My 65 Plate Skoda Fabia Estate SEL 1.4 TDi has been fantastic but the recent warm weather has made me want to get my Air Con fixed.

 

The low pressure air conditioning pipe on my Skoda Fabia Mk 3 1.4 TDi has got a small hole in one of the plastic parts of the low pressure pipe, as marked in the attached diagram. It looks as if the pipe has somehow become tangled with one of the engine belts that run nearby & I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue?  Is this a design fault or is this just a freak accident?

 

The part number is 6CO820743AM which I understand has now been replaced with part number 6CO820743AR.

 

Regardless, in order to get my Air Con re-gassed I either need to replace this pipe or get it repaired. Does anyone know if another 2nd hand low pressure pipe will fit a Skoda Fabia Mk 3 as I am struggling to obtain a replacement pipe? Even if I order it from the manufacturer, it has to be back ordered & it costs £231 + VAT which is more money than I have. There are plenty of pipes from Audi A1 / Polo / Seat Ibiza / Skoda Fabia Mk 1 & 2 but all have different part numbers to the one that I need so I'm wondering if any of these will fit, even if the fit is not perfect? Does anyone know?

 

What do the different sections of the part number mean?   - the part number is '6 CO 820 743 AM'. Can someone please the various elements of this part number to me? 820 743 appears to be quite common but the 6CO is less common & the AM is practically non-existent in 2nd hand parts.

 

So I'm thinking about getting the pipe repaired. As the tear is in the lower bottom section of the black plastic piping, rather than the aluminium pipe, I am assuming that it should be possible to get this repaired. Trying to find a suitable repairer is proving difficult & I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

 

Since I have now retired, cost is very important. I could remove the pipe if required & drive it to a local repairer but I'm not aware who this repairer could be? I live in Measham, DE12 7SD so am wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to where I could take it?

 

At this stage I am happy to hear anyone's suggestions as to how best to deal with this issue.

 

Thanks in advance

This page Refrigerant line 6C0820743AR | oemVWshop.com, under the OEM part numbers tab, suggests that you could expand your search to any of the part numbers

6C0820743AH

6C0820743AM

6C0820743S

all of which were previous versions of the current suffix AR part.

 

Don't be tempted to the conclusion that the suffix letters don't matter at all, as there are at least 4 different versions of this pipe on mk3 Fabia, for different engine types, which differ in only these suffix letters. Probably have slightly different bends and kinks to accommodate differences in engine position, shape and ancillary equipment.

This page from the parts catalogue for 2016 shows these four variants a/c condenser; refrigerant circuit - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2016 year] (7zap.com)

The 'data model' column contains PR codes which translate to these different engine types, T0H is your 1.4 diesel 3-cyl.

If you press the 'i' button to the right of the data model column, it tells you that this (suffix S) part number was also fitted to Audi A1, and VW Polo, presumably at about the same time and with same engine type. 

 

Thanks; alas, I still can't find a replacement pipe with one of these part numbers.

 

There's a company in Kettering who could repair the pipe but the expected cost to do this is £125 + VAT plus I have to ship the part to them plus arrange to remove & refit the part so the costs are mounting up.

 

So I'm still struggling; I would have thought that this would be straight forward to do.......

 

 

Can be worth contacting sellers who are breaking cars (right type, right engine) on ebay, with the specific part you're after. They may have it, but not have listed it by part number.

They often just arbitrarily advertise a wheel nut, with the understanding that if you ask and they have the relevant other part, they'll then list it for you.

I've already done this to every supplier on eBay to no avail, plus have used several other breakers yard e-mail addresses & addresses of companies who seem to specialise in locating parts.

 

To date the only part I can find / afford is in Germany with the part number 6CO820743S from a VW Polo but I'm wary about purchasing a part in a different country since Brexit with a different part number to the one I was originally looking for.

 

Has anyone had any experience of doing this since Brexit? What are the import regulations on 2nd hand car parts?

There is a lower level at which point import taxes kick in, I'm not sure if parts being "used" will make any difference, I bought some Premium Philips bulbs from/via Amazon UK - the seller turned out to be in Bulgaria! That package zipped into Germany within hours and then across Germany to its exit point within another few hours - then arrived at my door 16 days later, which was what the seller did tell me after I bought them, I was in no hurry though maybe a bit concerned how that purchase would end up as I naively thought I was buying from UK, such is life, so I reckoned that moving stuff out of the EU area is still causing issues that introduce delays!

I'm always a bit suspicious when genuine car parts take a long time to arrive, normally in my experience of Audi, VW and SEAT, it is next or the next day from UK warehouse, or a couple more days from mainland Europe - is it due to lack of demand or due to high demand is the question. That pipe or the the high pressure one has protective wrapping on the flexi section, my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI has ended up being contaminated with oil, but I think that happened at its first service time, it has a leak somewhere in the AC system, but so far I've not located it using a pumped gas sniffer, next step is to remove the front bumper cover, hopefully it will be a damaged condenser.