Aircon condenser fault

[Paparossco]

For info. Lost aircon a couple of weeks ago so returned to Dealer for repair under warranty as the car (Forester 2016) hasn't even had its first service.  Just been told that replacement condenser won't be with them until late September 2017 at the earliest. Subaru apparently say it is a worldwide issue with a manufacturing defect. Ok I know it is just a Scottish summer but 2 months without aircon is a bit off. 

I'm in discussion with Dealers/Subaru about a loan car for the period but even if this is agreed I'm going to be without my own car for over six weeks but what is the option as I'm not driving to sunny England with no aircon!

[Colin.K]

Interested to read this as my 2016 Forrester had its 1st service a few weeks ago and I was told that the aircon condenser was 'damaged', wouldn't be covered under warranty and it would cost £697 to replace. I advised the dealer not to go ahead with any repair and checked the condenser for signs of damage when the car was returned. As I couldn't find any I asked the dealer for a technicians report as I intended to take the matter up with Subaru, given the lack if any obvious damage and the fact that the vehicle has only 7k miles on the clock. The dealer was aprehensive to supply a report and called back a couple of days ago to advise that Subaru had now agreed to cover the full cost of repair! There has never been any mention of a manufacturing defect.

[Paparossco]

A bit of a coincidence eh? I've now been told to hang on to my loan car as Subaru are doing a 'Europewide' search for a spare. I've never heard of a loan lasting potentially over 6 weeks! I wonder if a recall is in the offing??

Really glad I wasn't asked to cough up nearly £700 quid!

[Stretton Pete]

Just joined this forum as I was looking for a soulution to a similar problem with the aircon. The dealer (Subaru Telford) could not deal with aircon as they did not have the facilities to deal with it and told me to take it to an independent air con specialist who located the leak but told me there was no damage to be seen. After the dealer having a look a warranty claim was submitted which was turned down by Subaru despite their dealer submitting a claim. I have replied to their "suggestion " that I claim on my insurance!, still waiting for a reply so next week their warranty department will be getting a call. The dealer also wanted about £700 pounds to change the condensor, I also said no. I will update on here after contacting warranty department.

Has anyone's problem been supported yet?

 

Regards. Pete

[Paparossco]

I'm still sitting with the loan car and was told not to expect anything to happen before the 20th September.


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[Colin.K]

Last week we were told not to expect anything before the end of October as there were close on 50 of these parts on back order. Not too happy about this as we've been without aircon since June

[Stretton Pete]

Well at last success !

There has been a change of service manager and the new one John has resubmitted the claim along with the correct information and photographs and the claim was accepted. Got to wait until the parts are in, judging by the previous comments it may be a while, but will remind them in a week or so.

It's a shame really as the Forester is not a bad car but it leaves you wondering what next, so I suppose time will tell.

will update when anything happens.

 

Regards Pete

[Paparossco]

Been told the part is in a shipping container at sea somewhere. Expected in UK sometime this week. We will see...


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[Colin.K]

Dealer called today to advise that the part is now in stock and they will collect the car on 5th October to fit it.

[Stretton Pete]

Had the same call this morning,as we are away for a few days will make a call next week to arrange to get it all fixed.

good to know things are moving along but it all took a time to sort out with my dealer who seemed not to be interested at all but thanks to this forum I was able to push harder using the extra info that was provided. As the car will soon be due it's first service I will see if they will give me that for free as compensation for all of the inconvenience I has to go through to get the claim accepted, well there is no harm in asking !

 

Pete

[Paparossco]

Collected the car at last! Repair was done under warranty as expected. Had the first service done at the same time. I’ve had a loan car so didn’t think about compo. Best of luck with that.


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[Stretton Pete]

All done and working!

New condensor fitted on Tuesday and the air con is working extremely well, the temperature measured at the dash vent was 6 degrees. When my wife drove the car yesterday she commented how cold it was in the car, we both cannot remember the air con working so well even when it was new so maybe the problem was there then.

I got a good look at the old condensor and the were two leaks that the garage found both showed no signs of any damage, their conclusion was that it was faulty from new.

 

So thanks to Bright Motors in Shrewsbury who did the work, the dealer did not have the equipment to be able to do the wotk...

 

Thanks to those of you who commented on my first post which made me more determined to get this work done by the dealer under warranty.

 

Thanks Pete

[Colin.K]

Ours was fixed last week and seems to be OK also. 

[Paparossco]

Fast forward to September 2018 and my second annual service..... Condenser (replaced last year) has gone again! Garage now saying that the new type of coolant is corroding the units. I’ve asked this be escalated to Subaru as if I’m going though one a year what happens when the warranty runs out?

[Stretton Pete]

thanks for that info, mine is due a service soon so will get that checked.

I have not been at all impressed by this car, the gear change is getting quite difficult to use when the car is cold so that will also need checking.

I did look at replacing it but was only offered almost to the penny only half of what it cost two years ago.

Regards Pete

[Mr B]

Reality is if you want a good car buy an old one, new cars are junk regardless of brand, all the engineering skill and investment is in making everything minimal cost, just about good enough do the job .

A forester from 1999 likely do 300K plus without much major drama and with rust protection or some welding quite easily could last 40 years .

A new forester and most new cars not capable of a quarter of that lifespan .

I work on this stuff day in day out and compare simple things like window motors and suspension bushes is night and day from 2 decades ago . nothing made to last and half of it not fit for purpose, it designed purely for minimal costing in materials and manufacture process .

 

[Paparossco]

300k 🙂 mine has done 21k and this will be its 3rd condenser unit...... Something wrong methinks.

[Mr B]

One of my forester SF models is 28 years old, done 238K and only advisory is chipped windscreen, aircon works fine, everything works fine and condition is superb due to quality paints and trim used.

We service a few legacy models and foresters over 300K, don't do many aircon parts on older models, don't do many silly repairs on any older models generally .New stuff is noticable big decline in quality, people really need stop buying the junk .

Breaks my heart see what government scrapped in cash in car schemes, really good for environment is all this short lifespan high maintenance modern stuff !

Tell you what it is good for, making money, we do well fixing them and manufacturers doing well on markup as component cost at oem level is dirt cheap for quality they using today .

sad modern world we live in unfortunately 😞

 

[Paparossco]

Well surprise surprise, despite the history of this car I’ve now been told it is ‘damage’ so not covered by warranty. Funny that yesterday it was corrosive coolant but now it is my fault..... I complained to Subaru who weren’t interested....”Air conditioning condensers by necessity have to be positioned in the airstream and as such can on rare occasions sustain impact damage. Typically damage severe enough to cause a leak is sustained when the vehicle is travelling at high speed rather than when travelling at low speeds off-road. The likelihood of impact damage is naturally increased if the car is driven at speed in close proximity to other vehicles.” Damn cheek, 40 years of careful driving, I never drive like this.

Rare? 3 condensers in two years? So much for good customer relations. First and last Subaru that is the end result.

[Mr B]

Inspect the damage, impact is always stone and very obvious if is .

Unfortunately every part of a modern car is low quality and minimal material needed .
Spend a tenth the cost of a new Forester on an old one if you want a good car.All modern cars regardless of brand much the same, new cars are complete waste of money and massive impact on environment, nothing green about them beside the profit 😉

 

[Paparossco]

Well the saga continues. I've had the condenser inspected by an independent aircon specialist (who actually does work for the dealers!). Surprise, surprise he says there is no damage causing a leak and suspects the gas reacts with oil in the condenser to create an acidic mixture that corrodes. So basically the same fault that my last condenser was replaced for under warranty. 

I'm beginning to suspect that Subaru are well aware of this but costs are beginning to rise and they are doing their best to reduce warrant claims. I'm waiting a report to confirm his suspicions and will be going back to the dealer and Subaru who were very quick to diagnose accidental damage!

[Mr B]

That is a problem with the so called greener aircon gasses !

Impact damage is 100% recognisable, I would concur your dealer trying avoid doing anything warranty based as probably getting hassle getting subaru credit them on the jobs .

[Paparossco]

A result. The aircon condenser has been replaced under warranty by Subaru. The dealer did another bubble test and this time did not suggest it was accident damage and replacement was approved. I required an explanation from Subaru why I’m now on my 3rd condenser in a 2 year old car and I was quoted a Service Bulletin saying a new redesigned unit has been introduced to deal with, the now admitted, corrosion issue. The new unit has a different parts number so if you have a similar issue insist on the new version!

[Dewcal]

An old thread I know.  Thanks to the recent unusual heat, I tried the air con in my 67 reg forester to no avail.  A local refiller examined the system and, when presuriseed to 125psi with nitrogen, a large number of bubbles were observed showing severe leakage on the condenser.  Fortunately photos were taken to show these leaks.  There was no visible impact damage to the condenser.

A visit to the latest Subaru dealer in my neck of the woods had the the car examined and the garage is to ask Subaru for a "goodwill" repair / repalcement.  The car is 3.5 years old with 36,030 miles on the clock.  Word back from the garage is that unoffically the repair has been approved - they now await the relevant paperwork to schedule the replacement with a new part number condenser.

I attach a couple of images showing the number of leaks from the apparently corroded condenser. I will update the final result.

[TopMarque]

Just had the same issue diagnosed on my "67 plate - 17K miles" Forester.  The Dealer diagnosed the issue as a leak due to a stone chip - sounds familiar!!  However after accepting that the replacement would be at my cost, I recieved a call from the Dealer saying that they would replace the part on a "goodwill" basis.