Prevention of A/C compressor breakdown

[wildthing]

My last week was a hell week for my ride. My frontier just turned 2 and expired his warranty...so what do you expect, something major breakdown and warranty could not cover it.

Nissan Calsonic A/C system is quite one of the best in the cooling your ride...but my god the A/C compressor of Calsonic (now manufactured by Xecel) is one of the most expensive A/C compressors. It cost me P13,500 (cheapest quote from 4 possible suppliers)...I was initially told P14,500, kakatawad ko nagin P13,500 nalang.

As I was browsing, I also learned that a Sanden 508 series (which is almost equivalent to my DKV-14C Calsonic/Xecel only cost P6,000-6,500. Bulls**t, should I have known ahead of time na wala namang major difference yung dalawa I would have just converted my A/C compressor set-up to Sanden.

To do this conversion, you will need to change the following lang: 1) A/C bracket to fit the Sanden Compressor in a Nissan Vechicle (example Frontier), 2) Change the Plugs of the compressor (in and out). The bracket may cost P2,000 to P4,000 and the plugs would be about P500. At the end it would probably still be cheaper by P2,000-3,000 than getting the Calsonic/Xecel compressor.

At least, the next time around that the compressor konk out, you will just be shelling out P6-6.5K.

Hope this could be of help to others.

BTW, my A/C technician predicted that the possible reason why my A/C compressor konk out is probably because my Conderser DO NOT have an auxiliary fan. Now if you couple it with a running A/C on a stop traffic often or just running the A/C without the car moving (which I often do while waiting on a sales call), the heat in the condenser makes the compressor to work double time because it is trying to compress a hot gas(R134a freon).

To PREVENT this, he recommends adding an Auxiliary fan which also turns on when the A/C is on. The idea does makes sense to me, so I installed one.

I also learned that most AUV in the market also no longer have auxiliary fan - para makasave on their cost of vechicle probably.

[theveed]

bad trip nga yun pre hehe... but if you think about it, i honestly dont think a manufacturer will miss that (adding an aux), since most new cars have 2 fans near the engine bay pulling air away rather than a push pull config like most older cars.

as far as i know, whether you push or pull hot air out, it won't make a diff, as long as the air moves, it should be the same.

di kaya nagka bara yung drier mo?

PM mo si zeagle about a/c info kung ano possibilty ng cause of damage.

sa mga older cars, usual cause nya is refilling freon without refilling compressor oil during cleaning...

[buknoy2002]

added question lang

sanden 508 series, di ba r12 freon ito?
di ba ban na ng lto ang r12freon next year??

[theveed]

wala sa compressor ang R12/R134...

[wildthing]

yup R12 is banned na next year. LTO will check it daw. The existing R12 freon will have to be flushed out and the compressor oil will have to be replaced with an oil that will be compatible to R134a freon. The Sanden 508 comes in two versions - for R12 and R134a. Magkaiba ang oil inside the compressor.

[1D4LV]

hmmm. laki ng minura ng sanden ah. 8 years ago, when i changed my mitsair compressor (dun sa dating singkit ko), i spent around 14k (compressor, including evaporator, condenser and labor...). i think the basic compressor alone that time costs around 11k. buti ngayon nasa 6-7k range na lang.

[zeagle]

Actually its not only the oil that is different from an R12/R134a compressor. The major difference there are the shaft seal and gaskets. R134a molecules are smaller. If you just replace the oil of an R12 compressor with R134a oil without changing the shaft seal, eventually the refrigerant will leak out. Though it will take years I think for it to completely dry out.

As for taking care of your compressor, just make sure that you don't just refill the refrigerant. If you need to refill the refrigerant, there is leak. Make sure you resolve the source instead of just regularly refilling it. Also, have the clutch bearing replaced once you start hearing noise. If you don't, the hub might get damaged. Hirap pa naman to find a replacement hub for some compressors. Sometimes you have no choice but to change the whole thing.

[vinj]

It's very rare for a relatively new compressor to get broken that fast... there's a chance that something might be stressing your a/c. The case was with my friend's Exalta, they kept changing the compressor and it kept blowing even if he wasnt driving the car hard. Further diagnosis revealed that there was a clog in the system that was stressing it.

You can also try asking the CASA as there are some special exceptions given to some cases wherein the warranty period lapse isnt that long yet, especially if the mileage is still not that high. This happened to us already before with our Nissan Exalta a/c system, the warranty was already lapsed by a few months but our mileage was below the then 50,000km warranty limit and the problem that occured wasnt common and out of "wear and tear" (some a/c pieces became brittle and gave way) so they fixed for free after NMPI gave clearance. Same was the case with the compressor of my friend's Exalta which gave way one month after the warranty expiration.

BTW, one cause of a/c compressor breakdown can be high revs or sudden high revs when the a/c is functioning. This is the case usually with high mileage, or old vehicles.

[wildthing]

it was quite too late the kilometer reading was 68,000+ na, same reason why hindi na maiclaim.

Too many issues to consider which one was at fault, that's why I changed my compressor, drier and expansion valve to eliminate all immediate possibilities.

[knight23]

the a/c of my isuzu pick-up would turn off when the car is not running especially on very hot days. wala rin itong auxilliary fan para sa condenser. if i install an auxilliary fan, would this cure the problem?

[sirkosero]

the a/c of my isuzu pick-up would turn off when the car is not running especially on very hot days. wala rin itong auxilliary fan para sa condenser. if i install an auxilliary fan, would this cure the problem?

automatic off yung a/c? especially on hot days tapos di umaandar yung car? ang init nun! edi iinit lang lalo sa cabin mo?

[OTEP]

Hindi naman siguro naka-off iyan. Baka walang airflow sa condenser or nakakaroon ng freezing sa lines kaya walang lamig.

An auxillary fan can potentially solve both problems.

[buknoy2002]

yup R12 is banned na next year. LTO will check it daw. The existing R12 freon will have to be flushed out and the compressor oil will have to be replaced with an oil that will be compatible to R134a freon. The Sanden 508 comes in two versions - for R12 and R134a. Magkaiba ang oil inside the compressor.

am currently using an r12freon.

so next year i'll just flush the r12 freon/oil, and refill it with r134 freon/oil e ok na ko sa lto?

no need to change hardware??

tama po ba?

[theveed]

buknoy, please refer to Zeagle's technical comments above.

[knight23]

automatic off yung a/c? especially on hot days tapos di umaandar yung car? ang init nun! edi iinit lang lalo sa cabin mo?

mainit talaga.

Hindi naman siguro naka-off iyan. Baka walang airflow sa condenser or nakakaroon ng freezing sa lines kaya walang lamig.

the a/c would turn off(bumaba ang idle), blower na lang. even if i turn it off and turn it back on, the a/c wont kick in.

[Dieseler]

mainit talaga.



the a/c would turn off(bumaba ang idle), blower na lang. even if i turn it off and turn it back on, the a/c wont kick in.

Anong brand yan? Isuzu diba uses Sanden? Baka maluwag lang ang 'clutch', the round thing that has the belt wrapped around it.

[theveed]

I believe Denso ang Isuzu

[katsudon_ph]

Guys,

kala ko unique lang sa amin ung problem with the Frontier Aircon Compressor pero mukhang daming nagkakaproblema... Baka defective ung late model ng compressor ng frontier. Our company purchase 4 units of frontier 2003 model and 3 of that were already replaced with new compressor.

The advisor told us that the problem is the user. Usually window open and aircon -on. but it looks like inferior quality talaga calsonic aircon lately.

[niky]

It's not just the Frontier. It happens with the Exalta also and the AD Resort also. Nissan's supercold aircons are a pain in the ass if you don't maintain them well. I changed my compressor to a Denso.

[av427]

Hmmm, nakakapagtaka. Our Nissan Frontier diesel was bought in 2000 (2001 look sha) and as of today, di pa nasira ang compressor nya eh halos 7 years na.

The only thing we have had to change is the Expansion Valve, and once pa lang yun. Ang gumawa is Sterling in T. morato. Sabi nila sa ken, lagi ko daw i-gitna yung temperature setting ko sa frontier then yung fan nasa 2, and it worked for me. Di na nasira ulit yung aircon after pinalitan yung expansion valve.

Magkaiba ba ang aircon ng 2000-2001 Nissan Frontier sa 2003?