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2009 Impala Condenser Replacement 

Summer is here and people want to get their air conditioners fixed. The car here is a 2009 5.3L Impala taxi cab thats been in a collision earlier. Condenser had to be replaced and the AC had to be charged.

May 2015

I started out with the goal of getting through this as quickly and easily as possible. By saying that i mean not having to pull out the radiator (in which case i would need to fill up the coolant).

The first step was to remove the torque mount that straps over the gap between the rad support and the engine in order to gain the required space for pulling out the condenser. Three 15 mm bolts here.

Next were the rad mounts that were right underneath the rad support.

Two on each side and bolted down with a single 10 mm.

There is a bracket in teh middle of the rad support that sandwiches the rad support with the condenser.

Which is held by a 10 mm as well.

After a bit of wiggling, noticed the cooling fans denied me the space i need to incline the entire assembly towards the exhause so that I can reach the condenser. Definitely had to take them off. The cooling fan is held with two 10 mm bolts. This one is on the driver side right beside the top transmission cooler line.

The other one is on the passenger side right below the high temperature hose.

Two electrical connections for the two cooling fans need to be removed.

Pried the clip with a flat head.

And pushed out.

The wiring harness is tied down on the cooling fan in several locations using plugged tie wraps. I tried plucking the first one off which resulted in me breaking a piece of the dried out plastic. I ended up cutting rest of the tie wraps to prevent the same situation.

Tried lifting the cooling fan off the lower slide on clips it sits on.

Wouldn't work because of the the temperature hose in the way. Tried flexing it but wasn't easy due to the battery right next to it.

Decided to remove the battery. I still did not want to let the coolant out at this time. A part of this process required removing the passenger side cross bar held down by three 13 mm bolts.

The battery itself is clamped onto the plate by a plastic piece with a 13 mm bolt.

Took em off.

The battery terminals would have to come off as well. Negative terminal first.

The battery is quite snug even when loose so i decided to let the fuse box float. Two 7/16 nuts here.

Removed the fuse box cover as well to help a bit more.

Now I had the room I needed to flex the hose.

And underneath the fan mount.

I was able to pull the fan out once the mount was cleared. Pull vertically upwards since there are two tabs on the lower portion of the fan that slides onto clips on the rad (along the vertical axis).

Space without the cooling fan. My plan was to lift the rad off its pins, flex the assembly with the condenser towards the rear and pull the condenser out.

To remove the condenser. We need to dismount the condenser lines from the radiator. A plasic bracket with a 10 mm bolt needs to be released.

After releasing the AC line bracket from the radiator, I took the opportunity to disconnect the high pressure vapor line from the condenser. 13 mm nut on stud here.

The condenser's high pressure liquid line is mated internally with its extension all the way to the evaporator. The two tubes are locked along the axis with a plastic wrap around bracket with a hinge .

Removing this wrap around brace requires a special tool that I did not have. I broke the lock clips on the brace intentionally to remove it. I have away to put it back.

Once the brace was off. I stuck a flat head in between and pried the connection loose.

Then pull away in opposite directions.

After removing the cooling fan and having the AC lines disconnected. This is all the space I had. The air filter housing on the driver side prevented me from further flexing the radiator towards the back. I decided that I had no choice but to take out the radiator. The two radiator hoses and the two transmission cooler lines would have to be removed.

The low temperature hose is on the driver side below the AC lines. They are big and you can't miss them.

You can use a channel lock tp press onto the clamp tabs and release them but I had a special too that did that for me ;)

The heat in the vehicle fused the rubber tube to the radiator plastic so after the clamp was released and pushed away from the boss on the radiator; I used a channel lock twist the rubber and break the hose loose.

As such and then pulled the big hose off the radiator. Expect alot of water to gush out (unless you drain it from the drain plug prior to releasing the hose). Same process on the passenger side top high temperature hose.

This is the clamp release tool I picked up the other day. Pretty cool huh..

Next are the two transmission cooler lines that need to be removed. The mechanism here involves the cooler line tubes going into a fitting on the rad that has a clip. I removed the clip using a dental pick. The cooler lines are on the driver side.

After the clip is removed. Just pull it off. Expect a little bit of transmission oil to leak out.

The radiator along with the condenser is too thick to remove as a single piece. However, taking the radiator off will require releasing the condenser from it.

(A later pic used as reference here). Pursuing the earlier required vertically dispacing the condenser up an inch or an inch and half. There is plenty of room around the hood latch through which you can stick your arm through and easily lift the condenser. It is what I did.

Once the condenser has been released from the rad. The rad is pretty much ready to come out once the cross bar on the driver side is released.

Same procedure as done on the passenger side earlier. Three 13 mm bolts. Once released, sway away from the opening behind the radiator.

The rad comes out first and the condenser follows.

Here is the replacement condenser.

Remember to put in the AC compressor lubricant into one of the condenser lines before dropping the condenser under the rad support.

Just a little bit is enough. If you put too much, the compressor clutch will slip and the AC will not cool properly.

After market condenser dropped in the engine bay.

Make sure to put on the clips on the transmission cooler fittings before dropping the radiator into the engine bay.

Once the radiator has been put in. It is pretty much reverse processing from here until we charge the AC. Put on the AC line bracket back on the rad with the same 10 mm bolt.

Then slide the high pressure liquid line into the condenser tube.

Remember I broke the lock clips on the AC line brace? Well here is my solution. I put tie wraps through the clip slots and under the hinge.

And fastened as such. I think this setup is better than stock.

Put on the 13 mm nut for the vapor line.

Slide the cooler lines back in. Left the upper cooler line loose to make it easier for me to install the cooling fan.

Drop the fan in. Make sure the lower tabs slide into the rad clips and fasten the two 10 mm bolts.

Electrical connections back on.

Tie wrap the harness onto fan assembly as required.

Once the fan was installed. I put on the upper transmission cooler line. Though it can swivel over the cooling fan, it is still kinda snug so installing it after the fan is ideal.

Put the clamp onto the radiator hose and sprung it loose using my special tool. Clamp clocked accordingly prior to hose coupling.

Hose slid onto the output tube of the radiator.

And pressed the release lever on my tool to let go of the clamp. Same process on the passenger side high temp/rad inlet hose.

Rad-condenser sandwich clamp back on with a 10 mm.

The two rad mounts back on with a 10 mm.

Battery in and the plastic clamp back on. It would have been easier for me if I had the high temp hose put on after dropping the battery in but not a biggie. Just had to snug it in place.

Positive battery terminal first then negative. Notice how the positive terminal is super close the rad support. If you had the car grounded first and then happened to have your tool touch the frame while fastening the positive terminal. You will end up having a short circuit that may result in an electrical nightmare. Happened to me once with a different car and don't want to go through it again.

7/16 nuts back on for the fuse box. Cover put on as well soon after.

Both cross bars put back on with their 13 mm bolts.

Fuse box cover back on and we are done putting things back together.

Now to charge the air conditioner the right way. Before putting any refrigerant in. You would want to 1. Vacuum out all the air from the liquid and vapor lines. Make sure the system doesn't leak by using a pressure gauge.  The recovery/recharge machine consists of a central vacuum/recharge line (yellow), Low pressure vapor line (blue) and a high pressure vapor line (red).

The low pressure vapor valve pops out right underneath the driver side wiper.

Coupling put on and knob turned clockwise to press valve pin in.

The high pressure valve is quite hidden and is located right below the air filter box. To reach it requres removing the air filter box.

Release the clamp and connector on the throttle body.

Unlatch the box.

And moved it away so that I can reach it with my hand.

Machine coupler put on.

The machine extracts air from both the high and low pressure lines. Open both the valves to the central vacuum line.

And turned the machine on...

Monitor the pressure gauges. Unless there is a major leak, both pointers should turn counter-clockwise and well below 0 psi. It might take a while until you can be sure that the pointers are not moving anymore. That is when the valves should be closed and the maching turned off.

I left the machine off for 1/2 hour and the gauge readings did not move a single bit (stayed at negative ambient air). If it leaked, the pointer would have moved to positive ambient air (15 psi).

The vacuum test passed so I was comfortable charging the AC with refrigerant.

Put the can on. Turn fully clockwise to puncture into the can and counter clockwise again to let the refrigerant into the line.

Turn upside down to let it all in.

Need to start the car and turn on the AC to verify its function.  And that reminded me to put the coolant in.

Turned the car on and monitored the cool in the AC. If the compressor turns on (clicks) and the air is cold enough, then it is all good. If it clicks intermittently or doesn't click, you would need to put in more gas to actuate the pressure switch. Intermittent clicking usually comes with the air not being cold enough anyways (which means you need to put more gas). When the compressor engages, the low pressure reading will drop but the minimum reading should not go below 30 psi and beyond 40 psi.

Once all that was done, I put everything back and sealed the deal.