A/C Condenser: Keeping Things Cool
I can hear those of you who have very little car-maintenance skills screaming, “What the heck is an A/C Condenser?” And that is a valid question for sure, so let’s take a look at first what it is and secondly how to replace it.
In any air-conditioning system the cold refrigerant moves through the evaporator and absorbs heat from the car’s interior. Then it is moved to the condenser and released to the outside air flowing through the cooling system. That may seem complicated but let me simplify it for you: if the A/C Condenser doesn’t’ work or has been broken by a flying rock or during a fender bender, then your air conditioning system won’t work and you are going to sweat during the summer heat. Plain and simple!
Where is it located? In the front of the vehicle behind the radiator, making it a reasonably difficult car part to locate and replace. Here are the steps for replacing your A/C condenser:
- Remove any refrigerant in the system; this can be damaging to the ozone layer so find out how to do it properly.
- Drain your radiator by removing the radiator cap and then opening the drain at the bottom of the radiator.
- Disconnect all hoses, lines, clamps, etc. using a socket set and wrenches.
- Remove the radiator.
- Remove the condenser from the radiator core support using the socket set and wrenches.
- Install new condenser, re-attaching clips and fasteners where necessary.
- Install radiator again, connect it, fill it with coolant and you are ready to rock and roll.
It looks so simple when it is spelled out in an article, and if you have some mechanical aptitude it is relatively easy to do. Not as easy as replacing a headlamp for sure, or replacing a battery, but certainly not as difficult as replacing a fuel pump or say the entire engine. Let’s just say it is a medium on the difficulty scale of car maintenance.
So why would you go to the bother or doing the replacement yourself? Let’s just say those little devils do not come cheap and leave it at that. If you can find one for sale, like you can at Cash-n-Carry, then part of your replacement cost has been lessened considerably; after you factor in what the labor cost would be if you had a mechanic do the job, it becomes fairly obvious why many people are learning car repair.
Check out our daily sales at our Savannah salvage yard and you just might find one of these units on sale at some point in time.
