Audi Repair: Audi A6 Air Conditioning-major repair, bentley repair manual, mechanics tools


Question
My wife's 1999 Audi A6 Q had a A/C compressor that froze while driving.The belt smoked and finally the bearing let the pully "flywheel."
The repair estimate is pretty high and I am mechanically inclined enough to do the repair myself. My questions are:

1-The broken compressor, (I'm sure) contaminated the associated system parts. Besides the drier, what else should I replace? (assuming I use brake cleaner& compressed air to clean the inside of the hoses.)

2-The compressor new price is $1200.00 +-. I have located some online compressors that are much less, (reman & new.) The problem is that Audi makes slight mods to parts throuhout the year model and I wondering if buying this expensive part online is too much of a risk?

3-I will look at a "Bentley" repair manual and decide if this is a bit much to do. However, what other parts might you reccommend I replace with this scenerio?

4-I plan on having my mechanic charge the freon after I complete the job, but is there any specialty tools needed beside the basic mechanics tools I might need for this job?

5-Any other precautions you can think of concerning this job?

Thank You in advance,

William

Answer
Hi
I think , you can easy replace A/C compressor. I have seen people replacing compressor only even with out drier, but it is good idea to replace both. Most of the systems have a screen inside one of the lines , right by the valves. I don't remember which one but only one has short connection pipe with a valve on it  (maybe a low side) If you loos that big nut on it and look inside, you can pul it out from inside  the pipe with a long players. also make sure you replace all the O-rings on any part you going to replace.
It is up to you where to buy a new part if it a big difrence I will try to get reman but there is a chance it may not fit.
You may need some special tools if the compressor does not come with a clutch, make sure new one will have clutch on it.
Good luck.      Greg