madcityrx

While driving on the freeway today I noticed a whistling / wind sound that seemed to come from inside the dash. It was pretty faint, could have been coming from the engine compartment. I clicked the AC button on the climate control unit to LED off: noise goes away. Click it on, noise back. Did this a few times, then hit OFF button. Noise goes away. Clicked AUTO button, noise still gone. About 10 minutes later I notice I have no more AC. Dreading what repair cost might be all the way home.

60 miles later I pull into the garage, unload the car, open hood, look under car. Notice drips of fluid. Fluid is clear, odor is unknown to me (not engine oil, coolant, etc) but oily in consistency. There seems to be quite a bit of fluid on the passenger side of the car, toward the front, and sprayed all the way back. If I removed the plastic splash guard, I might be able to tell where it's coming from, but as is I can't see where it's at looking down through the engine compartment.

Any thoughts? Is refrigerant oily?

Tammy

I'm afraid you may have punctured your air condictioner condenser, in front of your radiator. The air condictioner does have compressor oil that tends to leak out with the freon. It's clear.

If you don't delay too long, the compressor may be salvageable.

madcityrx

Just brought it in to a local mechanic. He showed me how the AC condenser on the RX300 is very much exposed to road debris. I had more crushed fins than non-crushed fins and I think we actually found the rail that was damaged and leaking fluid. He told me the condenser holds a few ounces of lubricant, which is what I found on the front of my RX. I'll post again with a repair bill and any additional info: hopefully nothing else needs replacing.

I'm also checking previous posts to learn how to protect against this in the future. VERY VERY POOR design by Lexus IMHO. Looked at my '02 Subaru Forester: condenser is about a thousand times better protected.

Lexmex

I don't know what Subaru did as far as protection, but on most SUVs I see that AC condenser is pretty much exposed unless the vehicles have a very small grill or a lot of restriction and that can also hurt cooling. That fact is also affecting how I plan to place or not to place an intecooler on stage 1 of my turbo idea (still waiting to hear back when the special turbo will be available).

I do know what you mean about the fins, but I don't see much different on vehicles just as old as mine.

madcityrx

OK, I promised to write back with the repair price. This may not be a popular choice on this website, but I brought my RX to a local, high volume repair place that I trust (CarX). As this was something obvious and relatively easy to repair, I thought I'd save some cash on this repair. Total was $280 for the condenser and around $170 for labor. My total bill, with tax was $448. So far so good: they tested the AC temp at the ducts... 30 F! Mighty cold now!!

Now to rig up a way to protect my new condenser from future mishaps...

madcityrx

Lexmex,

It's interesting... on the Subaru the condenser is up further or the bumper is lower, whatever you prefer. There seems to be more gap between the bumper and condenser which might allow for better airflow. For whatever reason (perhaps general differences in aerodynamics) the Subaru condenser is pretty much flawless still with 70K miles versus 89K on the RX. Don't these engineers throw rocks, nails, and 10 pound bumblebees into the wind tunnel??

MadCityRX