At the end of a five day trip through northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, at a stoplight two miles from my house, I see a wonderful vapor shoot out of my hoodscoop. I think to myself, "That'd be normal if I was Fast and Furious and was purging my NOS system." Then I remembered I'm not as cool as blondie or as bald as vin Diesel, so I pulled over and popped the hood... My sti topmount rubbed on the top line and decided to leak. When I pried the a/c line away I was greeted with lots more hissing and cold air. Odd how it wasn't rubbing when I installed it. :roll: Anyways, who here has replaced the line, how much did the new line cost, does anybody have it in stock, does anybody have refill gear, and how much butt kissing do I need to do? The wife wants us to go to Chicago this weekend and she would probably consider no a/c grounds for divorce...
The low-pressure hose you speak of, brand new, will run you about $175 new from the dealer. Used..well, who knows. I've rubbed through two of them, and have since found a solution to my woes. You'll most likely have to order it if someone doesn't have it locally. Typically, when installing it, you'll want to bend it so that it runs along/closer to/the firewall. Be careful not to crease it or anything (you just want it straighter and closer to the firewall). I bent mine and then zip-tied it to the other lines running back there. Also, since I have a front strut brace, I took that little mount off of the ac line on the driver side that secures it to the firewall. If you take the big piece of the bracket off, you'll just be left with a little metal bracket and piece of rubber under it. Slide that down to the point of possible rub-through and modify a bigger piece of rubber to go over the low-pressure port and said bracket. Then zip-tie them together and install. You should have no problems after that. I have an APS TMIC...the thing is huge. But, I finally figured out a way to avoid more AC woes. Now if I can just install the damn O-rings without crushing them to a pulp, I'll be g2g.
you notice any better performance out of your car since installing the aps tmic? I can get one for $250 and was wondering if it was worth it??
My guess is the passenger side rear of the STi TMIC has rubbed on the pressure suction A/C line where it runs towards the expansion valve. Mine started rubbing, but before it made it through, I cut a piece of heater hose and wrapped it around the metal pipe...
For 250 it's definitely worth it. But, I had it installed with everything else, soooo...didn't really notice just the IC. But yes...Low-pressure hose. It should be the one with the little "L" on the cap (at least on a subie). You need a new one...or used. Wrap it up and bend it and you should be good to go (the replacement that is).
I thought I would be smart and do that to i only used heat wrap though...and well I got a nice hole!!! another reason I was at the dealership yesterday. I feel your pain man, I might just try and patch my hose but to be honest im doing fine without it.
That'd require unpacking first. :roll: Of the two that come out of the firewall on the passenger side and run along the top of the firewall over to the driver side, it is the top, large diameter one with the light blue a/c refill cap. Is that the low pressure line?
The only thing I note with AC rechargestuff, is that the DIY gauges all suck and all create the possibility of overfilling. Given the cheap cost of refilling a 134a system (well under $100 normally), I'd leave that small bit to the pros given the high cost of AC equipment. (This is just for the refill, and not the repair)
Very, very true. A side note about the Impreza A/C systems, is they only take 16-19oz of freon. They are very tempramental and just a bit of overcharge can make the system not work at all!
With the money I'm saving buying it from you guys I can afford to have a professional recharge it. :biggrin:
