mchristyuk Posted April 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2022 So got my UV torch today and went on a hunt around the AC system... Dryer.. fine.. compressor.. fine.. condensers.. Off to buy a condenser kit for fitting now! Mark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillbe Posted April 8, 2022 Report Share Posted April 8, 2022 Great detective work! Another good area to check for leaks whilst you are about it and prior to regassing, is remove the underside panel on the drivers side and check along the flow and return aircon pipes there. Subject to pinpr*ck leaks from corrosion if your undertrays had been packed with mud and left for any period of time - as I found out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
½cwt Posted April 8, 2022 Report Share Posted April 8, 2022 Always in the last place you look... glad you've found the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchristyuk Posted April 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2022 What's annoying is either.. a) The condensers magically sprang the leak after the AC testing at the garage.. or.. b) The garage is incompetent and doesn't know how to use the AC machine and it's vacuum test... Before I even had it checked I had wagered myself the condensers were shot so was mightily surprised when it passed the test. In hindsight and to be fair to the garage, with the AC compressor having been disconnected and the car not having done many miles at all in the past few years it could well have passed the leak test, but failed the first time serious pressure was put on it when I reconnected the AC compressor. Either way.. looking forward to getting the front bumper off in the next couple of weeks..! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchristyuk Posted April 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 So, spent a couple hours yesterday replacing the condensers and dryer. The old ones were pretty grim and it was quite filthy in there... the reason could be they were still the originals with a build date of 2007 stamped on them! The fitting kit from Design911 came with fresh O-rings but the condensers themselves came with their own too.. so have some spares! The job itself was pretty straight forward once the car was jacked up. The hardest bit was getting the wheel well liners back in place and getting the old O-rings of the dryer pipes as they're not the easiest to see or feel. Either way.. all done and will be off to get it charged up again tomorrow.. fingers crossed!! Mark 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
½cwt Posted April 20, 2022 Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 3 minutes ago, mchristyuk said: So, spent a couple hours yesterday replacing the condensers and dryer. The old ones were pretty grim and it was quite filthy in there... the reason could be they were still the originals with a build date of 2007 stamped on them! The fitting kit from Design911 came with fresh O-rings but the condensers themselves came with their own too.. so have some spares! The job itself was pretty straight forward once the car was jacked up. The hardest bit was getting the wheel well liners back in place and getting the old O-rings of the dryer pipes as they're not the easiest to see or feel. Either way.. all done and will be off to get it charged up again tomorrow.. fingers crossed!! Mark Good work. One of the DIY jobs in the Boxster initiation completed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer boy Posted April 20, 2022 Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 Any gottcha s with the front bumper removal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchristyuk Posted April 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 51 minutes ago, Boxer boy said: Any gottcha s with the front bumper removal? None really.. it's very easy.. the hardest bit is jacking the car up and removing the wheels.. probably don't need to remove the wheels but it does give you a bit more wriggle room to get the liners in and out. 1) Jack car up.. remove screws in wheel well for front liner. 2) Remove screws under car for wheel well front liner. 3) Remove wheel well liner. 4) Unclip indicator unit and unplug. 5) Remove all bottom screws for bumper attaching it to undertray, etc.. (about 5 from memory) 6) Remove top trim of bumper from within luggage area and remove 3 screws. 7) Unclip headlight connector harness in drivers wheel well. 😎 Remove metal clips by headlights retaining bumper. 9) Pull bumper off. Honestly it's pretty straight forward and fairly self evident where everything is.. the only thing I wouldn't have spotted without the how to guides are the metal retaining clips by the headlights and the headlight connector. I did buy myself an electric ratchet driver before starting the job and it made it much easier and quicker than it would have been without! Many Thanks Mark 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codfanglers Posted April 20, 2022 Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, mchristyuk said: So, spent a couple hours yesterday replacing the condensers and dryer. The old ones were pretty grim and it was quite filthy in there... the reason could be they were still the originals with a build date of 2007 stamped on them! The fitting kit from Design911 came with fresh O-rings but the condensers themselves came with their own too.. so have some spares! The job itself was pretty straight forward once the car was jacked up. The hardest bit was getting the wheel well liners back in place and getting the old O-rings of the dryer pipes as they're not the easiest to see or feel. Either way.. all done and will be off to get it charged up again tomorrow.. fingers crossed!! Mark Informative post thanks. After a failed pressure test at ATS, I now have the same green dye on the passenger side condenser. New condensers bought, also one of the two-gauge air-con kits to pressure test myself. If all is ok when fitted, I'll fit a new dryer and back to ATS for the gas. I've also bought a tin of Polytrol and will test on the plastic liners/ducting before applying it to the scuttle cover and elsewhere. Edited April 20, 2022 by Codfanglers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer boy Posted April 20, 2022 Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 Thx mchrisyuk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchristyuk Posted April 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 At last.. we have operational AC in the Boxster! What a voyage of discovery this has been! 🤣 AC charged up this morning.. no leaks detected on the computer system and the OBD tool is showing everything running and decent pressure.. and my face can confirm the air is cold! Now on to the oil leak and the clicky front suspension....! Mark 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer boy Posted April 23, 2022 Report Share Posted April 23, 2022 Snap ! Encouraged by this thread did mine today and waxoiled up the brackets while in there . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchristyuk Posted April 26, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 Good work! Glad my faffing has encouraged somebody else to "take the plunge!" I can report my AC is still blowing nice and cold. So far so good! Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer boy Posted April 26, 2022 Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 Yes I was at Quickfit yesterday re gassing .It passed the pressure test etc so the auto vac , pressure and fill machine refilled it . For those interested the QF machines are automated.The guys dials in the modal / make it it knows the vols from its data base .It’s a 30-40 min cycle . 1- vacuum out every thing .It’s essential to rid air due to moisture in it .20 mins 2- a vac test .It’s a kinda reverse pressure test to test the new seals and added kit .10 mins holding 3 - if it holds pressure ( actually vac pressure not + ve ) the machine refills gas + lubricant to the manufacturers levels .10 mins Once plugged in the auto machine is fit and forget the fitter just periodically glances at the screen to see where it is . If it detects a leak it won’t progress to fill = leak it out to the environment.Clever stuff . Anyhow all good . I did the front condensers , the dryer and both pipes from the front to the back along the RHS cill . Glad I took the bumper off as said by the OP ^^ it’s not difficult just logical .Goes back identical you will never know it locates exactly back . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul P Posted April 26, 2022 Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 10 minutes ago, Boxer boy said: Yes I was at Quickfit yesterday re gassing .It passed the pressure test etc so the auto vac , pressure and fill machine refilled it . For those interested the QF machines are automated.The guys dials in the modal / make it it knows the vols from its data base .It’s a 30-40 min cycle . 1- vacuum out every thing .It’s essential to rid air due to moisture in it .20 mins 2- a vac test .It’s a kinda reverse pressure test to test the new seals and added kit .10 mins holding 3 - if it holds pressure ( actually vac pressure not + ve ) the machine refills gas + lubricant to the manufacturers levels .10 mins Once plugged in the auto machine is fit and forget the fitter just periodically glances at the screen to see where it is . If it detects a leak it won’t progress to fill = leak it out to the environment.Clever stuff . Anyhow all good . I did the front condensers , the dryer and both pipes from the front to the back along the RHS cill . Glad I took the bumper off as said by the OP ^^ it’s not difficult just logical .Goes back identical you will never know it locates exactly back . I used Kwik fit for my 987.2 2.9. They couldn’t find the car in the database ( they just had 2.7 and 3.2 and 3.4 ) they called up the machines suppliers help live and got the values from them ( which tallied with my findings from research). was impressed with that attention to detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer boy Posted April 26, 2022 Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 40 minutes ago, Paul P said: I used Kwik fit for my 987.2 2.9. They couldn’t find the car in the database ( they just had 2.7 and 3.2 and 3.4 ) they called up the machines suppliers help live and got the values from them ( which tallied with my findings from research). was impressed with that attention to detail. Yes the drop down boxes said that ^^^ . The guy manually typed in 987.2 and the 2.9 came up 900 rms gas + 18 cc of oil + or - 5 . It took a good 10 mins to pump in the 900 gms . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul P Posted April 26, 2022 Report Share Posted April 26, 2022 28 minutes ago, Boxer boy said: Yes the drop down boxes said that ^^^ . The guy manually typed in 987.2 and the 2.9 came up 900 rms gas + 18 cc of oil + or - 5 . It took a good 10 mins to pump in the 900 gms . Cool. ( pun intended ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codfanglers Posted May 4, 2022 Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 Condensers and drier replaced, all had stickers dated 2007 so were original items. The amount of dirt around the condensers and radiators was unbelievable. I took the opportunity to polytrol the grilles, rad ductings, arch liners and undertray, also polished the side lights. Pressure tested the system and all good. Back to ATS for gas today, aircon fired straight up and icy cold. So impressed with the quality of these cars, the bumper comes off so easily then all slips back together perfectly aligned. A real joy to work on. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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