Im assuming you vented all of your refrigerant already which is why you need a new condenser? If you havent you need a shop to remove the refrigerant from the system. The condenser can be removed without taking the bumper off... (at least on an a4, i would guess it would be the same for an s), the one piece that does need to be removed is the passenger side headlight. There are some problems however, there are two lines that go to the condenser (located on the bottom passenger side), it isnt uncommon for those lines to be frozen on there, pretty much impossible to take them off (and a bad location to heat while on the car). Some A/C shops have told me that they will have to replace components up the line (meaning the other side of the frozen line). When i did my condenser, I couldnt remove one of the lines. I ended up disconnecting it further up the line (which meant I had to remove my bumper to make it easier), and had a shop heat it to get it off (they heated the hell out of it, the nut was discolored, i reused that hose, and it has worked fine, youll find that A/C hoses and lines are fairly expensive). Once i got the line off it made installation of the new condenser fairly easy. The only problem was that the new condenser i received was bent funny so it didnt want to fit, so i had to bend it slightly to fit (you have to be careful as it is aluminum). A couple other notes: save the pressure switch located on the passenger side of the condenser, and when you reinstall it, DO NOT overtighten it (my service manual said tighten to like 70 INCH pounds i think, basically you turn it by hand until it stops..), you also need to replace any o-rings that you expose while you replace the condenser, they are special A/C orings and are often purple. When reinstalling the condenser, make sure to hold the condenser with another wrench while you tighten (so you dont bend it), there are places to hold on either side of the nut.
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Originally Posted by sturat_7
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