AC Compressor Down - Next Step(s)

[nr103]

Good morning AZers,

Took my car to a local Audi/VW mechanic yesterday since my AC stopped working, he confirmed that the compressor is toast. Poking around the forums it seems this is generally expected around 70-75K, which my car is at 77k. The silver lining in all of this is at least I don't necessarily have to fix this until next spring/early summer, so if there were a good time for this to occur it's now. Based on my research, I feel I have three choices regarding going about fixing the AC. Not fixing it is not an option being at altitude, had this happened in July I would have just had him order the new compressor. Here's my options as I see it:

1) Have shop order new compressor for $1100+$1000 labor approximately, which includes a 12 month/12K warranty.
2) Source my own compressor (JHM $750, etc), but no warranty on the part/work. This option doesn't seem especially attractive considering if the 'new' compressor fails and I would have to pay for labor to have a new one installed.
3) Tackle myself over the winter and save the labor costs. Looking around for DIYs, there's not many and the mechanic has already said the job itself is a PIA. I'm mechanically inclined and like to do as much work myself, however I feel this is a bit over my head. And I don't want this to turn into a 40+ hour project, meanwhile my wife is in the house stewing about me being in the garage constantly ;)

As of right now, leaning towards option 1 to ensure it goes smoothly and everything is done correctly, warrantied, etc, although most expensive option. I'm open to any feedback, advice, other options, personal experiences, etc. Any other maintenance items to do whilst in there?? Thanks in advance

[AllroadMass]

You can do it! I did mine a few months ago and works like a champ. Here's the thread I started and meant to go back and list all of the stuff I didn't but never got around to it. http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...k-on-and-no-AC

Got 124k miles out of the original one and replaced it with the JHM unit. My quote was a little higher than $2100 so that's why I did it myself. Since you have the entire winter to save and buy all necessary parts, it should go pretty smooth. While you're in there, you can also do some other maintenance as well.

[neilpaku]

You can get new Nissens-brand compressors for 250 up to 950 - latest revision is 4F0260805AH
Prices I reviewed in the past week: GAP 934 (this is the std OEM price) JHM 500 ECS 500 eBay 250 Europa 400 FCP 380 so there's a range. I think all Nissens are made in China even though Nissens is a Danish brand. Not sure if Denso is made in Japan or China.

[Luis_Heineken]

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/aud...or-4f0260805ah

with lifetime warrant

You can even try rockauto.com

[gautam]

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/aud...or-4f0260805ah

with lifetime warranty

I've bought from FCP euro in the past, their low prices had me thinking "made in china, will crap out in 10 miles" but they've held up nicely!

[Luis_Heineken]

I've bought from FCP euro in the past, their low prices had me thinking "made in china, will crap out in 10 miles" but they've held up nicely!

RockAuto sell Denso
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/a...ompressor,6628

[BCsniper]

Discountacparts.com

You can get a compressor for $250, or the whole kit for $320. I used them and did it myself one saturday. Take the whole front clip off, as well as driver side motor mount and bracket, then un-bolt and wrestle the compressor free.....that's about it

[nr103]

Thanks guys, this is very helpful and doesn't make the task sound so daunting. BC, I presume you replaced condensor, drier, etc and flushed ac lines before reassembling?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[BCsniper]

Yup. I bought the drier and orifice tube (from rockauto.com), not the condenser tho. So new compressor, drier, orifice tube, some o-rings. Then had system flushed, pressure checked, and filled

[924Carrera]

Thanks guys, this is very helpful and doesn't make the task sound so daunting. BC, I presume you replaced condensor, drier, etc and flushed ac lines before reassembling?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

It is highly advisable to do all of those things. You can possibly get away without replacing the condensor, but with the small passages used in modern ones, it is very hard to thoroughly flush them. The flushing process is just good insurance to ensure you won't be doing the job all over again if metal shavings work their way back into the compressor.

[neilpaku]

Did you guys flush the evaporator? My compressor is still working, but it's been off the car for a while so I want to flush before reassembly, and I'm wondering if I need to flush the evaporator. Is it a challenge to dry it afterwards?

[teutoned]

i serviced my ac system last week. my compressor was making an intermittent noise on start up. i replaced the compressor, receiver/drier, and orifice tube. all sourced from rockauto. http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....003052&jsn=334. the compressor is the oe denso unit. i intended to replace the condenser also but the denso one i purchased from roackauto was incorrect. another thread suggests the OE unit. all aftermarket ones i looked at appeared to be missing the mounting points for the b6/b7 s4 specific power steering cooling components. the rockauto oring kit was fairly generic and missing one oring or i just couldn't identify it. plenty of extras too. i did not flush my system (knock on wood) because the condition of my old orifice tube and the fact that my compressor had not seized. other parts you may want to get are the orings in upper and lower radiator fittings. if you choose to remove water pump, orings/gaskets for hard metal coolant pipe front of motor to water pump. there is also one between engine and water pump, the water pump presses into it. i had none of these; used the old ones and/or rtv. no leaks (knock on wood) yet. the hardest part for me was disconnecting compressor drive shaft. you will need to remove engine mount and brackets to get room for wrenches and leverage. of course, you'll have to get someone to recover, vacuum, and recharge system.
hard to find specs: compressor mounting bolt torque @ 25nm. total quantity of oil in ac circuit: 120-140 cubic cm or 4-4.75 fluid oz. PAG 46 refrigerant oil.

[924Carrera]

Did you guys flush the evaporator? My compressor is still working, but it's been off the car for a while so I want to flush before reassembly, and I'm wondering if I need to flush the evaporator. Is it a challenge to dry it afterwards?

I just left the lines connected to the evaporator and set up a loop flushing through the core. After the flush ran clean for a while I blew air through it for a long time. It does take a while to get the moisture out but just keep running air through it and eventually it will do the job. Evaporators are a little tough because a slurry of PAG oil, flush solvent and metal shavings can pool in the bottom and avoid being flushed out, but the only other solution is to pull the evaporator and the Audi is no exception to the rule that evaporator replacement is an enormous task. I didn't want to tear apart my entire interior (already did it on my B5 for the heater core) so I just left it alone. 18 months later and my AC still works perfectly.

[nr103]

Thanks for all the awesome replies. So to summarize, replace all components ( condenser, orifice, dryer), however for condenser I'll prob need OE for everything to match up.

What other items should I do whilst in there besides torque mount (RS4), serp belt and tensioner?

[AllroadMass]

I did compressor, dryer, orifice tube, condenser, serp belt, snub mount, and valve cover gaskets. My secondary air pump was bad so I did that at the same time. Check your motor mounts too.

[924Carrera]

Check your motor mounts too.

Yeah, since one of them has to come off to do the compressor, which means you'll have the engine supported already, it's a great time to do both.

[AllroadMass]

How are you making out??

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Audizine mobile app

[2004B6S4]

It is highly advisable to do all of those things. You can possibly get away without replacing the condensor, but with the small passages used in modern ones, it is very hard to thoroughly flush them. The flushing process is just good insurance to ensure you won't be doing the job all over again if metal shavings work their way back into the compressor.

My understanding was that our condenser is not the newer non-flushable type that you're referring to. If it was then I'm sure that Audi would say replacement is required, but the service manual says flushing is ok.

I just left the lines connected to the evaporator and set up a loop flushing through the core. After the flush ran clean for a while I blew air through it for a long time.

That's what I did too (don't forget to pull out the orifice tube before flushing). Then for the condenser I connected the other 2 lines to it and flushed that whole loop all at once

[nr103]

How are you making out??

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Audizine mobile app

Good now that the weather is starting to cool off ha. All joking aside, I decided to wait until spring since right now I can get by. This will give me time to collect my thoughts, parts, etc and get it done in time for hot weather. Once the time comes, I will be hitting you up for sure!

[AllroadMass]

Great idea! Took me a few weeks to stockpile all of the necessary parts and vacuum pump to get the job done right.

[0396]

Great info, especially for those that have a car with 100K mileage on their cars