AC hose
 

Hi my mechanic is changing camshaft and tension seals etc and said that the AC hose 4D0260701C is on so stiff that he will have to cut the nut off to remove it (pic attached) and because he used so much force trying to undo it, it will probably cause an AC leak anyway so it needs replacement.

New hose from Audi is £209.... do you think taking the hose to a company like Pirtek would be a suitable alternative? He's back to word on the car on Monday and I have to think of a solution till then

Does it have to be a new one?

Why is he taking that off to do the tensioners? Are you replacing the condenser?

Pirtek don't have the right tools for AC hoses, or at least the Exeter branch don't. Other hose specialists may be different, but AC stuff is different to hydraulic fittings.

Do Prestige have one?

Prestige haven't got one. He was taking it off just to make the job easier for himself I guess and he is going to clean the whole engine bay as its all greasy from the evaporating oil.. I'll take it to our local Pirtek branch and see what they say I guess then.

The thing is he already tried to undo it with a lot of force so it will probably cause an AC leak...

That's rather unfortunate then. Most people just swing it out of the way. Is the condenser still intact or has he also destroyed that?

I suspect Prestige probably cut the hose to save the condenser hence why they don't have any. That hose is specific to the V6 so I don't have one either.

I can ask a couple of contacts in Germany if it would help although the situation may be the same with them.

I'm not sure how a hose specialist will be able to help if he cuts the nut off as they won't re-swage a used hose so you'd have to cut the compressor-end fitting off, acquire a new condenser-end fitting (maybe from another model which comes apart more easily), and then swage a new R134-compatible hose on to the two fittings. Non trivial.