That is a real problem for you, & your situation;
Where fixing things properly.
Will bite in the rear come resale time.
True value comes with keeping them long term.
After buying them used, depreciated values, & in need of repair.

 

When i bought a nice 05 VDP a year ago I imediately ordered conversion springs, not wanting to deal with the air suspension problems and the cost. paid less then $500 on Ebay. replaced all the wheel bearings also as that was another problem i didn't want to deal with. Everything works fine and relatively small cost. These are DIY if you have tools and ability. Plenty of help on the net. The ride height is a little higher than I like but the car now clears curbs when parking. Not keeping the car forever.

 

I'm not keeping them forever either.
But who lives long enough to wear them out????????????????
Hell i'm 69 years old, & keep up on things.
Oil spraying the steel underneath, to slow down any further corrosion.
Doing just these few things, the cars should last as long as we do.
All the cars we have ever had, were rusting too bad to be safe, or wrecked.
Far from being worn out, as far as the drive train goes.
Never needed to check the oil level, after the first car or two.
One learns fast, or gets burned a lot learning slow.

 

UPDATE:

I had a garage near me inject some UV dye into my system. I have a small leak at the Compressor O-Rings. He vacuumed the system and then tried to undo the bolt to replace the O-Ring, but it was well rusted in and we were concerned that it would sheer off and leave its thread in the compressor if we used any more force! He recharged the system, but obviously I will slowly lose the pressure over the next few weeks.
I am unable to buy stop leak unless I import it from the States or the UK (as usual)….
Since my Aircon is still working (to a reasonable level) I am going to try some stop leak (I am back in the UK for three weeks next month) and if that does not work, then I guess the compressor will have to come out in order to put some heat (or something) onto this recalcitrant bolt?

Any suggestions/opinions anyone , please?

 

ATF works well to soak into corrosion.
Read somewhere, acetone, with ATF, 50/50 mix.
Works as well, if not better than ANYTHING out there.
Best of luck

 

Interesting. Perhaps OP should get a syringe or similar device and keep bathing that bolt for a while?

 

Acetone evaporates, so you need to keep it somewhat sealed.
Soaking can't hurt things, striking it slightly it for shock value as well.
Just might work, keep a good thought,.
Keep trying, you'll get there.

 

Liquid Wrench and PB Blaster are commonly-available penetrants that work well. Tapping the head of the screw is worthwhile as Wingrider mentioned.

You may be able to carefully get some heat on the head of the screw with a soldering gun or small butane torch. R134a refrigerant is virtually non-flammable, but PAG oil may be flammable, so use caution.

Cheers,

Don

 

Kroil !!!!!!

 

Kroil is very good stuff, used it for years.
Just too pricey compared to ATF with or without acetone.
Just too often, nothing works into the corrosion enough to help.

 

I have Kroil too, but I don't find that it works any better than, or even as well as plain old Liquid Wrench. It's a lot more expensive, too, so even though Kano Labs is based not far from where I live, I rarely use Kroil.

If you need to squirt parts from a distance, PB Blaster is handy for that.

In my experience it's very rare that a combination of Liquid Wrench or PB Blaster with heat or mechanical shock won't loosen a fastener.

Cheers,

Don

 

Agreed, about the combination approach, penetrating oil,shock, & heat, working most of the time.
Thats where the various types of pullers can really make a things happen.
This is not a puller type of job though, so use what ever you have to soak threads.

 

Thank you to all who posted the excellent suggestions above.
Now I know that it (probably) can be done in-situ, I shall try these suggestions IF (or perhaps more likely, when) some Leak-Stop fails to provide an ongoing solution.
I realise that I will likely have to replace the O-Rings sometime, either in situ (hopefully) or after removing the compressor - I am just clinging to the stop-leak straw for the moment!