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AC Condenser Replacement

I have a 1996 Volvo 850 Turbo wagon with about 180,000 miles. Three weeks ago my AC died. My mechanic tells me there was a hole in my condenser so I'm having him replace it. I've read on the internet that one should also replace the accumulator/dryer (or receiver/dryer)whenever the system is opened. My mechanic feels that since he has to have the system hooked up to a vacuum pump for an hour that should remove any moisture in the system. He's working on it now as we speak so the point may be moot but is there any problem with not replacing the accumulator/dryer?

Reply to
BornABruin
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The advertised life for the dessicant bag inside most automotive dryers is about twenty minutes if the manufacturing assembly area was extremely dry. The dryer media is a hydroscopic silica gel that adsorbs water. In order to restore the anhydrous state of the dessicant you have to apply vacuum to the container and raise the temperature to above 150*F to get the water to release from the media. Some old time shops would drill a hole in the side of an autoclave so they could pull a vacuum on the dryer bottle while the oven ran a sterilization cycle. You can pull a vacuum strong enough to collapse the hoses in the system and still not get a saturated dryer to release the water it holds.

Now to second guess your mechanic. Although you may have holed the condensor or blown a hose or suffered some other leak in the system, the component that is by far the most common source of a slow leak in an

850, ?60, ?70, ?80, ?90, is the evaporator.

Bob

Reply to
User

You *MUST* replace the reciever/dryer when the system has been opened for more than a few minutes, if you don't then you may well be replacing the compressor and expansion valve as well as having the dessicant pellets flushed out of the entire system.

The part is like $30, any mechanic who doesn't automatically replace it shouldn't be working on A/C systems.

Reply to
James Sweet

More like $130 for an 850.

Bob

Reply to
User

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