Rear heater - permanent removal - advice wanted

[Simon Jones]

I think I will remove the rear heater matrix & aircon, although I'll leave the fan in place to circulate air when it gets stuffy. We've got an Eberspacher heater to keep us warm in the winter & don't tend to use the rear aircon. Two reasons for removing it: the aircon refrigerant is leaking which is depressurising the whole system, & I suspect there is a coolant leak somewhere as there is rust where the pipes enter & exit the bodywork.

Anyone know what's involved in this? The coolant pipe just requires a u-shaped pipe to bypass the matrix, but I guess the aircon disconnection & blanking is a job for an expert.

[Simon Jones]

Has no-one done this before ? It's really the blanking of the air con pipes that looks to be tricky as they seem to be interlinked to the front via the compressor. I know Wellhouse rip the whole lot out & put a water tank in its place, but I plan to keep the fan, ducting & controls in place for the cool air circulation.

[Veg_Ian]

Simon

I can only suggest that this may have been done by commercial convertors when fitting a side kitchen unit. Maybe Madmile may have done this and can help.

My Bongo came without rear heater/aircon. As I recall the aircon and coolant pipes had been capped in much the same way you would cap a plumbing pipe with a compression endstop. Mine was onbviously done at the factory such that it would probably have been able to fit the rear assembly at a later point. If this assumption is correct then I would expect to see a straight coupling joint on a dual zone aircon vehicle in the same place as where my single zone model had been capped. Even if this assumption is correct I couldn't guarantee that the fittings used were BS standard though.

Although tempting as it is to cap the aircon pipes yourself, you will still need to employ the services of a trained engineer to regas and test the integrity of the system afterwards. You may as well let him suggest how best to do the capping while he's at it.

[Simon Jones]

Wise words Veg_Ian . The ideal solution would be find out how others have done it & then go along to the garage to get them to cap the air con pipes properly. The chap I've used before is very nice, but not fluent in the ways of the Bongo , so I'd be keen to give him all the details & then let him get on with it.

[Veg_Ian]

Oh I see, makes perfect sense. Your best bet then would be one of the convertors that advertise on here. You could try a PM to Madmile, he may know the answer.