was talking to a mate about the vl aircon as i wanted to get mine regassed he said dont bother spending a dollar as the aircon system was great in its day but a common problem was the compressor corrodes and will continue to clog the pipes up which i thought was interesting but makes sense because most vls aircon doesnt work. he said you can do it properly but id be spending 1500 and doing it from scratch. so i dunno how true this is but i was wondering if anyone knows if a newer model commodore or nissan compressor would fit as an exact replacement? just looking for a start as it might not be too bad going the 2nd hand route and just want to know of ideas or opinions of anyone else thats tried or has theyre air con working thanks.

Just recently rebuilt my system with a new compressor. AFAIK no other compressor will fit. I believe the RB30 compressor was used on a small number of other models from the late 80's and early 90's so anything that age will be no better than what you have now. My new compressor was about $430 from memory. What your friend is saying is true. If the compressor fails it will send metal particles through the whole air con system resulting in a compete disassembly and clean. many hours of work. Also the VL's run on the old R12 gas. If your system has not been changed over to R134a gas then its going to need a full rebuild anyway to convert requiring a new tx valve and new seals through the system and a complete flush and regas. First step I would take it to take it to an air con place and ask for a full health check of the system including compressor and go from there. If youre prepared to do a lot of the work yourself like pulling the whole lot apart including under the dash you can save yourself a lot of labour.

ok thanks alot Nick yeah i think my gas has been fixed as theyres an aircon service sticker under the bonnet from 2007. That doesnt seem a bad price for a new one i saw a second hand one on ebay for 1000. I guess that would be sensible to pull mine off at get it checked out by someone if its stuffed. my aircon does work but its the weakest cold air and i want to fix it.

don't pull the compressor off. if it works right now but isn't very cold its most likely just low on gas. just book the car in somewhere for it to be checked out.

Quote: Originally Posted by VL_Nick [View Post] don't pull the compressor off. if it works right now but isn't very cold its most likely just low on gas. just book the car in somewhere for it to be checked out. ok thanks will do

pretty pointless but got my aircon checked anyway no leaks, compressor works he said my tx valve was stuck as someones stripped it before but i reckon he did it so still have no gas and got charged 100. looks like ill leave it and eventually take it to a better place