85 Ferrari Mondial air con dryer

Hi,
There seems to be a leak from what I believe is the air con dryer black canister under the front bonnet, its seems to be from one of the hoses.
Couple of questions
1, is that the air con dryer?
2, Is it a case of just replacing the hose or the whole thing?

Thanks

 

Assuming it is on the passenger side and it has a hex headed pressure switch with 2 wires coming out of it, then you are correct.
Does it have solid pipes or hoses connected to it ? The drier is available as a seperate item at about £120. I cannot remember the pipe/ hose connection areangement but if a hose then you can justreplace that.
Are you using r12 or 134 ? Oem was r 12 but converted to 134 but it needs different flexy hoses

 

Hi, I'm not sure which gas I presume it's the old. Do you know who supplies hoses.
Thanks in advance.

 

Superperformance stock the drier, i cound not find the drawing on eurospares site but it will be there. Best to talk to a car ac charging outfir re the hose as it will be standard fittings and can be made locally.
Look at the service history to see if it has had a 134 conversion as i think they replace the hoses that run from front to back, original hoses will not hold 134 as it leaks through the hose walls

 

Look on eurospares web site, mondial page 122 under heating and cooling, drier and hoses shown as available

 

Hoses go from dryer to condenser in front and from dryer to the AC unit under dashboard I believe....so no need for the hoses that are going to the back of the car.

Guido

 

Not knowing anything about air con, what is the job of the dryer?

 

Driers job is to dry out any moisture in the fridge gas before it goes through the expansion valve, if you had moisture in the high pressure liquid refridgerant then it would turn to ice when it went through the expansion valve and block it.

The circuit is -: low pressure cool gas is drawn into the compressor, it is compressed as gas to say 180 psi from the 30 psi which it enters the compressor, it then goes through the condenser which is a radiator in the front nose of the car- this condenses the high pressure hot gas to a high pressure cool liquid.
It then goes through the drier to remove any dirt or moisture, then through the expansion valve where it is changed from a high pressure cool liquid to a low pressure very cold gas- it now enters the evaporator and the car fan blows air over the evap so you get your nice cool air.
This has the effect of heating the gas up and it returns to the compressor for another circuit.

The pipes or hoses going to the engine compartment are the suction and discharge pipes for the compressor.

If you change the hose, you are going to lose the gas- so it will need a full recharge using special equipment.
With the system empty you can either renew the drier or lift the drier out and try blowing with your lips into the inlet- if you feel no resistance then it is not blocking up and you can put it in a warm oven to dry out the silica jell beads inside it, saves buying a new one.

Expect to pay about £100 to get a gas recharge

Think of the expansion valve as similar to way a CO2 fire extinguisher works. Cool CO2 liquid turning to cold CO2 gas as it expands out the nozzle

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Anyone replaced the dryer pipe in particular the rear one that goes in the cabin. The dryer side is easy but can’t see the one inside under the dash, how do I get to it?

 

Is the pipe leaking on the metal part or the flexy hose section
If that pipe is going behind the dash then it is the outlet from the drier to the expansion vavle. Have a look on Eurospares site for the system diagram

 

The drawing shows a short pipe going to the bottom of the evaporator so you should see it just above the cabin floor carpet, it connects onto no 48 exp valve

 

I believe it’s the hose, it leaks onto the carpet. How do you get a spanner on the cabin end to undo it?

 

Looking at you pic of the pipe going through the bulkhead, it looks like you are near the end of the hose as i can see the swagging of the hose on the metal pipe. I think the union is on the other side of the bulkhead so i would try pulling the rubber grommet out of the bulk head and get a crowsfoot spanner to fit the nut on the pipe.
You can buy crows foot spannrs as a kit, try Amazon or e bay

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Hi Mike,
I’ve marked the end I need to get to.

 

I take it that pic is taken inside the car footwell, so i am seeing the pipe coming through the rubber grommet in the front compartment bulkhead. If thats the case then the pipe nut/ end of hose is in the evaporator casing.
Have a look at the eurospares site diagram as it shows the construction of the housing

 

Looking at the drawing, the lower half of the split casing item 46 seems to house the evap/exp valve/the nut end of your pipe. There looks to be either some screws or clips holding the lower to the upper casing. I would assume u have to drop the lower casing to get access.
Best of luck on that one as not an easy job

 

I had to remove the dash to access all that I needed but this included changing the blower motor. That hose connects directly to the expansion valve and if you can gently pull on the tube you might be able to disconnect it from the expansion valve. It is tight but doable.There is a lot of very sticky insulation around those tubes in the casing and once that the insulation is removed things become clearer. New replacement insulation for the tubes is much less sticky and easier to install. The attached picture might orient you somewhat more. Image Unavailable, Please Login