Condenser Replacement

royalkangaroo · June 2, 2023

My 2015 GMC Sierra quit blowing cold air today after 97,000 miles. Compressor cycles fine, but there’s now a low hissing sound coming from the air ducts. I would assume the condenser finally went. For those of you who have had yours replaced:

What’s the your cost been to replace? (I won’t be tackling this one myself)

I know this has been a common/hot button issue for these trucks, is it worth trying to get GM involved to cover part of the cost? I’m sure it’s a stretch now that mines 7+ years old.

CamGTP · June 2, 2023

They won't cover it at this point, not even worth it to try.

If I had to guess at the cost with current labor rates it's probably $500-600. A GM part is going to be ~$200 and labor in that 200-300, add tax and fees.

Smaller shops will be cheaper and so with aftermarket parts. I've always gone aftermarket because of cost and never had a failure.

kickass audio · June 2, 2023

I would double check the joint between the sides of the condenser and the fins. Mine broke at 65k miles and I replaced it myself with a new condenser from Napa. It seems a whole lot better for quality than the OEM GM one (same for the radiator I just had replaced a few months ago too). It's been 3 years now on my new condenser and it's been working great.

The price cost me about as much as taking it into the shop for work since I had decided to buy a vacuum pump from harbor freight and a set of manifold gauges from there too along with the cost of the PAG oil, a little top off of the transmission fluid and the cans of R134a to refill the system. It already leaked out totally before I started my work so there was no recovery needed as it all bled out from the crack in the condenser.

For parts, this is what I bought:

- A new rubber gasket for the seal between the condenser and lineset on the passenger side

- new condenser (obviously)

- PAG oil

- cans of R134a (I think I used almost 3 of the small little cans

- an adapter for tapping/piercing the R134a cans to allow refilling the system through the manifold gauge service port

- manifold gauge from harbor freight

- vacuum pump from harbor freight

- a small bottle of Dexron VI to top off the trans fluid

- jiffy tite removal kit since using a pick on the quick disconnects will loosen up the clip and I don't like doing that plus I use the crap out of the kit now on other vehicles in the family.

Scupper · June 2, 2023

9 hours ago, royalkangaroo said:

My 2015 GMC Sierra quit blowing cold air today after 97,000 miles. Compressor cycles fine, but there’s now a low hissing sound coming from the air ducts. I would assume the condenser finally went. For those of you who have had yours replaced:

What’s the your cost been to replace? (I won’t be tackling this one myself)

I know this has been a common/hot button issue for these trucks, is it worth trying to get GM involved to cover part of the cost? I’m sure it’s a stretch now that mines 7+ years old.

i picked a replacement from Rock Auto, somewhere around $200. Fortunately, my friend is a skilled HVAC mechanic and we able to replace it in a few hours. Following the replacement, the additional costs were 1 can of freon, 1 qt of transmission fluid, lunch, a few beers and tequila shots.