I was driving around yesterday and smoke started coming out from under my hood. I pulled over immediately and noticed the high pressure hose on the A/C busted. It rubbed on the fan shroud enough that it eventually cut through. Where can I pick up another hose? Advance and Autozone don't carry this hose. I'll try NAPA tomorrow. There was some coolant (green liquid) that exploded out of the hose. Is it supposed to be in there? Will I have to refill the A/C system with refrigerent once I get this replaced? I suppose I shouldn't try any temporary fixes like expoxying the hose shut, right? Any other suggestions?



Sorry I don't have any photo editting software on this comp to point out this hose, but it's the lower hose (closer to front of car) that runs into the condensor (or whatever it's called, the radiator for the A/C). You can see where the fan shroud was cutting into the hose here. Also, what kind of fitting is that that terminates the hose? Is it some kind of compression fitting? How would you take the hose out/re-tighten it?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

you remove the hose be removing the bolt at the end of the fitting on the condensor and compressor. make sure you get new o-rings too.

 

Anyone know of a place that sells a replacement hose? What is the max pressure that it needs to hold? Could I get by with some regular Home Depot hose if it's the same size and the pressure rating is sufficient? I've checked all the local part suppliers (minus the dealer) and no one carries it.

I'm guessing it's ok to drive the car in this condition as long as I don't run the A/C. It doesn't look like the A/C system comes in contact with anything else. The coolant that I thought was in there is most likely the refrigerant oil that is dyed bright green. I unplugged the power plug to the compressor just to make sure I or someone else doesn't accidentally put the A/C on. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this. I don't want to further damage my A/C or ruin anything else on the car.