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Air con hose replacement

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:46 am
by festy
I've got a GQ with what looks like aftermarket air con, but apparently no gas.
I went to get it converted to r134a and regassed the other day, but the guy pointed out that the two hoses were a bit cracked so he wouldn't regas without replacing the hoses, which is fair enough.
He then told me I was up for at least $300 for him to make up the hoses - I was expecting more like $150.

Is $300 just for hoses a fair price? If not, can anyone recommend someone in the Narellan/Campbelltown area that will charge fairly but do a decent job?

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:50 am
by CWBYUP
Cant you just get Pirtek to make you them up but flexible ?

The braided rubber stuff ?

Thats what I am hoping to do when I re fit the aircon.

Nick

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:57 am
by chimpboy
No $300 is not reasonable for two a/c hoses, generally speaking. I would expect under $150 for both, using the existing fittings, from any hose place.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:01 am
by festy
Thanks, that's what I thought but wasn't sure.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:49 pm
by NutterGQ
your forgetting he is adding labour, remove refit and so on in his price.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:52 pm
by festy
no, labour was extra.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:05 pm
by Shadow
chimpboy wrote:No $300 is not reasonable for two a/c hoses, generally speaking. I would expect under $150 for both, using the existing fittings, from any hose place.
how can he reuse existing fittings>? they are a crimp on use once fitting.

I think from memory i had 1 of my hoses replaced about 2 years ago and it cost about $120.

I thaught that was quite dear, but i rang around and could not beat it by much.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:16 pm
by Modified Toy
The hose is about 10 dollars per meter if you buy it from repco.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:42 pm
by mrw82
sure you can buy the hose cheap but you need the fittings and a crimper to make them up.

THE FITTINGS ARE NOT REUSABLE. the fittings are aluminium and the crush on the hose tail when crimped is too much, if reused the hose has a high chance of failure. (some fittings can be reused if a mandrel is used to re-expand the tail but it is still unreliable and I wouldn't recommend it)

go to ENZED or PIRTEK etc... they should have an aircon hose crimper and all the hose/ fittings to do the job. depending on what fittings are required to do the job, 45* and 90* fittings can be up to $40 each, basic straight fittings can be as cheap as $10 each.

it really depends on what they are as to what they are worth.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:27 pm
by ferrit
last time i had aircon work done, a new compressor, two new hoses, new seals throughout and a regas was $800- the compressor was $600 of that

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:55 pm
by Modified Toy
mrw82 wrote:sure you can buy the hose cheap but you need the fittings and a crimper to make them up.

THE FITTINGS ARE NOT REUSABLE. the fittings are aluminium and the crush on the hose tail when crimped is too much, if reused the hose has a high chance of failure. (some fittings can be reused if a mandrel is used to re-expand the tail but it is still unreliable and I wouldn't recommend it)

go to ENZED or PIRTEK etc... they should have an aircon hose crimper and all the hose/ fittings to do the job. depending on what fittings are required to do the job, 45* and 90* fittings can be up to $40 each, basic straight fittings can be as cheap as $10 each.

it really depends on what they are as to what they are worth.

Go to repco fitting's are cheep there to..

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:32 pm
by festy
Pirtek couldn't do it - apparently they used to be owned by Pirelli, but have recently been bought by Bridgestone, who don't make a R134a compatible hose :bad-words:
I got the 2 hoses made up for $120 using Goodyear hose and new fittings by a local auto sparky.

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:52 pm
by adriand82
Just had 2 hoses made for $65 each, including o-rings. No way in hell I'd pay $300....