replacing rear ac lines- 100 series suggestions and observations

[KFunk740]

Not sure how I missed this thread, but a couple years ago I replaced my entire rear line with 5/16" nickel copper tubing and a couple a/c splice kits, did a quick recharge, and its been fine for a long time.
I tried bypassing one leak at a holder bracket with that Dorman rubber kit, but then a leak popped up at another bracket. Everyone of those holder brackets is suspect and could pop anytime its bumped. The Nickel Copper tubing is cheap, got 25ft from Amazon, and its super flexible and easy to bend yourself, plus rust resistant. I didn't route it exactly the same as factory but I made it work.
Tubing:
Amazon product ASIN B015YGRDDG
and two of these:
Amazon product ASIN B0083H5ES0
It says I ordered in Sep 2018, so its been working fine for a while.

 

[TommyP83]

Nice! That looks like you just replaced a short stretch of lines rather than the full length? How did you identify where your leak was?

I read somewhere on mud that this is common place for leaks,i cut the foam which was dirty/oily wet and saw tiny bubbles coming from this spot

 

[MTrun]

Not sure how I missed this thread, but a couple years ago I replaced my entire rear line with 5/16" nickel copper tubing and a couple a/c splice kits, did a quick recharge, and its been fine for a long time.

KFunk740 - interesting idea, did you put any foam around the nickel copper line like the original, or not needed? Also curious what brackets or mounting you used, like zip ties?

 

[KFunk740]

KFunk740 - interesting idea, did you put any foam around the nickel copper line like the original, or not needed? Also curious what brackets or mounting you used, like zip ties?

I did slide the foam off the old line and put it on the new one, kind of annoying but I figured I should. Just good ole zip ties.

 

[Gnarwgn]

Hoping that someone can give me some quick pointers. Was recharging my AC system, heard a hiss and noticed a fog cloud under the vehicle. Pinpoint leak where the line passes through the bracket (circled). I assume this is the rear ac line, can someone confirm/comment? I am just starting to understand what I need to do to replace this line. This location is parallel to the muffler, under the middle row passenger side. Thanks in advance.

 

[MTrun]

Hoping that someone can give me some quick pointers. Was recharging my AC system, heard a hiss and noticed a fog cloud under the vehicle. Pinpoint leak where the line passes through the bracket (circled). I assume this is the rear ac line, can someone confirm/comment? I am just starting to understand what I need to do to replace this line. This location is parallel to the muffler, under the middle row passenger side. Thanks in advance.

Yep, that is your high pressure line. Road grit has worn through the soft aluminum line inside of the rubber bushing there it touches the line inside of that bracket. Easiest fix is to cap your rear lines, or you can look into replacing them with flexible hoses or replacing the hard lines.

 

[Gnarwgn]

Yep, that is your high pressure line. Road grit has worn through the soft aluminum line inside of the rubber bushing there it touches the line inside of that bracket. Easiest fix is to cap your rear lines, or you can look into replacing them with flexible hoses or replacing the hard lines.

Thanks for the confirmation @MTrun - so let me run this by you/those who are farther down this road than myself. I can't cap the lines at this point, this is our adventure wagon and I've got 3 minions requiring AC in the back. With that in mind I'm leaning towards the flexible hoses option. Its looking like splicing in the copper nickel flexible line with the Dorman line splice kit is the next logical step (lower cost/less complicated) short of replacing with new hard line? Also I assume that the bracket will disintegrate as soon as I get to removing it, so will be replacing that as well? Once that is all set, run a vacuum on the system, test pressure. If good refill system, mission accomplished. If not good add some dye to the system to find additional leaks. Am I tracking?

 

[Gnarwgn]

Giving this a bump for anyone who could weigh in on my following 'plan' (looking for a yes that seems like a good idea or no you are headed down the wrong trail and here's why). Just hit 80 today and my sense of urgency to fix this issue is quickly escalating:

I plan to follow the @KFunk740 strategy mentioned above by cutting out the majority of my high pressure line and splicing in 5/16 nickel copper tubing with 2 splice kits. I don't plan to touch the ends of the high pressure line where they attach back into the vehicle, because it sounds like this quickly becomes a headache (a number of comments talking about the rear bolts shearing off for example). Remaining question - is it worth replacing the 3 clamps, or are these so corroded that its not worth the effort? And if not replaced, how would I attach the new line...all that is coming to mind is zip ties, which doesn't feel quite right.

Thanks in advance for any final thoughts, comments, and/or pointers here.

 

[MTrun]

I am certainly not qualified to answer these questions, but can speak from my experiences. Replacing the hard lines was a pain in the @$$, but I was quite proud of myself for doing it. My system has worked flawlessly since replacement, except until it didn't. As the months went by, seems I still have a very slow leak from somewhere -- can't tell if it is related to the lines, the 6 other components I replaced, or somewhere else in the system. All that to say, even though I may have done it "right", it isn't perfect. Part of me wonders if just capping the rear lines would have saved a large amount of time, hassle and made a more reliable system in the end. 80 series land cruisers never had a rear AC system, so I see why it is worth it to some people to trade a little cooling in the back for a reliable system by capping them. Your mileage may vary. The clamps in my humble opinion don't add a lot, and are an imperfect design (just judging from the way they are the first failure points in the hard lines). Many of the clamps can be individually purchased new oem, just go to PartSouq and find the part numbers on the exploded diagrams. If you use zip ties on an alternate replacement line, I would just encourage you to ensure you aren't making new abrasion/wear points -- perhaps wrap those spots in a small amount of self fusing silicon tape for instance and then put the zip-tie around that for a homemade rubber bushing that won't attract grit.

In the end -- I don't like varying too much from factory design as Toyota engineers spent countless hours trying to refine the design as it is -- HOWEVER, seeing that these lines were never really designed to be wear items (lifetime components), I would say we are forging a little bit of trail on this one.

 

[Moridinbg]

2 years on with the flexible hoses, I havent’t had to add freon once and I am more than happy to have a more balanced cooling throughout the car, instead of the front vents blasting full cold at me at those hot days.

 

[Gnarwgn]

Ok - here's the aftermath after getting stuck in analysis paralysis for a while. Hopefully this is helpful for others considering the same job.

For better or worse - I chose to replace with OEM parts, and managed to get these parts shipped for just under $145 from Lithia Toyota Springfield. High pressure line, clamps, insulators, screws, bolts, etc. First time from Lithia, but read good things about them from other west coast folks and they were competitive, good experience.

The job itself was pretty straightforward - disconnect the high pressure line. 12mm bolt in the very back - I carefully used my hammer drill to loosen and it pulled out with no issues. The connection to the front pressure line came apart easily with 2 adjustable wrenches. The 3 clamps were a chore - front clamp is the easiest (again using hammer drill and extension). Middle clamp is held to the body by a 10mm bolt, but then connected to itself with a Philips screw. My screw was fused to the clamp so I had to drill it out. Third clamp is just awkward to get a wrench on, but used a short drive 10mm ratchet and it came off easily enough. From there pulling all the clamps off the lines and removing the high pressure line was pretty easy.

I found that inserting the new high pressure line and clamps was the most difficult part of the project. I brought the new line in through the back forward until I cleared the various obstacles, and then slowly and painfully pulled it into place. This was super tedious work, and I was freaked out the entire time that I was going to snap the line. Moving slowly and keeping both hands on the line as much as possible seemed to help me know the tolerance at certain points. The line was also somewhat flexible, so I was able to bend it enough when needed to get it into place. Once in place, I attached the ends, and then worked from front to back attaching fresh clamps. I found that snapping the clamps shut, sliding the insulators in, and then bolting them down was the best order of operations. Again front clamp was easiest, middle and back clamp more challenging. After it was all tightened down I double checked the line and bended it back into place in a few areas.

Lastly - I bought ZeroR 'AC Refrigerant' (R134 substitute) from DIYparts.com (again for better or worse). You can't buy R134 in WA, and I've had good luck with ZeroR previously. Ultimately/eventually I need to run a vacuum on the system to test and also suck out any moisture, but for now went with the quick charge. 2 cans of ZeroR and its back up and running, blowing cold (at least for now). Shops around here want $200-$250 for a recharge.

Knowing what I know now, a few summary thoughts:

1. I don't know what these are, but I'll call them body/chassis bump stops - they look like thick hockey pucks. The one pictured was the largest obstacle for the entire job, both pulling the old line out and installing the new line. If there was any way to remove this, the job would be ALOT easier. I could not find any way to remove the thing.

2. The splice kit combined with nickel copper wire solution seems like a solid alternative, and would really solve how precarious getting the OEM line reinstalled is. I just didn't have the confidence with that, but 5 minutes of testing/trial/error probably would have gotten me over that hurdle.

3. I'm really glad I replaced the clamps/bolts/nuts/insulators. Most of that stuff was disintegrating and only adding to the issue. The only clamp I could have reused was the back clamp.

For what its worth, again hope this helps and thanks everyone for the good feedback in this string, helped me get to the finish line!

 

[abuck99]

Good contribution & write up-

 

[Bigjayva]

Anyone know if i a brass npt cap from home depot will fit to cap the rear lines until i can replace? Does anyone know the size of these?
Also, why cant i just unscrew the line at this junction and cap it? My leak is where everyone elses is just above this junction at the clamp.

 

[Jwade2682]

Just replaced my High Pressure line that is the aft section of the line you just replaced. I also live in Chicagoland so all the salt they dump on the road is going to increase the maintenance required. I had to drop the muffler to get my line off and it was a heck of a job getting that rear section of the high pressure line out from underneath the truck. The bolt that attaches the lines to the rear evaporate just sheared off as soon as I turned it. I have a write up on my experience if you ever need to replace this piece. I've got Vac pump and the tools need to charge the system so if you have problems in the future PM me and I'd be happy to help.

How did you handle the bolt that sheered? Mine did the same

 

[Gnarwgn]

New question - does anyone know how many ounces of oil are required/spec’d for the system? My compressor is noisy, and before I replace it I want to see if adding some oil solves the issue. Currently blowing cold so don’t want to rock the boat if I don’t have to…

 

[LCMoneyPit]

Ok - here's the aftermath after getting stuck in analysis paralysis for a while. Hopefully this is helpful for others considering the same job.

For better or worse - I chose to replace with OEM parts, and managed to get these parts shipped for just under $145 from Lithia Toyota Springfield. High pressure line, clamps, insulators, screws, bolts, etc. First time from Lithia, but read good things about them from other west coast folks and they were competitive, good experience.

The job itself was pretty straightforward - disconnect the high pressure line. 12mm bolt in the very back - I carefully used my hammer drill to loosen and it pulled out with no issues. The connection to the front pressure line came apart easily with 2 adjustable wrenches. The 3 clamps were a chore - front clamp is the easiest (again using hammer drill and extension). Middle clamp is held to the body by a 10mm bolt, but then connected to itself with a Philips screw. My screw was fused to the clamp so I had to drill it out. Third clamp is just awkward to get a wrench on, but used a short drive 10mm ratchet and it came off easily enough. From there pulling all the clamps off the lines and removing the high pressure line was pretty easy.

I found that inserting the new high pressure line and clamps was the most difficult part of the project. I brought the new line in through the back forward until I cleared the various obstacles, and then slowly and painfully pulled it into place. This was super tedious work, and I was freaked out the entire time that I was going to snap the line. Moving slowly and keeping both hands on the line as much as possible seemed to help me know the tolerance at certain points. The line was also somewhat flexible, so I was able to bend it enough when needed to get it into place. Once in place, I attached the ends, and then worked from front to back attaching fresh clamps. I found that snapping the clamps shut, sliding the insulators in, and then bolting them down was the best order of operations. Again front clamp was easiest, middle and back clamp more challenging. After it was all tightened down I double checked the line and bended it back into place in a few areas.

Lastly - I bought ZeroR 'AC Refrigerant' (R134 substitute) from DIYparts.com (again for better or worse). You can't buy R134 in WA, and I've had good luck with ZeroR previously. Ultimately/eventually I need to run a vacuum on the system to test and also suck out any moisture, but for now went with the quick charge. 2 cans of ZeroR and its back up and running, blowing cold (at least for now). Shops around here want $200-$250 for a recharge.

Knowing what I know now, a few summary thoughts:

1. I don't know what these are, but I'll call them body/chassis bump stops - they look like thick hockey pucks. The one pictured was the largest obstacle for the entire job, both pulling the old line out and installing the new line. If there was any way to remove this, the job would be ALOT easier. I could not find any way to remove the thing.

2. The splice kit combined with nickel copper wire solution seems like a solid alternative, and would really solve how precarious getting the OEM line reinstalled is. I just didn't have the confidence with that, but 5 minutes of testing/trial/error probably would have gotten me over that hurdle.

3. I'm really glad I replaced the clamps/bolts/nuts/insulators. Most of that stuff was disintegrating and only adding to the issue. The only clamp I could have reused was the back clamp.

For what its worth, again hope this helps and thanks everyone for the good feedback in this string, helped me get to the finish line!

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Thanks, great write up. What year is your 100? I'm right next door to you in Preston and about to take this on, as I jumped in my rig on Friday and had no A/C.

Edit: just realized who you are. Sent you a text.

 

[loeky]

Ok - here's the aftermath after getting stuck in analysis paralysis for a while. Hopefully this is helpful for others considering the same job.

For better or worse - I chose to replace with OEM parts, and managed to get these parts shipped for just under $145 from Lithia Toyota Springfield. High pressure line, clamps, insulators, screws, bolts, etc. First time from Lithia, but read good things about them from other west coast folks and they were competitive, good experience.

The job itself was pretty straightforward - disconnect the high pressure line. 12mm bolt in the very back - I carefully used my hammer drill to loosen and it pulled out with no issues. The connection to the front pressure line came apart easily with 2 adjustable wrenches. The 3 clamps were a chore - front clamp is the easiest (again using hammer drill and extension). Middle clamp is held to the body by a 10mm bolt, but then connected to itself with a Philips screw. My screw was fused to the clamp so I had to drill it out. Third clamp is just awkward to get a wrench on, but used a short drive 10mm ratchet and it came off easily enough. From there pulling all the clamps off the lines and removing the high pressure line was pretty easy.

I found that inserting the new high pressure line and clamps was the most difficult part of the project. I brought the new line in through the back forward until I cleared the various obstacles, and then slowly and painfully pulled it into place. This was super tedious work, and I was freaked out the entire time that I was going to snap the line. Moving slowly and keeping both hands on the line as much as possible seemed to help me know the tolerance at certain points. The line was also somewhat flexible, so I was able to bend it enough when needed to get it into place. Once in place, I attached the ends, and then worked from front to back attaching fresh clamps. I found that snapping the clamps shut, sliding the insulators in, and then bolting them down was the best order of operations. Again front clamp was easiest, middle and back clamp more challenging. After it was all tightened down I double checked the line and bended it back into place in a few areas.

Lastly - I bought ZeroR 'AC Refrigerant' (R134 substitute) from DIYparts.com (again for better or worse). You can't buy R134 in WA, and I've had good luck with ZeroR previously. Ultimately/eventually I need to run a vacuum on the system to test and also suck out any moisture, but for now went with the quick charge. 2 cans of ZeroR and its back up and running, blowing cold (at least for now). Shops around here want $200-$250 for a recharge.

Knowing what I know now, a few summary thoughts:

1. I don't know what these are, but I'll call them body/chassis bump stops - they look like thick hockey pucks. The one pictured was the largest obstacle for the entire job, both pulling the old line out and installing the new line. If there was any way to remove this, the job would be ALOT easier. I could not find any way to remove the thing.

2. The splice kit combined with nickel copper wire solution seems like a solid alternative, and would really solve how precarious getting the OEM line reinstalled is. I just didn't have the confidence with that, but 5 minutes of testing/trial/error probably would have gotten me over that hurdle.

3. I'm really glad I replaced the clamps/bolts/nuts/insulators. Most of that stuff was disintegrating and only adding to the issue. The only clamp I could have reused was the back clamp.

For what its worth, again hope this helps and thanks everyone for the good feedback in this string, helped me get to the finish line!

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This was super helpful in finding some parts that didn't make it back onto my truck during a recent AC overhaul from the shop - who otherwise did a great job. Thanks.

 

[Escape Artist]

Following along … just found an AC line leak in the same exact spot as everyone else behind the front passenger tire. At first I was hoping it’s an O-ring but I don’t think that’s the case. So depending on where my hole is, I might just splice the line and then before next summer I’ll replace all the AC lines because I’m doing a new condenser and radiator. Some people have had good luck with that Amazon kit. “Dorman 800-641 Line Splice For 3/8 In. Aluminum” I’m assuming that the diameter of the lines don’t change between the model years.

 

[Goose17]

I just replaced my damaged line and got the AC recharged. I have been driving it for a few days and don't have any condensation coming out. It has a new cabin air filter. I did shoot some compressed air into the line to see if that would loosen anything up, but no luck. Does it take time for the condensation to build up? I'm in AZ. Thanks