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Air conditioner high pressure tube leak

Air conditioning season is not off to a good start this year. The high pressure line that is routed under the battery developed a pinhole leak. The tube showed signs of corrosion, probably caused by battery acid. I attempted a repair by cutting out a few inches of metal tubing and bridging across the gap with some of the high-pressure rubber hose that's used for fuel injection. This was a good snug fit secured by standard hose clamps. The fix worked for a couple of weeks until one end of the hose blew off.

I reconnected the hose using a touch of Aviation Form-A-Gasket, but I don't have any confidence in this repair. I expect another blow-out.

There is another '03 Forester in the junk yard at the moment, but its high pressure line has a similar, though less-severe, corrosion problem. The tubing is also available new from the dealer, but it looks to be a major effort to replace while the engine is in the car.

Question: How would a pro fix this problem?

Reply to
Jack Myers
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Following up to my original post (quoted below) because others may run into this situation. The Subaru parts website is a bit misleading because it only shows the original factory-installed high pressure tube. The replacement comes as two pieces, namely: a front tube that runs back to the firewall, and a rear tube that runs across the firewall. It's simple matter to cut out the original tube and then route and connect the two tubes. Subaru parts guys see this all the time in the case of an engine swap where the front tube has to match the new engine the rear tube has to match the existing chassis.

A cheaper, viable repair alternative would be an A/C splice kit as suggested on r.a.t. Knowing the proper search terms I found a 5/16" kit that would probably work on the 8mm tubing, but I went with the factory parts.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

Reply to
Jack Myers

Thanks for following up in the Subaru group, but I still don't know how the hose blew off the metal tubing when it was secured by hose clamps, unless you didn't flare the cut ends before you slipped the hose on. Maybe the answer is at r.a.t., which I don't read.

Reply to
Banders

Not surprising they have an updated part. There are a lot of times a company will update a part but not the parts books/data. The dealer will look it up on their system and the new part number shows.

Reply to
Steve W.

The high pressure forces refrigerant oil under the hose, which lubricates the connection. Uncertain whether the rubber hose is compatible with the oil in the first place.

Reply to
Jack Myers

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