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Technical Transfer of Air Conditioning Unit from one car to another (Punto Mk2)

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Technical Transfer of Air Conditioning Unit from one car to another (Punto Mk2)

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adr272

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Dear All

I have a 3-door Fiat Punto Mk2 (1.2 8v) without an air-conditioning unit. A friend of mine has a 5-door Fiat Punto Mk2 (1.2 8v) which has an air-conditioning unit and he is going to scrap the car.

Is it possible to remove the air-conditioning unit from one car and fit it in the car which has no air-conditioning unit?

Help, Tips and Guides would be appreciated.


Regards
 
it is possible, aircon compressor and alternator+belt+sprocket needs to be put from old car to new + their mount and you need to take dashboard out from both cars and switch heather matrix and switch radiators and fans and aircon pipes, you also need to change that inside button that you press in for aircon to come on, thats about it i think
 
adr272 said:
Dear All

I have a 3-door Fiat Punto Mk2 (1.2 8v) without an air-conditioning unit. A friend of mine has a 5-door Fiat Punto Mk2 (1.2 8v) which has an air-conditioning unit and he is going to scrap the car.

Is it possible to remove the air-conditioning unit from one car and fit it in the car which has no air-conditioning unit?

Help, Tips and Guides would be appreciated.


Regards
Click to expand...

It is possible, but a lot of work. Note that the system has to be de-gassed first and this has to be done by a trained person and the gas captured and not just vented. When re-installing you have to be very careful not to let dirt into the system. You will need a new dryer, the system vacuumed down and re-gassed. I would not bother personally. Easier to just buy a car with aircon.


Robert G8RPI.
 
Having done this job myself on other cars in the past, I can assure you it's a complete bitch of a job to do and unless you are very competent in electrics mechanics and engineering (as well as having a very good grasp of how aircon works) it really isn't worth while.

You can buy a punto with aircon for a few hundred pounds theses days.
 
AndyRKett said:
If gas is still in the system then by law they have to, venting refrigerant intentionally is illegal through out most of the developed world.
Click to expand...

And everyone of us chosing the luxury of a car with aircon is deliberately venting gas and having to refill the damn thing and do the same thing all over again and it is perfectly legal. Hundreds of millions of us I am supposing and I am supposing that many professionals do not worry too much about venting gas.
 
Round here it's illegal for the owner, operator or maintainer of refrigerator type things to intentionally vent gas as part of operating, fixing or decommissioning.
In addition I see rules coming down the track for units over a certain size to have leak detection equipment fitted.
 
judderbar said:
And everyone of us chosing the luxury of a car with aircon is deliberately venting gas and having to refill the damn thing and do the same thing all over again and it is perfectly legal. Hundreds of millions of us I am supposing and I am supposing that many professionals do not worry too much about venting gas.
Click to expand...

Why do you think everyone is deliberately venting gas? There is slight leakage, but very little unless there is a fault. Garages and scrapyards have to pump out and collect the gas when working on or scrapping cars. There are also controls on who can work on aircon or scrap a car. I expect controls on purchasing gas will be applied in the future. Just because people are doing things and not getting penalised does not mean it's legal.

Robert G8RPI.
 
Definitely not worth the work, I'm sure there is a lot of wiring also involved via ecu etc.
 
g8rpi said:
Why do you think everyone is deliberately venting gas? There is slight leakage, but very little unless there is a fault. Garages and scrapyards have to pump out and collect the gas when working on or scrapping cars. There are also controls on who can work on aircon or scrap a car. I expect controls on purchasing gas will be applied in the future. Just because people are doing things and not getting penalised does not mean it's legal.

Robert G8RPI.
Click to expand...

How long does a system stay sufficiently pressurised before it needs repressurising?
 
Hi,
It's not pressure as such. The refrigerant "gas" is actually liquid in the system at its normal pressure (when running it is the change between liquid and gas within the system that cools the car) It's best described as a fluid as this covers both gas and liquid phases. If there is a leak, the pressure drops and the liquid evaporates until the pressure is restored. If there is a total loss of pressure the liquid boils away. Eventually there is so little liquid left that the cooling performance drops. "Regassing" actually adds liquid to the system. The best method uses a vacuum pump to suck out all the refrigerant fluid, lubricating oil and any contaminants. A new "drier" that absorbs contamination should be fitted and the the correct weight of new fluid and oil is added. Sometimes a fluorescent dye is included to allow detection of larger leaks with a UV light.
Less satisfactory is pumping out the old, adding new to bring up to weight filtering and pumping back in. The least acceptable is the approach of blindly adding fluid until the pressure with the system running comes up. This can be done with a DIY kit but note that the ambient temperature has a big effect so follow the instructions carefully.
HTH,

Robert G8RPI.
 
g8rpi said:
Hi,
It's not pressure as such. The refrigerant "gas" is actually liquid in the system at its normal pressure (when running it is the change between liquid and gas within the system that cools the car) It's best described as a fluid as this covers both gas and liquid phases. If there is a leak, the pressure drops and the liquid evaporates until the pressure is restored. If there is a total loss of pressure the liquid boils away. Eventually there is so little liquid left that the cooling performance drops. "Regassing" actually adds liquid to the system. The best method uses a vacuum pump to suck out all the refrigerant fluid, lubricating oil and any contaminants. A new "drier" that absorbs contamination should be fitted and the the correct weight of new fluid and oil is added. Sometimes a fluorescent dye is included to allow detection of larger leaks with a UV light.
Less satisfactory is pumping out the old, adding new to bring up to weight filtering and pumping back in. The least acceptable is the approach of blindly adding fluid until the pressure with the system running comes up. This can be done with a DIY kit but note that the ambient temperature has a big effect so follow the instructions carefully.
HTH,

Robert G8RPI.
Click to expand...

Ok so how long can the system be expected to last before it needs refilling to maintain the required performance?
 
judderbar said:
Ok so how long can the system be expected to last before it needs refilling to maintain the required performance?
Click to expand...


My Punto lasted 10 years without a regass, first time I had it done was in September 2014 and the car was registered in Dec 2004. If the system is used properly then it can last a very long time without any problems.

Once the pressure drops the efficiency of the system drops off but there is still a large amount of refrigerant in the system.

Regassing involves reclaiming this gas, checking for leaks and then regassing with a fresh charge at the correct amount.
 
Our V70 is on the original charge at 13 years. It probably has lost some. I don't use it much, mainly in winter for demisting and the odd squirt the rest of the time to keep the seals turning. Perhaps as a consequence I wore out the clutch bearing, luckily managed to replace it in situ without opening the gas lines.
 
g8rpi said:
Hi,
Typically more than 10 years if there are no faults. One important thing is to use it reguarly, even in winter (it's good for demisting). This keeps the seals and bearings working and lubricated. It also stoops contamination condesing in one spot and causing corrosion.

Robert G8RPI.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of the information, I was thinking they became faulty much quicker than ten years.
 
No no no, not worth the effort or the risk of future endless trouble. Yes, like Brendon, I too have a Volvo and mine has Climate control with always-on air con. It is 15 years old and has been 100% reliable but when these systems go wrong they are a PITA! Also, unlike Volvo, the Fiat system is NOT very well anti-corrosion proofed. They are almost doomed to fail a short way down the road in an English winter with all that road salt. Lets face it even the coolant metal pipe and the sump are prone to SERIOUS corrosion and leaks. The Punto engine is the only example of an ordinary car I have ever come across to have warped the head and overheated in nomral use. (An experience that cost my daughter £££ and los of use for months!). Save your hard earned dosh for general maintenance. I have had lots of Fiats and loved them but they are not long lived durable cars in the UK.
 
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