A/C hoses?

[Nick Triesch]

I have read many times on this forum that Porsche made their hoses leak refrigerant on purpose over time. That was the design. My question is why? What could be the reason? Why do American cars like a Mustang GT go 10 years or more blowing ice cold? With no added refrigerant? Same with my Wifes old Dodge Caravan?

[DRACO A5OG]

Job Security for the Porsche Mechanics?

I agree it seems odd. Maybe the AC gurus will chime in .

Hell, I replaced my driverside to modern barrier hose at a local industrial hose shop using the OEM fitment, suppose not to leak. So far so good but I still have the OEM on the passenger side, I need to refill once a year.

[kuehl]

Originally Posted by Nick Triesch

I have read many times on this forum that Porsche made their hoses leak refrigerant on purpose over time. That was the design. My question is why? What could be the reason? Why do American cars like a Mustang GT go 10 years or more blowing ice cold? With no added refrigerant? Same with my Wifes old Dodge Caravan?

No. Porsche did not "by design", design, make or install hoses that leak on purpose. The only things that truly leak on purpose are wiki-leaks and the our federal budget.

The issue with 911, 912 and 930 models is having nearly 40 feet of old fashion refrigerant hose whereas a front engine car of the same era may have about 10 feet. Old fashion refrigerant hose leaks so many parts per million per linear feet at a given pressure and temperature. It's a known fact that with these models you may have had to 'top off' the system from time to time. So, what you need is a set of refrigerant hoses that leak less (they have an additional liner inside) which we call 'barrier hoses'.

I disagree on "Why do American cars like a Mustang GT go 10 years or more blowing ice cold? With no added refrigerant? Same with my Wifes old Dodge Caravan?" because I can remember quite a few front engine cars of the 1960-1970 era we had to add refrigerant to at times.

[Nick Triesch]

Do they really have 40 ft of hose?

[Neel]

Originally Posted by Nick Triesch

Do they really have 40 ft of hose?

Yes they do.. I've worked with automotive A/C since the late '60s, and as Griff stated it was not uncommon to 'top off' R-12 systems every couple of years.. R-134a systems seem to 'loose' less refrigerant than the R-12 systems.. I recently had to add a little refrigerant to my Harley pick up (R-134a- 10yrs old).. In the 'old' days an oil stripe on the inside hood of an automobile from the compressor seal was considered normal..