Cleaning out AC lines

[Callum229]

Hi guys

I'm about to buy some used AC lines for my car as mines are broken (VW Jetta MK5 TDI).

Compressor seems fine, will change condenser though.

I would like to know how to clean the AC lines of any dirt/debris/metal particles. Is there a special can of solvent or something that I could buy to flush the lines out?

Any other things I would need to watch out for?

[EX-DOHCTOR]

Could probably flush them out with some meths. But you would need to seal them up quick so that nothing gets in them after the flush.

Maybe speak to the aircon place that will regas your system though. Maybe it would be better if they sort it out when the regas is done.

[Callum229]

True.

Reason being why I wanted to do it myself is because I want to clean the new lines individually and there is a lot of disassembly and reassembly that needs to be done as the lines go underneath a whole lot of stuff by the engine and goes from the front to the firewall, there is also the matter of the distance as I am worried that the long distance that the solvent has to travel when flushing will clean the lines properly.

I will get the guys at the AC place to flush again before they regas but I just want to be sure I did infact clean everything properly as a new compressor is quite expensive.

[EX-DOHCTOR]

The reason I like using meths is that it removes the grease and grime and also then evaporates. Maybe do an initial flush, then leave it to air dry then flush again with clean meths.

Depending on the lengths of pipe you could maybe soak the pipes in meths and then flush afterwards.