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Air Con Condenser damaged by stone

mrober_uk

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Cheshire
Fellow Golf enthusiasts, a note of caution.....

My GTD recently lost the ability to cool the cabin temp and I took it to the local VW dealers for diagnosis. They noted that the refrigerant volume was lower than expected and topped it up. A couple of weeks later same thing happens and obviously this time a leak was suspected. Local dealer diagnoses inspects system and finds a stone chip in the condenser that apparently sits behind the plastic grill in prime position to catch any debris being flung up. Stone has caused a pin hole in the condenser and refrigerant has escaped thru the hole.

cost to replace condenser ...... £800 :eek: Apparently the front bumper has to be removed to get to the condenser and most of the cost is labour.

Now i was surfing to see if this was a common problem and came across this post relating to a Mk6 suffering the same issue:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gAssing/...Golf+MK6+Air+Con+Condenser+damaged+by+stone!+

There appears to be a mesh grill that can be fitted to prevent such damage - why the heck don't VW fit this as standard or move the unit so that it is out of the way of flying debris? I'm going to ask if they can fit this to my car to prevent expensive recurrence as the state of our roads can pretty much guarantee it wil happen again... (63 plate GTD with 11k miles....)

any other instances of this out there or was I just unlucky?
 

Derk

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Manchester UK
That sucks like chewing nettles!! I cant imagine you will be the only one with the surface of our roads emulating that of surface of the moon!!

Any details on the mesh to help prevent this issue?

Thanks for the heads up.
 

jimma_uk

Ready to race!
Location
Southampton
Oh that sucks, sorry to hear that. Seems like a bad design on the part of VW if a simple grill could fix the problem!

With the cost to fix that, it would be cheaper (in my case anyway) to claim on the insurance!
 

kevinm1

Ready to race!
Location
Ireland
The grill would lower the efficiency of the condenser, which raises emissions and lowers mpg. It's a compromise made by vw.

Also that protective grill listed above has a mk5/6 part number. It may not fit the mk7...
 

hotdog62

New member
Location
England
Fitting a grill does not cure the problem only improves it, as kevinm says it also lowers the efficiency, which raises emissions and lowers mpg, also all air con systems using 134a gas need the condensor fitted at the front of the car to get max cooling, Its just one of those things its not a VW fault
 

mrober_uk

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Cheshire
Got my car back yesterday and have to commend VW Chester on charging for the time it actually took them to do the job rather than the card rate. Still was approx £500 tho...

Having looked at the general damage caused to the condenser by flying objects in little more than 10k miles I have to say that I'm surprised there isn't more protection in front of it.

There is a gap in the plastic grill around the radar mount which is large enough to allow a fair sized stone to pass. It appears that this is what caused the damage to the condenser on my car. If it can happen once, it can happen again no doubt. I'll be looking to provide some more protection to the condenser behind the radar sensor if I can. See pics for details.

http://i.imgur.com/cAX9sA2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hGN3Kso.jpg
 

mike56

New member
Location
peterborough
Yep , had the exact same problem , carnt beleave condensa in such an exposed place with little protection, vw told me not possible to protect with mesh on this model and of coarse not coverd by warranty and wouldent budge on it,very worrying and costly its almost as vunerable as the windsceen to damage, great shame as love the mk7
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
So no MK7 version of the MK6 inner mesh grille............BUGGER!!


I'll have to get busy with some "chav" mesh then & make my own up otherwise I'll be going through condensers like mad with the carp roads up here!
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate

............:eek:...I'm worried as my current car has got very good close grills.......& £600 to £800 for a new condenser on my next car........:(

Read the thread, can anyone verify the parts nos as being accurate for the MK7 inner grill.......

1K0 820 746 Grill
3D0 867 646 Clips 8 required

however both Audi & VW modified their grills in May this year?
5Q0 816 411M VW Grill
5Q0 816 411 AJ Audi grill

These parts need double checking if some one can do this................
 

Tahiti1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
UK
What a ball ache.

It's funny though as it's actually a question I asked of the dealer when I bought the car (without realising it was a known problem).

I'd be interested to see what solutions people come up with as the chav risk, as it was eloquently put, is high.
 

Bungleaio

Ready to race!
Location
Leicester, UK.
Unfortunately it can happen to any car with AC. I recently had to replace the one on my Range Rover and my dad has had to have a new one on his Jazz too. So it's not just something that VW have overlooked.
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
What a ball ache.

I'd be interested to see what solutions people come up with as the chav risk, as it was eloquently put, is high.

There is a costly option, but as I am several hundred miles away...........

Zunsport is a UK company who make stainless steel grills for cars (nothing for MK7 Golf), also do custom & black coated.............:)

Linky:-

http://www.zunsport.com/default.asp
 
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