Air Conditioning Line Replacement?
04-28-2004, 05:11 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: S. Florida
Posts: 629
Anyone out there ever replace their air conditioning lines with braided? Discovered a leak in mine tonight. I haven't checked Mazda replacement prices as of yet but I'm sure they're high. I read some time back about a 7 owner who had replaced their hard metal lines with braided lines. Any info appreciated! I'd remove the A/C altogether if it weren't for the four months straight of 95 degree days and 98% humidity 
04-28-2004, 10:46 PM
#2
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: La Plata, Maryland
Posts: 9,725
Michel, I had a crack in one of my lines last year. My car is a 93 and at the time I had a 94 parts car at my house. I thought I could swap the 94 lines onto my car, So I started at the compressor, started to swap them out and kept seeing that the lines were the wrong thread, so I kept swappin till finally I ended up all the way to where they came out of the firewall. Then I realized that the 94 lines used r-12 so they would not work at all in my 93. That was a wasted hour and a half that I will never get back. So the point of the story is that I did end up buying new 93 lines from Malloy and they cost me $112. Which is not to bad. I never have heard of braided AC lines.
04-29-2004, 03:51 PM
#9
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Maryland
Posts: 3,867
Originally Posted by Fd3BOOST' date='Apr 28 2004, 10:46 PM
Michel, I had a crack in one of my lines last year. My car is a 93 and at the time I had a 94 parts car at my house. I thought I could swap the 94 lines onto my car, So I started at the compressor, started to swap them out and kept seeing that the lines were the wrong thread, so I kept swappin till finally I ended up all the way to where they came out of the firewall. Then I realized that the 94 lines used r-12 so they would not work at all in my 93. That was a wasted hour and a half that I will never get back. So the point of the story is that I did end up buying new 93 lines from Malloy and they cost me $112. Which is not to bad. I never have heard of braided AC lines.
You CANNOT interchange most of the parts between these systems.
04-29-2004, 08:07 PM
#10
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: S. Florida
Posts: 629
thanks for the pointers guys...I have a 95 PEP so I'm sure it'll be easier to just purchase new lines. I may run by an a/c shop to see what they'd charge out of curiosity.
I was referring to the teflon high pressure lines. I read about a forum member swapping his out and allowing him to run the lines in a different manner. Aeroquip and just about everyone else has flare fittings as well. Theoretically, you could cut out the bad portion and reroute using braided line and the flare fittings on one end. Those w/T78's or turbos in that general vicinity often have the compressor rubbing against the line. You'd be able to reroute it by using braided and avoid that. They'd also be less prone to cracking due to vibration. I don't have that little cross brace in there anymore which is why I believe one of my lines is leaking.
Michel
I was referring to the teflon high pressure lines. I read about a forum member swapping his out and allowing him to run the lines in a different manner. Aeroquip and just about everyone else has flare fittings as well. Theoretically, you could cut out the bad portion and reroute using braided line and the flare fittings on one end. Those w/T78's or turbos in that general vicinity often have the compressor rubbing against the line. You'd be able to reroute it by using braided and avoid that. They'd also be less prone to cracking due to vibration. I don't have that little cross brace in there anymore which is why I believe one of my lines is leaking.
Michel
