With the recent warmer weather, and lack of cold air from my air con, I took the car to be regassed. £35 and 20 minutes apparently. However, after the pipes had been connected to the car and the new gas started to go into the system, there was a large bang. The mechanic peered under the bonnet and found a split hose, which is apparently going to cost £295 to replace. Looks like its going to be a warm summer for me! Anyone had this happen to them?

Which pipe split?

Sounds expensive try a Brakers or ebay 

One near the front. Black. Not sure how to identify it really.

 

take a picture! hope they didn't charge you for regassing it!?

as for charging 300 quid, bugger that, head to a breakers yard and get a pipe for a 10th of the price.  

I've seen pipes on eBay just take a look or even message people that are breaking focus's as they will the pipe of the car 

 

My sister in law and Dads focus had an air con pipe split, both the same pipe, nothing as dramatic as that though.

£300 is ridiculous for the work involved too

It seems odd, cos the pipe burst at the same time as he opened the tap nearest to the bulkhead. I think its all a bit fishy, but can't prove anything. I'd change it myself if it was possible, I'll tackle most jobs myself, but air con is a different matter. I may take it to my usual Local garage, trust me to try to get it done cheap!

i had a pipe burst on me while regassing a focus, the vacuum test didnt show any leaks so the aircon machine proceded to the next stage automatically to fill with correct amount of gas. it went bang !!

Yep!! that happened to me last Friday,

Weather getting brighter so car was warm being sat in sun, so I hit aircon and got nothing.

Got car book in at my local garage for a re-fill, told it was £49, took it in after work and got call 90min later that it was ready,

By the time I got there (5 min) they were looking under bonnet and there was a hissing sound,

he said it had just gone 'pop' and being 5:30 was too late to get it on the ramp to check it out.

Took it back in Saturday morning and got a call later that a £90 pipe had burst (part No. 1742539),

They said it was a nightmare to get to and replace, so total was £225 for parts/labour/refill.

The pipe had gone were the rubber sleeve meets the metal end,

the rubber had split in about 6 directions, the metal braided pipe underneath was damaged,

I said to guy at garage who drove it out that it must have gone with a bang, he said it did and it scared the s**t out of him.

Really wish I'd taken a photo of it when he showed me.

 

Just read a lady's post in Fiesta section of an aircon pump that went bang too,

Maybe it's fairly common this time of year where they were not being used in a while and they just fail and leak, then go bang when re-filled.

 

 

that begs the question, is it better to have it refilled regularly so that it doesn't drop in pressure (flex / contract)? or will it make sweet bugger all of a difference, if its gonna go its gonna go.

2 hours ago, Dee_82 said:

that begs the question, is it better to have it refilled regularly so that it doesn't drop in pressure (flex / contract)? or will it make sweet bugger all of a difference, if its gonna go its gonna go.

good point Darren, I'm needing mine filled this summer but going to go after I do the timing belt funds are tight at the minute so no point in me taking the chance getting it filled yet lol! Known my luck it will go pop lol!

53 minutes ago, sonic113 said:

good point Darren, I'm needing mine filled this summer but going to go after I do the timing belt funds are tight at the minute so no point in me taking the chance getting it filled yet lol! Known my luck it will go pop lol!

I'd just got my cambelt changed (8 Year Service) a couple of weeks ago with its MOT & Service, totaling £463,

Really didn't need the £225 bill for aircon right now, if it was October I'd have left it.

Not too bad a price for cambelt,MOT and service.

Was that done at a local or at a Ford dealer?

1 hour ago, ZetecMan1 said:

Not too bad a price for cambelt,MOT and service.

 

1 hour ago, Micro said:

Was that done at a local or at a Ford dealer?

Local garage (not Ford) literally end of my street, Cambelt cost was £307 I think,

Didn't get a lot done on the Service to be fair, think I had full service last year, just oil & plugs this time.

I need my cam belt done this year as it is a 2009 and just clicked over 60,000 miles the other day.

Did you supply your own parts?

Sorry to hijack your topic greysquirrel

would it go pop because they havent emptied the system first and to much presure ? im needing mine done and its the last thing i want

44 minutes ago, ZetecMan1 said:

I need my cam belt done this year as it is a 2009 and just clicked over 60,000 miles the other day.

Did you supply your own parts?

No I just went to local garage and asked them to do it (and get the parts),

The labour was about twice the cost of the parts, so I can't imagine you'd save that much getting your own kit.

 

16 minutes ago, mrmetallica said:

would it go pop because they havent emptied the system first and to much presure ? im needing mine done and its the last thing i want

Apparently there is a procedure to follow (if doing it properly), they should drain the system first and check for leaks.

I too questioned whether they botched the job, but they are good to me and won't do jobs that don't need doing.

Maybe if I'd said it just seemed to stop supplying cold air they might have checked for a leak, I never noticed it fade,

but up until now I've rarely used it this year, it usually comes on to de-mist windows but thats not pointing at me.

I got a voltmeter and temperature thingy that goes into the socket of the car, so I can test if the a/c works when it is hot. See if it cools the car.

My AC is fine, as cool today as it was the last time it was changed but its been about 3 years since I was lasted checked so I think ill get it checked out when I get some new boots put on the car.

 

 

Well, the pipe was the EXACT same one that RAIDER32 pictured, it also split where the metal and rubber meet. I looked for ages on ebay for a used one, but didnt see a single one, so hunted around online and found a brand new one on a german website. (looked english, but based in Berlin) It cost £47 delivered, arrived in 4 days by UPS and I fitted it in 20 minutes. Yet to have it regassed though, but will let you know how I get on!

I'm a mobile air conditioning person.

This effects 1.6l mk2 focus petrols.

Cause I've narrowed down to timing belt and water pump replacements.

Pipe is not disconnected prior to starting job.

Engine is lowered down which stretches the hose weakening it internally or more specifically breaking the string reinforcement.

Then when gassed up refrigerant gets between the 2 layers of hose and ruptures the outer layer, it always fails near to the crimp because that's the it which gets stretched.


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Ronald J

Thats good information there, Im due to install a timing belt/waterpump kit in the coming weeks and also then to get a full regass on the AC so I will be sure to watch out for that pipe when installing the belt.

I came to that conclusion because the way the hose comes out the compressor is not uncommon, it's actually pretty common even if the pipe is a different shape.

But it always goes at the bottom just above where the crimped section joins the hose, and it is only 1.6 petrol mk2 focus which have the issue.

First time it happened to me, I remembered that there was a sticker saying timing belt had been changed with an Ina kit.

I gassed it, and bang it went.. customer asked what it was and needless to say as it wasn't split before I started then I had to accept liability as it blew while I was working on the car. It cost me a pipe and free fitting.

Then I started warning customers in advance of gassing these engines up and I came across 1 more which blew when I gassed it but customer had been warned in advance, another one where customer had it gassed elsewhere and it blew them they tried to say it was his compressor, another one which was already split before I started, a second one which split when somebody else gassed it up, and only thing all of those vehicles had in common was either timing belt or water pump replacements and when you look at the hose you can see that if you try to lower the engine down, say to help undo crankshaft pulley, it doesn't take much before the hose starts stretching.


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