S Max A/C Condenser Replacement

[BigMo2016]

Hello everyone.

I am an American living in Italy and I purchased a 2006 Ford S-Max almost 2 years ago and I haven't had any major problems so far, except the fan belt pulley on the crankshaft that broke. I had my A/C charged last summer, but all my refrigerant leaked out after a week and I found the hole in the bottom of the A/C Condenser. I have purchased another one and I want to swap it out myself, but I cannot find a repair manual for this vehicle, although I recently saw a post about a Hanes manual coming out soon, but I was hoping to get a little help now.

Does anyone have any info about how to remove the old condenser? I am pretty handy and I know I have to get to it, but is there anything peculiar I need to know before I try to tackle this job, like do I have to remove the bumper, the intercooler or radiator, do I need to drain the radiator or remove the fan or for example does it lift out or do I have to remove it from the bottom? At this point I just need a push in the right direction and any help would be appreciated!

thx guys...I love my S-Max BTW!!!

[johnnyroper]

Not 100% sure but I would imagine front bumper/grill needs to come off to access it.
I would not think engine rad and fan need removing normally they can be removed separately,probably just needs the pipe work disconnecting and brackets removing then lift out from the top.

As yours is holed I don't think you need to worry about getting system de gassed first,just a vac down and re gas after.

No experience of smax/Galaxy jut going by the previous cars I ha e worked on, have a good look at it and I am sure it will be fairly self explanatory.

[Chrispb]

The Haynes book came out in May but was then withdrawn after some errors in the print.
That's now been sorted and is available now.

[BigMo2016]

Is there any more info about this process available? I have searched google and youtube and it seems like no one is working on this vehicle and very little information is out there, which is strange because my vehicle is 10 years old. Hasn't anyone changed an AC Condenser on an S-Max, surely I am not the only one.

I will begin working on the vehicle tomorrow, so I hope that Jonnyroper is right that it will be somewhat self explanatory, but in the meantime, I am very open to any advice or suggestions.

[gregers]

the trouble is any info thats out there is under lock and key and costs money to get to it,
haynes now do a book that covers the mk3 galaxy and smax.might be worth you investing in 1.
also when you do tackle the job,would you mind taking some pics and doing a write up and sharing how it went for future.ta muchly.

[BigMo2016]

Hey Gregers, I agree with you totally, but it boggles my mind considering the car is 10 years old. I have never had this problem in America before, but then again, the S-ax doesnt seem to be a very popular car, at least not in Italy. I had a hard time finding a good used one, and you can forget about finding one in a junk yard for parts.

Anyway, I will take your advise and take some pics and let everyone know how it goes, but I am still looking for any info anyone has in the meantime. I would order the book right now, but I need to save the little cash I have left to get it gassed when I am done!!!

[BigMo2016]

Okay guys, I went to work on the S-Max today and figured I would tell you what I found. The AC Condenser is an easy fit system with only one bolt attaching it to the radiator, with three horizontal tabs that fit down into the u-shaped holders, so it should lift up and out, without removing the radiator or the intercooler, however, there is a cross member on top that is blocking its escape.

I figured I will have to remove the bumper, which includes removing the headlights as well in order to reach the necessary bolts, because the cross member is attached to it and here is where I ran into problems, there are two 10mm bolts on each side, attaching the bumper to the front fenders and one of them is out of reach without a pneumatic socket or removing the wheel well cover, which I couldn't do since I was working on the ground and couldnt jack up the car and remove the tire. The second problem I ran into was there are two nuts on the front, right under the upper grill attaching the bumper to two studs, and these bolts are on very tight, so another need for the pneumatic socket.

I have a a couple of friends who have shops and I am hoping one of them will let me come in and use their pneumatic socket so I can knock this job out, and if so, I will post pictures of everything I have mentioned above. However, if I am wrong about anything, I am certainly open to any corrections in my diagnosis, and of course any advice will be greatly appreciated as well.

[johnnyroper]

Is it possible to loosen radiator so it can be pushed towards engine allowing condenser to be lifted out?

[BigMo2016]

the radiator has all the brackets to attach the cooling fan, the condenser and the intercooler, so all of them move as one unit. The radiator sits on a lower cross member with two rubber grommets and doesnt allow for a lot of movement in either direction and unfortunately the setup is situated closer to the grill than to the cross member above, which basically covers the space between the engine and the fan.I have a photo but I cannot figure out how to post it...a little help please?

[BigMo2016]

okay, I figured it out. As you can see in the photo, the black foam is covering the radiator (which sits between the fan and the condenser) and the ac condenser, which is most visible. The cooling fan is the gray piece closest to the cross member. the intercooler sits at the very bottom out of view. Without the hood latch and supports, theoretically, the condenser should be able to lift up and out, with a little maneuvering to free the hose connection ports, however, these supports are attached to the cross member as well. You gotta love the GM engineers!!! (as much sarcasm as I could muster in written form!!!)

[mbrady]

Hi.

I'm doing the same job and carried out an exploratory inspection last night. Mine is a 2.2 TDCi so may be a little different, not too sure.
As you say, the condenser is sandwiched between the radiator (rear) and intercooler (lower front).
I had hoped that removing the lower cross-member support that takes the weight of these 3 would enable me to tip it all rearwards at the top and pull the condenser up and out.
I did not free off all hoses, as I didn't have time, but possibly this might work if I remove the intercooler hoses and intercooler - there are two bolts that hold the sandwich together at the bottom corners, these come out to permit the intercooler and radiator to move apart.
The tabs that held the condenser (2 each side on mine) needed a lot of persuasion to move it up, a bottle jack and some light tapping in fact!
Now all that is released and I have the screws freed up for the undertray (what a tedious nightmare that was - and quite a lot is broken - due to hitting a pallet on the M6 a couple of years ago i guess!) I will get the car up on axle stands at the weekend and continue. I am probably going to pull the intercooler out and try to drop the condenser out the bottom.
I will report back once I've continued the saga - may even get some photos!
If you carry on - let me know.

Marcus