Rear AC EVAPORATOR

[Merlot man]

Hello all
I have a 1995 2.5 TD 4wd bongo .
I've been getting the AC regassed this evening to discover that I have a leak in the rear evaporator somewhere , the AC mechanic and I can hear it hissing from underneath the bus , it might be a cracked pipe or worn seal past where the high and low pressure pipes fit into the evaporator underneath the bus at the rear drivers side just before the rear wheel . It's not the seals at the connections as we have replaced these .
I'd happily replace it with a new item or take it our to repair but I have a full side conversion and I think it would involve removing it Which id prefer not to do if possible .
Is it possible to blank off the AC pipes so as to just have the front evaporator linked in and what might this involve ?
Also , does anyone have a drawing of the AC system layout to see where this might be done ?
Hope someone can help as don't fancy the summer holidays in a hot bus
Thanks in advance
Brian

[Tony x]

Yep - you can just blank them off, people do this usually under the passenger seat.
Mazda themselves would blank them off on Bongo's without rear air con.
I've seen pictures where the pipes are cut and then folded over 2-3 times to seal.

[Merlot man]

Hello Tony
Thanks for the quick reply , I assumed all bongos had the two evaporators .
That's great to hear , I wonder if there is a Mazda blanking kit or maybe fittings suitable to use on these pipes that would be leak proof enough to cope with the AC gas and the pressure in the system ?

As always all help is appreciated
Brian

[cwilliams255]

I’m attempting the same job this weekend. Well actually mine is a bit more involved as I’m replacing a pipe at the front as existing one was damaged, full set of new seals and a new receiver dryer as AC has been open to atmosphere for a couple of months.

I plan to cap the rear off in the location already mentioned, just after the threads where the pipes join. Plan is to remove, squash in vice, fold over a couple of times and fill with aluminium brazing rod

I started this evening and I’ve discovered that the threads between the pipes are very difficult to undo on mine, even masses of heat didn’t help - this was at the front where luckily I can remove the whole section and get the fixing into the vice to undo it for the replacement section

I’ll take some photos as I go along incase they are of any use

[Bob]

Thanks.

Write up and pics are very useful.

[cwilliams255]

wonder if there is a Mazda blanking kit

For mine, part numbers are S09C618D4A and S09D618D4A but would have been of no use. It was impossible to undo the fittings, even after I cut out the pipe and got in my vice with several minutes of heat (as a trial run for the front one I need to undo), all I ended up with was some knackered aluminium. As I'd already decided to cut the pipes under the passenger seat I went about flattening about 10 cm of the pipe using the largest clamp I could get into the van, sealing the end the aluminium brazing rod, folding it over once and then brazing over the whole of the end. It wasn't the prettiest of jobs, its actually quite hard trying to braze aluminum inside a bongo, but I'm reasonably confident it will hold pressure

Capping off the coolant was much easier, removed old pipes, put on blanking caps I got from the shop

If your Bongo didn't spend most of its UK life on the Scottish coast you might have better luck undoing the fixings in situ

I just have to wait for the part I couldn't undo at the front to come from Japan

[Tony x]

If you have an air con leak there are a couple of other options.
A good TIG welder can fix things, there are kits to replace sections of pipe (usually very pretty, anodised stuff) or what we had done to fix a pin hole leak - took it to a specialist who cut the pipe and then join it with a larger pipe that is cemented in place with something. I did lots of research before going for this method.
Cost was £105 including regass

[Merlot man]

Hell all
Still working on this project
I've removed both the rear pipes today and all went well .
Is it now as simple as blanking both these pipes at their ends or do they need to be connected together to help the gas get around and back to the compressor ?
I can see the large pipe branching in two under the passenger seat ,going to the front and rear but not the small pipe .
Does anyone have a drawing of the bongos AC system to help clarify , I can't find anything on the lush projects site .
As always thanks in advance
Brian

[Alkers]

In terms of regassing is it all one system or are there two points to put new gas in?

[Merlot man]

Hello Alkers
One point to fill with gas and one to remove, both of which are at the front .
Still can't work out if simply blanking off both rear pipes feeding the rear evaporator will do the job or do I need to loop them , I don't know a lot about AC systems
Brian

[cwilliams255]

Hello Alkers
One point to fill with gas and one to remove, both of which are at the front .
Still can't work out if simply blanking off both rear pipes feeding the rear evaporator will do the job or do I need to loop them , I don't know a lot about AC systems
Brian

Blanking them off is what you need to do, definitely don't connect them! The gas will flow though the fine through the front as the evaporators are totally separate. I cut and capped both of mine under the passenger seat but its equally ok to do them at the rear heating fixing if you have a way to do it etc

[Merlot man]

Hello Alkers
One point to fill with gas and one to remove, both of which are at the front .
Still can't work out if simply blanking off both rear pipes feeding the rear evaporator will do the job or do I need to loop them , I don't know a lot about AC systems
Brian

Blanking them off is what you need to do, definitely don't connect them! The gas will flow though the fine through the front as the evaporators are totally separate. I cut and capped both of mine under the passenger seat but its equally ok to do them at the rear heating fixing if you have a way to do it etc

Hello cwilliams and thanks for the advice , I've been getting the same information from a few sources so I think I'm going to go with it , I might have a local man who repairs alloy wheels that would be capable of welding the ends shut .
i wonder if you happen to know how much gas the modified system takes ?
Thanks in advance
Brian

[Ian]

Brian, I found this in the "Aircon" fact sheet in the members area:

"The system will take approximately 950g (for dual system) or 700g (front system only)."

[Merlot man]

Brian, I found this in the "Aircon" fact sheet in the members area:

"The system will take approximately 950g (for dual system) or 700g (front system only)."

Hello Ian and thanks for that , I've read most of the fact sheets ( my life is very interesting ) but have never seen this ......TOP MAN !
I'm going to get the rear feed pipes welded as soon as I can so that SHOULD be the end of project .
I will keep you all in touch either way
Thanks again to everyone how helped in answering my questions , I feel that this is the real value of a Forum as opposed to the likes of the face book pages . This will be a problem for someone else in the future and all that is needed is a quick forum / Google search and these topics will be brought up !
Brian