“Adult Response (Equivalent Exchange?)” at a Suspicious Shop

Hello! This is Re:NISSAN from Re:Tech Japan. Thank you for always reading.

Oh boy...

While I was busy debugging deep bass in the audio swamp under the trunk,a serious system fatal error (obituary) flew in from the front stage (engine room)...

“Gas leak from the high-pressure side of the air conditioner.” For a DIYer in this period (June) just before summer, this is the worst kind of bug report that slams the wallet's life gauge straight into the red zone.

Moreover, knowing the request was sent to that “shop full of suspicions,” it’s no wonder my brain’s CPU fell into an infinite loop of paranoia, thinking, “Is this for real?” (lol). Let’s try reverse-engineering this incident log from a no-nonsense DIY perspective.

🛠️ “Adult Response (Equivalent Exchange?)” at a Suspicious Shop

This shop, looking back,has a history (log) of numerous brilliant (?) debug errors, doesn't it.

• When I installed Largus coilovers, a fatal error occurred where the front hub bolt snapped (or might have). (lol)

• The rear ride height was completely different on the left and right, an asymmetrical mystery setting. (lol)

There seemed to be excuses like “the previous work was done by an outside contractor,” but no, no, maybe it was a professional, transcendent alignment to correct the Avenir’s original sagging rear, or maybe the Kyo-Ei Industry nutsjust happened to be from a bad lot. Since there’s no proof, let’s just leave it as a cold case (specification) so as not to ruffle any feathers (lol).

Meanwhile, this time I brought in that top-tier oil called “E-Special” that a senior colleague kindly shared with me (a self-procurement result after being kept waiting forever because the shop had no oil in stock). Please refer to the previous article (where you feel like you understand) for what an ester is.

I had contacted them in advance about the hub bolt damage, but perhaps the shop realized they messed up this time, as it was quite funny to see them start applying a recovery patch (repair response) at an unusually high speed, saying, “The caliper is already off today!” Was this a preemptive deployment to atone for their sins? Though they might charge for it properly...

🥶 The despair of “It’s leaking from the high pressure” and the options on the ground

The problem is the response to the light error check I threw in, saying, “The A/C doesn't seem to be working well, so please take a look.”

“Gas is leaking from the high-pressure side. ...What would you like to do?”

No, no, no,

When they ask, "What would you like to do?", as if I actually have a choice here!! (lol)

With summer now in full swing, an Avenir with a broken air conditioner is nothing more than a mobile sauna on wheels (a guaranteed thermal runaway environment). Especially for someone like me who is constantly drenched in sweat from working in the garage, being forced to play a "no air conditioning" challenge inside the car would cause the cytokines in my body to trigger a storm, releasing tons of histamine (the itch-inducing component) and causing my system to crash.

It's a multiple-choice question where, in reality, only one option—"fix it"—is provided. I had no choice but to tearfully hit the repair command, saying, "Please..."

"Make sure it's cheap!"

🔍 What is the reality of an "air conditioner high-pressure side leak"?

For the sake of my Re:NISSAN distrust sensor, which says "I can't believe what a pro says," I will debug the logic to see if this is truly a trap (rip-off) or if it's genuinely at the end of its life. (Thanks, GEMINI!)

The air conditioner wiring (piping) includes a "high-pressure pipe (the thinner one)" through which super-high-pressure gas compressed by the compressor passes, and a "low-pressure pipe (the thicker one)" through which the cooled gas returns.

• Top cause of leaks: Deterioration of the service valve (valve core) A case where the rubber gasket inside the gas injection port on the high-pressure side (the thing that looks like a bicycle tire valve) leaks gradually due to aging. Considering the model year of the Avenir (W11), this is a classic "THE aging" bug that wouldn't be surprising to happen at any time. It's cheap if it can be fixed just by replacing the valve core.

• Cause #2: Leaks from the "crimped parts" or O-rings of the high-pressure hose The high-pressure side is literally under extreme pressure. A case where gas leaks out with a hiss from the "seams (crimped parts)" between the rubber hose that absorbs compressor vibration and engine movement and the metal pipe, unable to withstand the pressure. This is also a prime candidate for hardware failure given the age of the vehicle.

GEMINI: If you really can't trust the shop, the most reliable way to debug it is to collect the "old parts that were leaking (removed parts)" after the repair is complete and check them by pouring soapy water on them to see if bubbles appear. (No, I trust them)

Just when I thought the hub bolts were fixed, now there's an air conditioner budget overflow. My beloved Avenir, to think that before the heavy bass (woofer) in the trunk could vibrate the car body, the gas pressure in the engine room was leaking out...

I will wait for the repair completion packet with fear and trembling, wondering how much of an invoice (death log) will come up. See you next time for the terrifying "Air Conditioner Repair & Settlement Edition (or perhaps the Shop's Incompetence Debugging Edition)"!

💡 Conclusion: Buy used cars in early summer to summer

Although I have no proof, the cold, hard perspective of a pro (or a DIYer who has seen it all) would be to assume there was a "gray business logic" at the used car dealership: the gas was empty at the time of purchase, they just topped it up with 1-2 cans (doping) so it would blow cold, and since it was winter, the user wouldn't notice until it got warmer.

From here, I could develop a mud-slinging, love-hate drama on the level of the legendary daytime soap "Botan to Bara" with the dealership, and it might even make for good blog content (to earn page views) to scream in the middle of the garage, "To just top up the gas and hand it over in the winter, your maintenance is nothing but 'on-the-spot doping'!!" (Original reference: "You're not a peony (boar), you're a useless pig!" In some regions, wild boar is called botan. Example: It's the season for delicious botan nabe (wild boar hot pot).)

However, starting to look at things with a cynical view only consumes my mental (CPU) resources. It's an adult debugging protocol to accept that "it's an old car, so some things can't be helped" and move forward.

Even so, our Avenir (W11) was a pretty tough "runaway daughter" in the guise of a quiet, low-mileage car (lol). Starting with the strange noise from the suspension, then the hub bolts, and now the high-pressure air conditioner leak. I hope that's all the major errors out of the way...!

💬 An answer to "Boyon-san" for the 25th year

I remember receiving this request (question) from "Boyon-san", a benefactor from NOTE, at the end of last year when I had just bought the Avenir.

At the time, I had a track record (experience log) of driving numerous high-mileage cars without major issues, so I casually replied, "There's some rattling, but it was drivable for the time being."

However, if I were to rewrite that specification (answer) now, it would look like this.

"It runs for now, but to drive it properly (comfortably), it required a full suspension refresh and major repairs to the air conditioning system."

This is my honest, unfiltered response, having been in the trenches and repeatedly performing trial-and-error adjustments on the actual vehicle.

📊 [Important!] The cost-performance of "35,000 km low mileage" vs. "high mileage/regularly maintained car" [This will be on the test!]

The unit this time is a 25-year-old vehicle with only 35,000 km on the odometer. Looking at the condition of the wipers and moldings, there was very little degradation of the exterior layers due to UV rays, and it looked to be in miraculous condition. The suspension bushings were likely hardened, but they were somehow holding their initial shape without tearing.

However, "Not driven = not degraded" is not true—that is the truly terrifying bug of vintage car DIY.

Oxidation of oils and fluids due to long-term idling (periods of sitting idle), and O-rings and gaskets that hardened while remaining compressed from not being moved. The moment these are suddenly forced into daily operation (multitasking) under a new owner, they start throwing errors all at once like "time bombs" in various places.

My current status is that my budget and time are fully occupied just with the "status quo maintenance" task of defusing bombs that keep activating one after another (lol).

In this case, I have arrived at the paradoxical life hack that "buying a high-mileage car with over 100,000 km at a rock-bottom price and using the saved budget to replace all consumables from the start results in far better total cost-performance and time-performance."

If a friend who isn't knowledgeable about cars (and can't pick up tools to debug them themselves) asks me, "What do you think about a 25-year-old low-mileage car?", I would send an error notification with all my might: "I'm telling you for your own good, don't do it; a newer 150,000 km Note is definitely better." This has become a very heavy, yet valuable lesson.

My garage is where I must continue to crush bugs flying in from all directions while also proceeding with the heavy bass tuning of the trunk.

Next time, I will report on how much the "final invoice (death log)" for this air conditioning repair ended up being. And I'll also report on what kind of explosive sound that twin-port box I borrowed from my senior will blast in the comfortably cooled interior of the Avenir!

[About vehicle maintenance debugging at Re:Tech Japan] The hub bolt damage recovery and sudden air conditioning gas leaks and other fatal errors introduced in this blog are things that Re:NISSAN mainly allocates from their own pocket as garage life maintenance costs, negotiating and verifying through trial-and-error with professionals (?) on-site. Re:Tech Japan earns income through qualifying sales as an Amazon Associate.

*Warning: Always follow the instruction manual for correct usage. The challenge known as DIY is always performed at one's own risk.

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