How did it even get connected with the bottle so close? Those hoses have
minimum bend radiuses and possibly the hose-fitting-crimp was not completely
matched. I doubt overcharge was responsible for this although there are
possibilities. I think this was just bad hose installation.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Luke Bakken
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 3:23 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: A/C hose blew!

Hello everyone,

First some info - I have an '89 Syncro Westy with a 2003 Subaru 2.5 in it,
conversion done in 2004 by SmallCar. SC also hooked up the Subaru A/C to the
Vanagon system and until this year it worked fine.

A month ago I noticed the A/C wasn't blowing cold at all, so I took it to a
local shop and they diagnosed it as having leaky old hoses. So they put in
new hoses to the front of the van and a new condenser from Van Cafe. All was
working well until yesterday as I was driving on the interstate and heard a
pop-hiss in the back. I immediately turned the A/C off and pulled over to
see this in the engine compartment:

http://goo.gl/mt3FC

You can see that not only did the Subaru A/C hose pop off, but it split as
well. This hose is no older than 9 years, of course.

What do you think could cause this? Did the local shop overfill the A/C
system? I'm going to take the van back this Monday and any information I
could relay their way would be appreciated.

Thanks -
Luke