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987 Cayman Air con leak... ?

B

badbiddy

PCGB Member
Member
Hi all,

I've seen a few vids online of people diagnosing air con leaks using DIY aerosol kits with UV dye so that they can run the car for a bit and then investigate with a black light looking for where the offending leak is coming from.

My gen2 Cayman has a leak somewhere (regas worked for about a month) and I want to sort it myself if I can. The front end is currently off the car to do the coolant pipes and figured I might as well do it at the same time.

Has anyone done this before? Am I right in thinking I would just need some R134a and some compatible dye? (plus a delivery mechanism)

Best regards,

Jeff (ps I will post a tutorial if I manage to do it)
 
As a Gen 2 Cayman is probably 10 years old, there is a good chance it may already have a UV visible dye in the air-con system. So it might be worth checking with a UV light around the fill points to see if there is any indication of the dye being present.

 
The usual culprit are one of the condensers which you should be able to see if the front is off, its a quite obvious black oil stain.

 
Do let us know how you get on. I have the same problem. The system held pressure and worked for a couple of weeks before failing. A strip down is one of my winter projects, but I was planning to get a mobile A/C guy to inspect and test once I can give him and his 'sniffer' full access to front and underfloor plumbing.

 
Nothing obvious so far. No UV dye already in the system either, although I have now discovered how dirty the floor in my house is... [:eek:]

 
Diagnosis is... Both radiator/condensers... Joy of joys. Turns out it actually does have UV dye in there so the torch from Amazon is getting returned at their expense lol.

Anyone know how much they are from Porsche? Guy seemed to think they're £1500 in parts [&o]

Edit: See they're about 300 each. Or a kit from design911 (Mahle) is 230 for both.

 
I was thinking this would be the condensors. I bought mine from Design911 when I had the same problem a few years ago. The Design911 units were the correct size, some aftermarket condensors are a slightly different size which can mean the thin plastic shroud doesn't fit round them.

 
I also replaced both condensers last year using Design 911 units, although they came with 'O' rings, I purchased a genuine Porsche set from my local OPC however they didn't look much different to the ones supplied with the condensers.

When it was all back together I put a set of the Zunsport grills on to protect the new condensers.

 
I did mine 3 years ago, all diy except for charging the refrigerant, that was £60 as it is non green( gen2 987, 2009)

OPC is about £1500.

Took me 4 hours, parts off eBay and design911. Worst part was getting the front bumper off and back on.

All working still.

I fitted guards also.

 
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