A Pig and Honda's Design Flaw Costed Me Rs.22K For A.C Condenser: Weak Amaze

[Highway Ranger]

@Vishnu

• You said you noticed the incident happened a month back. Then how was the AC working after the incident till the day you realize that AC is not working?

Exactly, the incident happened in June. I still remember that evening (I usually go late home these days due to production delivery work L). Now on 12th July my AC stopped working.
The AC fluid leaked out slowly. Well that’s what the service person said. I have seen the breakage; It is a very narrow pipe that is broken from the unit. And you will be surprised to see how thin it is and how bendable. I will post the picture after I get it from garage. (I have asked them to give me back the old condenser)

• The condenser is placed well behind the bumper. There is no way reaching the condenser without breaking the bumper I wonder how it happened. If the force was well enough to break a metal condenser i wonder how the plastic bumpers were left unmarked.

I had done 2 cleaning services after June and before 12th July, but did not notice any marks or broken part. It still doesnot have any broken part as per the service guy, just the condenser pipe. I asked them to replace everything that’s broken as Insurance will cover everything, but they just replaced the condenser and have put new wiper blades: P. I had sent my cousin with around 20K (they reduced the final amount from the estimated 22K). Will post the bill.

I do not think that your braking, to avoid the pig, had caused the issue.

The gas pressure on the condenser side is high and any leak/breakage will result in immediate escape of gas. So your AC cooling will be affected within minutes.

Since there are no other damages, other than the broken pipe, could it not be a stone hit on the pipe? assuming the pipe is exposed to the road.

 

[chevrolet]

As h ranger told, it is a stone hit. Heard a few amaze stories of stone hits . In one of my link it was said a honda user in usa was planning a guard for his condenser .

 

[ameyam]

I agree. If your aircon was damaged, it would leak refrigerant immediately and there would be instantaneously no cooling. It there is a big delay between the hit and the loss of cooling, the problem lies elsewhere. I feel the same, that was a stone hit and Honda needs to put in a guard to protect it. As a rule, if the ASS is quoting a large bill for the work, go to a trusted mechanic and have it checked. ASS simply have a replace policy. So if a part is not working, even if its a small issue, they will replace and ask you to foot the bill.


By the way, don't doubt the size of the refrigerant piping. Aircon pipes are thin to begin with because the amount of refrigerant they carry is so small. They are also copper pipes, so they are very soft and can be bent by hand. Check the pipes in your household AC if you want. They are soft and so can take a lot of vibrations without breaking. A impact from a stone, however, is a different matter


Ameyam

 

[Mr.Boss]

even if we want everything at low price doesn't mean they can do stuff like this. There has to be a level of quality which the amaze doesn't have and they have opted to have a let it be attitude.

One simple solution is Don't buy something that isn't made with quality. Manufacturers will either stop manufacturing such products or give us a better product

 

[chevrolet]

Agree with ameyam on replacing parts.
My spark 5 year old was told by asc that it needs a condenser replacement because there was a dent in it, the reason for the dent was, a couple of years ago i was driving on a large barren patch of land at night and the car got struck on something . One of the front wheels was slightly above ground. When checked i found a grindstone ( used by villagers to crush cereals) buried under the soil . I had to reverse the car with some horrible sound to the underbody, this resulted in a big dent. I never checked the underbody for 2 years and was driving as it is.

After 2 years the asc during test run said ac cooling was low and checked the condenser, saw the dent and ASC quoted 15k -25 k for condenser . But the outside ac shop said the condenser was fine and needed some minor fixes and filled it with gas since the ac gas was low . cost was 4k .Now the ac is cooler than the time the car was new.
The ac guy said the mechanics in asc would have sold my condenser to someone for a profit and asc will get profit by selling me a new condenser.

 

[vishnu vichu]

@Vishnu

• You said you noticed the incident happened a month back. Then how was the AC working after the incident till the day you realize that AC is not working?

Exactly, the incident happened in June. I still remember that evening (I usually go late home these days due to production delivery work L). Now on 12th July my AC stopped working.
The AC fluid leaked out slowly. Well that’s what the service person said. I have seen the breakage; It is a very narrow pipe that is broken from the unit. And you will be surprised to see how thin it is and how bendable. I will post the picture after I get it from garage. (I have asked them to give me back the old condenser)

• The condenser is placed well behind the bumper. There is no way reaching the condenser without breaking the bumper I wonder how it happened. If the force was well enough to break a metal condenser i wonder how the plastic bumpers were left unmarked.

I had done 2 cleaning services after June and before 12th July, but did not notice any marks or broken part. It still doesnot have any broken part as per the service guy, just the condenser pipe. I asked them to replace everything that’s broken as Insurance will cover everything, but they just replaced the condenser and have put new wiper blades: P. I had sent my cousin with around 20K (they reduced the final amount from the estimated 22K). Will post the bill.

Looking forward towards he bill. As latest updates in the thread, why can't it be a stone hit ? That feels much more realistic . I still cannot believe how the bumber parts stayed intact and the compressor takes the hit if it was the pig.