Globalinx

Hello all. I just picked up an 05 gx, as i gave my 03 to my ex
Im having few small issues with it.
First off. The cold air stoped blowing. I think it happened right after the ac was turned on on the back seats. So i went to an iffy shop today to get few things to look at including the ac. When the car was in the air, the shop guy pointed out that the ac pipe was cut ( the pipe that runs on a pasenger side under the car from front to back) and there was a piece removed about a foot.5 in length. The pipe end that closer to the motor had a plug installed. The other end of the pipe that was sticking from the rear/middle of the underside of the car was open. The mechanic sugested that the initially for unknown reason the piece of the pipe was removed and plugs were put in place. And for some reason the second plug was blown off. I hope i made sense here LOL. Ill try to put visual input soon. But have anyone know what or why this would be done. And if infact activating the rear ac could have caused the blown plug or loss of gas in the ac system?
Thank you all

burny

That is nuts to bastardize an A/C system.

lesz

On my 05 GX, I had a leak in the AC line at the fitting where the line for the rear AC connects into the system. I wonder if there is a chance that the previous owner had the same issue and, instead of repairing the AC line properly, thought that he/she could solve the problem by terminating the line before the leak and, in essence, disabling the AC to the rear. I know that, when I had the leak, the only repair option offered to me by the Lexus dealer was to replace the entire line at a cost of almost $2000, but the Toyota dealer told me that they thought there was a good chance that they could just replace the fitting where the leak was and that the repair would work. They replaced the fitting for about $150, and the AC has worked fine now for about 3 years.

Globalinx

This is a pic of the plug end of a pipe and the open end

Globalinx

Open end here. Sry couldn't get two pics off of my iphone :/

chiph9

No idea why someone would do that intentionally.

I don't know if the front & rear A/C lines are shared -- if they are, then this means that you'll either need to plug it back up, or replace it.

Even if they are separate, then my concern is that the second loop wouldn't have the lubricating oil needed by the compressor.

Chip H.

Globalinx

Without pluging the open end of pipe, i refilled the system. Blowing ice cold air. The Theory is that activating rear AC unit flushed out all the AC fill. Will be disconecting the control wires for it so wont accidently turn it on again in the back

chiph9

Still not sure about the long-term reliability of this.

Chip H.

Globalinx

Only time will show. But the price is right if it holds up

lesz

Assuming that removing part of the line and inserting the plugs was supposed to deal with some problem, probably a leak, and assuming that doing is allowing the front AC to function properly, I would think that there would be some more secure solution and one more likely to last longer than putting plugs into the cut ends in the line. While my knowledge of plumbing and of HVAC technology is limited, I would think that some sort of cap could be sweated onto the open pipe ends and that doing so would be more likely to be a permanent solution.