Replacing AC condenser on a 2016 Leaf S

[ryebrye]

First post here - I've owned my leaf for about 4 years now. It's a 2014 S.

This post hits really close to home! Huge thanks to OP for posting his experiences with this - its incredibly helpful! I'll start by saying I am somewhat handy with wrenches, but I'm not a specialist and I'm definitely lack much knowledge in the AC spaces.

I noticed my AC stopped working sometime late last year, after the warm weather had left. I didn't think much of it. I took it to a shop and they tested it and said there's a leak on the high pressure line side. The shop quoted me over a thousand dollars to repair this. That included a new hardline and a refill. I told them no thank you. I saw a lot of evidence of leaking where the high pressure line meets the condenser(?) up at the front. I pulled the line and in doing so noticed I broke the line clear off of the fitting / connector:

I plugged the holes as best I could for now. I have ordered the hard line. I intend to replace the line and then put a vacuum on the system overnight. And then take back to the shop where they'll do the refill etc.

Any updates on this? I'm curious if you were able to repair your system by just replacing the high pressure line. I just bought a 2015 S that has this same issue - a cracked high pressure line coming out right at the condenser fitting. The previous owner said that the shop told her she "needed a new condenser" but didn't have many other details.

Mine's been open to the atmosphere for quite some time now - no idea how long, but I'd assume it's been broken for at least a few months.

I think I'll need to replace both the HP line and the condenser (because the dryer is connected to it) but I'm definitely tempted to just replace the HP line and pull a vacuum on it for a day or two and then let it sit for a day and see if it can hold its vacuum.

How much harder is it to do the condenser + HP line + refill vs just the HP line? Seems like sourcing the parts is the hardest part (aside from having the pump / gauges / etc to filll it...)

 

[Kyle]

Just an update, and apologize for it not being more timely. I did not replace anything except the hardline and then did a very thorough vacuum on the system before taking it back to the shop. They filled it up with the refrigerant and it has been working mostly as expected since the refill. I think this is a piss-poor "repair" that Nissan did on this car under recall, and not sure how all of them would not fail with time and use.

I say mostly as expected because on very hot days when sitting still, the AC will sometimes simply kick off without warning. However, it's not common, and it did this before as well, so I would not correlate this to any of the work recently done. I'm not sure how long it would stay off, if I were to be staying in the car, but I know that within about an hour when I come back to the car it works fine. Not sure what is causing this.