My a/c condenser has a leak, it's been checked and it's not the compressor or the evaporator core. The system is empty no pressure in it. How hard is it to replace it, I was thinking of doing it myself (haven't looked into yet) as the garage wants £355, plus the condenser, plus the gas. All told over £700, I was thinking after replacing it I could get one of those kits from Amazon to recharge it. Has anyone replaced one and can give some tips, be much obliged or do you think it's a no go for diy?

Definitely not a DIY job, the system must first be vacuumed-out (usually for several hours or overnight) to remove any moisture after replacing the condenser and the drier - the vacuuming also confirms if the system will hold pressure or not - then the correct gas/lubricant charge has to be measured into the system.

All the above requires specialist equipment.

Not that hard to change, if you're competent enough to remove the bumper readily.

Home/DIY refilling is definitely a bad plan though.

14 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

....the system must first be vacuumed-out (usually for several hours or overnight) to remove any moisture after replacing the condenser and the drier - the vacuuming also confirms if the system will hold pressure or not - then the correct gas/lubricant charge has to be measured into the system.

All the above requires specialist equipment.

While the statement above is correct, I have DIYed it at home on the driveway, replacing condenser/dryer together with a failed AC compressor (in my Mk3 vRS, back in June 2023, no gas in the system).

However, you do need a decent vacuum pump and twin gauges as the system first needs to be emptied of air and more importantly moisture, otherwise water may freeze and cause blockage. You also need specialist oil and gas, the generic "airco top up" kits won't do.

The cost of refilling HVAC yourself at the time was under £150 including pump , pressure gauges and hoses/adapters (under £80 all in), synthetic oil useable with both R123a and R1234yf (either/or, not a mix) and the gas. At the time, half decent Chinese vacuum pumps and gauges kits were cheap, not sure now.

3 years on, vRS's AC works just fine with no topups since, so I must have done something right...

Getting hold of gas without any oil mixed into it was an issue, though after that job, for a HVAC topup on the other car, I have figured a way to filter out oil, sealant and dye from Halfords supplied gas/oil topup mix by running it through an inline oil/dye injector filled with folded, good quality paper towel

HTH