2000 Grand Prix Air Conditioning Orifice Tube

[R4ntoy]

Hello to All,

New to your formum and hope you can help me with my air conditioner. I am replacing the compressor, dryer, and Orifice Tube as my compressor had bad seals and was leaking coolant. I found the dryer under the air box and have it changed but cannot locate the orifice tube. I have search the web trying to find a picture of which tube to open to replace it but there is not much out there on this model. I have 2000 Grand Prix, SE, 3,8L automatic, 4 door. Can anyone post a picture and where it is located?

Regards,

R4ntoy...

[dsmuts]

Its up under the brake booster.

[phil morris]

If you take out the ABS pump/module you can get to it that way thats how i replaced mine just remember to do a complete brake bleed on all four wheels as you will be creating air in the system by taking out the ABS unit

[sgtsnake]

It is possible to just unbolt the abs pump, remove the bracket and pull it up out of the way. Just be careful with the lines and not bend too far. ****ty placement for sure.

[R4ntoy]

OMG.... you have got to be kidding me. Who's the NASA nuthead that thought that was a good place for it? So is the orifice in the drive side of the tube when you break the connection or the passager's side? Can you see in the tube to pull it out?

Thanks guys for in the info.. Guess I will try unbolting the abs pump to see if I can get to it..

[Scottydoggs]

just take the 4 abs lines off, un plug it, and un bolt the master cylinder, a lot easier that way. more room too.

[BillBoost37]

I'm no whiner and I tossed out a couple of bags of bad words the day I did one. Here's how I went about it. (Per the GM manual)

go in through the wheel well and remove the bracket off for the ABS. then flip it toward the TB and just far enough to get in there. No need to unhook brake lines or bleed the system. I went a little further and actually pulled the bracket off the abs as well.. I forget why.

[vertebrate]

Bill, I'm probably mistaken, but your pictures look to show the master cylinder disconnected from the booster. I thought if that was done then it would be necessary to bleed the brakes? I took out the nuts from the wheelwell, and loosened the ABS unit bolts on the side but can't move the abs unit/bracket. It keeps hitting into the master cylinder, or seems to be pulling on the solid lines in the back. Also, is there anything keeping the ABS unit attached to its bracket other than the two side bolts? I can't seem to lift it out of there at all.

I should add that the car is currently in pieces and I threw in the towel for the night trying to do the orifice tube. Compressor, and accumulator went pretty much no problem. Why on earth would someone decide to put the orifice tube in what seems to be the worst place imaginable?!

[bmx6454]

Bill, I'm probably mistaken, but your pictures look to show the master cylinder disconnected from the booster. I thought if that was done then it would be necessary to bleed the brakes? I took out the nuts from the wheelwell, and loosened the ABS unit bolts on the side but can't move the abs unit/bracket. It keeps hitting into the master cylinder, or seems to be pulling on the solid lines in the back. Also, is there anything keeping the ABS unit attached to its bracket other than the two side bolts? I can't seem to lift it out of there at all.

I should add that the car is currently in pieces and I threw in the towel for the night trying to do the orifice tube. Compressor, and accumulator went pretty much no problem. Why on earth would someone decide to put the orifice tube in what seems to be the worst place imaginable?!

thats just gm for ya.. they put some stuff in the worst places imaginable lol.

[BillBoost37]

If you unbolt the master from the booster (2 15mm nuts) you don't have to bleed. You only have to bleed if you remove the lines. The booster only pushes on a sealed end of the master. Which is why the master and abs are still blobbed together in the pic. I moved them together on the flex lines form the abs. Never opened any lines and didn't have to bleed any brakes.

I'll be doing another one in the next couple of days and will hate it again. On that bracket..I think I loosened a couple bolts wtih rubber boots and the abs slides out of the bracket. It's a pain as well.

[vertebrate]

I got the ABS out of the way(there's a post on the bottom that was stuck hard in a grommet), but I cannot for the life of me get the nut off of the orifice tube. I *think* it's 25-26mm(1-1/16" maybe?), but I don't have a wrench that big, and my adjustable feels like it's slipping, and I don't want to strip it.

My line also looks a bit different than yours. Where yours has the large orifice housing and the nut closer to the front of the car, mine has a thinner orifice housing, and the nut is closer to the firewall. It's a nightmare trying to get in there. I have like an inch before I end up hitting the brake booster or strut tower. Right now I'm thinking I'm going to have to disconnect the line at the condenser, and try to break the nut by spinning the entire line.

Is it okay to use some PB Blaster even though it's part of the AC system?

Does anyone know the exact size of the nut back there, and also where I could get a tool locally for it? I tried Autozone, OReillys, and Home Depot. No love. I'm thinking maybe a flare nut wrench, or crow's foot might get it done if I can get the right size?

[vertebrate]

Victory! Didn't need to remover the brake booster as I saw indicated in a clubgp forum post about doing 99+ GPs. A 26mm crows foot did the trick no problem. I couldn't get the orifice tube out trying to fish it using a metal hanger. I ended up just disconnecting the pipe at the condensor so that I could turn it upwards. I needed to pull pretty hard with a hair of needlenose pliers to get it free. I don't think I would have been able to get it out any other way.

I had gotten what was supposed to be an orifice tube puller good for most GM vehicles from Autozone. Apparently ours aren't included in that. The gaps in the puller were too narrow for the orifice tube handle. Now to put it all back together, get it flushed, and filled, and hope that I now have AC.

[BillBoost37]

Cool deal.. best of luck...i'm not looking for ward to the one I gotta do.

[Jakegday]

good god that doesnt look fun! Ill be replacing my compressor in a few weeks and im going to replace the accumulator too. How necessary is it to also replace this orifice tube with this repair?