed. There is a lot of build up around the break so I think several attempts were made to refill the AC but no one found the break.



So, now to find what parts I need to replace the mid line back to the connection to the coupler above the axle.

 

LR029189

Is that the part I need?

 

I just ordered this off ebay, used. It's all three lengths for the rear AC. Grabbed it for $90, which is great as the section I needed was $230 on its own.

 

congrats

 

Well, the AC is back up and running for the moment.

I was able to yank the smaller of the two lines out and replace it. Pulling out the smaller line was negotiable and luckily the one that needed to be swapped. The larger one, if I had needed to pull that out, would have taken some serious disassembly of the rear end it seemed. The larger and more solid line has no real give to negotiate it out of the twists and turns.

I did find a little Easter egg while getting the compressor out of the way. The manf date on the compressor was 6/14 so that means the compressor has been replaced at some point recently. Which, from the look of it, was most likely when the AC line was crushed in the first place.

I recharged the system and have been enjoying some cool weather for the first time. It's been 93-95 for the last month. I was getting desperate.

I replaced all the o-rings along the way with what I ripped out. Hopefully I don't have any slow leaks to deal with.