Could I use secondhand parts? |
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| Yes, occasionally. Very occasionally secondhand aircon parts are a viable option. For example both the Skoda Fabia and the VW Polo use the same poorly designed pipe (and don't forget that I am very pro-VW, their reliability and their safety are such that I prefer my wife to drive a VW and she has had a succession of these for over 25 years). However this particular pipe must have been designed by a robot or perhaps was meant as a nice moneyspinner as it often gradually wears through by rubbing against another component. For a comparable piece of pipe on, say a Ford, a Peugeot or an Alfa Romeo I would expect to pay £40 to £50 from a main dealer. The price from Skoda or VW is about £140 - it is grossly overpriced for such a short, simple pipe. In these circumstances a pipe from a breakers,as long as it also hasn't worn through, could be a very acceptable alternative to new and if suitably protected from the other component should last forever. It would be fair to say that if any pipe has been rubbing and has worn through that a secondhand one would be acceptable but always check with an AC professional first as some pipes are repairable, sometimes very economically. If a pipe fails for another reason be wary, some are known to professionals as weakspots and a secondhand one could easily have the same weakness (the two pipes going to the compressor on the Peugeot 306 are a case in point). I would always suggest that you check the price of new or possibly reconditioned parts with the main dealers and also alternative suppliers such as AC professionals before buying secondhand, sometimes they are surprisingly inexpensive but then again sometimes impossibly overpriced. The suction/discharge hose on the 2001 to 2006 Mondeo is an example, the original pipe often rubbed through on the subframe but a redesigned pipe to clear the subframe is quite reasonably priced - full marks to Ford! Buying a secondhand receiver/drier would in 99.9% of cases be very bad practice. Apart from a mere handful of models, they are still available or a suitable substitute can be found. I had to make up pipework a few months ago in order to replace a drier on a Ford Probe as the original is no longer available from Ford or anywhere else it seems. If a secondhand drier had been available it might have been acceptable in this case. I have since been informed that as from 2008 I can now get a new Probe drier from a company which imports them from Australia - see the links page. Buying secondhand condensers would normally represent a poor bargain but there are still a few occasions when it might be acceptable, for example when only a manufacturers part is available (usually at high cost) and the car is very elderly. Secondhand compressors are probably the most commonly traded component in the AC system. If properly looked after a compressor has a very long life (one of our vehicles, with a very ordinary AC compressor, has now completed over three quarter of a million kilometres and is still operating faultlessly). If the aircon system is neglected or the owner is unlucky to have a fault develop and the compressor fails then in some cases a secondhand compressor might be a suitable replacement. Always check the new price first, I have supplied a brand new compressor for a Ferrari for under £200 but I have also had to supply a compressor for a Mitsubishi for over £650. How to find secondhand parts? Try the internet first, Autotrader is a good first stop, possibly Ebay, try the forum pages of your particular make or model or just try a search engine. Local papers usually have ads for general car breakers but there are also breakers who specialise in just Japanese cars or French cars or only Volvos or even just one particular model. Friday-Ads is not only a paper but is also available on-line and could be useful. Unless you've skipped a lot you must be dropping off to sleep by now. Just links ahead. If you should like to contact me direct may I ask you to type in my email address into your email program whichever you use (Outlook Express etc.) My address is john@ac1.biz (that is ac figure one dot biz). I haven't given it as a clickable link in an effort to stop the automatic email address harvesting for spam generation by the brain-dead. I hope you don't mind the extra effort - not having it as a clickable link has really worked and has saved us from a lot of rubbish in our In-box. Did I explain things well enough? Is there something else that you would like explained? Any other questions please email me and I will try to elucidate and if several people ask the same question perhaps we will incorporate it into these pages. Thank you for staying the course. I hope that you found some of it useful. Home
Page - http://www.ac4cars.co.uk
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