Currently in the process of replacing the condenser (and radiator) on my wife’s 59 plate 2.0 Sport.
One of the bolts highlighted with the red arrows in the above diagram snapped off at the head during removal. As the thread is in the current condenser I don’t have to undertake removal. The other bolt is in one piece, but has rusted along the length of the thread, so I suspect that this has also happened to the snapped one.
I need to get replacements. Can anyone advise on the appropriate spec?
Thanks for any help.
I think you will find these are standard 6mm (10mm head size)metric .Not sure of the length,but not difficult to work it out.Find a bolt length that extends approx 10mm past the pipe fitting.Make sure the bolt does not "bottom out " in the new condenser.These bolts do not need to be very tight.They hold the pipes in place.It is the o rings that do the sealing.Try the new bolts in the condenser first before final fitting.Use a small dab of a/c oil on the seal before install.
Great stuff, thanks very much for the prompt response ![]()
The normal specification for a run of the mill bolt on a car is spec 8.8.
BMW tend to use 9.8, on brakes and suspension 10.8 tends to be used.
Do not use the crap A2 stainless steel available on ebay.
The bolt specification advises bolt makers to put the spec number on the bolt head, a safety issue as this prevents a garden gate bolt say spec 4.6 being used in a car brake application 10.8.
Car manufacturers “brake” the rules here as most of them do not mark their nuts and bolts.
Just to add confusion the distance between the threads, the “thread pitch” can change and car manufacturers use with standard pitch or fine pitch.
The other thing that car manufacturers do is to reduce the bolt head spanner size, therefore it does not mirror the ISO or Japanese recommendation.
To conclude this query, 8.8 spec bolts acquired. The aircon was pressure tested and then re-gassed today ![]()
Thanks to those who posted advice.