With the wealth of knowledge of this board I figure someone will be able to answer this.

I have a 2000 Chevy Suburban with the air/heat to rear of the cabin. The high pressure air cond. hose to the unit failed, has a hole around the rear wheel well. Priced the part at almost 500.00 and the dealer wants another 600.00 to replace it. This pipe attaches to the compressor under the hood and travels along the underneath to the rear unit, it is almost 7 feet long.

The question, if I remove the pipe is there a repair connector that can be used to fix it? Thinking about an A-LOK type connector. Figured I would cut the almuminum pipe at the hole and use this type of union. Would it hold? Is this the correct approach?

To replace it, the removal of wheels, wheel wells, running board, and various brackets is required.

It is a great design by GM, having that pipe exposed in the rear wheel well isn't it?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

DanR 94 964 280,000 miles (46,000 on the new engine)
--
DanR

Thanks guys. It will be off to NAPA this week. If that fails then its finding a welder.

Thanks again.

DanR 94 964 280,000 miles (46,000 on the new engine)
--
DanR

ya gotta love that design! I've seen a few just as you mention, from my "maybe this dealership's not a rip off" days (they were, I quit and gave up on dealerships all together.

OK, if it's in one of the semi straight portions (never that lucky), you can get a repair part from NAPA. It's basically just a pipe section with compression fittings on the ends, but it's designed for A/C repair. (ask to look @ their A/C catalog, it's the same basic thing used to replace the oriface tube in vehicles whre the tube is crimped in). If it's not in a sraight portion, get the compression fittings with hose barb ends (or threaded and have a hose made) and have a hose portion made in.

The other option I've used is also good. For it, you'll need to find a top notch welder to get the hole and surrounding surface super clean and put some heat to it and flow in the repair alloy.

You can always remove the complete hose assembly and take it to sombody who fixes hoses, they can cut out the old hose and replace it using your ends. It will cost a small fraction of what they quoted you for a new hose, and you won't have to worry about any squirrily repairs giving out later., then put it in yourself and have an AC shop suck it down and recharge it.

That design flaw shouldn't suprise you. I figured out a long time ago that if you were to get all the engineers from the different departments at GM together in one room... none of them would know each other.
--
-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '82 Mercedes 300SD for sale