A/C Refrigerant Hose blew up, can I use a hose form a 2.7l concordesame year?

I was having the refrigerant recharged in my concorde when the A/C
Refrigerant Hose litteraly blew up, well at least the rubber hose did.
2 questions, since its under such high pressure, is there a way to
just replace the rubber (damn ive been doing alot of that lately)
Secondly, is using a hose from a 2.7l 98 Concorde an option? They all
seem to look the same but I godda make sure.

I think thats it for today. I know I need to get a new receiver drier
so ill start with that.


1998 Concorde
160k miles
3.2l Engine
No AC

 

On the LH car forums, it is common practice to replace the 2.7 with the
3.2/3.5 if the 2.7 goes bad. They advise getting the peripherals with
the replacement engine, including the a.c. hoses, but they do say that
the old hoses *can* be re-used, but that they need to be bent slightly
to fit. So it sounds like it could be made to work. The hoses aren't
that expensive thru the dealer. When I replaced the evaporator in one
of my Concordes a couple of years ago, I replaced all the a.c. lines too.

 

A competent A/C shop can replace the rubber part of the hose and reuse
your ends. Several in my neck of the woods will make them for you for
next to nothing if you pull the old hose off and take it to them.

Make sure the person charging the system is using the proper setup to
do so. They should have a manifold gauge to monitor both high and low
pressure while charging. The hose could have blown because the high
pressure went out of spec (or it could have just been a week spot on
an old hose).

Now that the hose has blown you will also need a new dryer and need
to pull the air/moisture out of the system with a vacuum pump. I
would probably replace the expansion device as well since the system
is already "open". You probably know all that already...

Steve B.

 

Hmm. Ill have to check that out, I havent been able to find many shops
who havent tried to make me just buy the whole damn assembly though.

 

There is a high pressure relief valve on the compressor, so the hose was
probably weak.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

If he stopped the car and quickly sealed off the ends right after
the hose blew, he will likely be fine with the dryer.

No need, but checking the filter screen going into the expansion
orifice would be a good idea.

He also likely will have lost considerable oil. During an explosive
decompression the oil will go rushing out of the system, unlike if the
freon loss is gradual.

Ted