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[Tony H]

Hmmm. Just found this place

http://www.aluminiumrepair.co.uk/html/all_kits.html

For £12.50, I may be able to repair the pipe, it seems.

Any comments?

Hmmm! I would think long and hard about considering a welded repair on your aircon ally can be difficult to weld and if your not very carfull you can end up blowing a larger hole in the pipe than you are repairing. Another thing to take into account is that refridgerant gas becomes toxic when exposed to a naked flame An alternative you can concider is a special epoxy resin used on refridgeration repairs,I had  a commercial fridge successfully repaired using it .If you contact a local fridge engineer i'm sure the'll point you in the right direction  

[Marks DTM Calib]

R134 is not toxic when expoed to a naked flame like R12 was....god forbid any aircon guys who smoked on the job.

Of course......none of these people (fridge, aircon, heating) are engineers in the real meaning.....probably the most miss used word in the english language!

[Nickbat]

Hmmm. Just found this place

http://www.aluminiumrepair.co.uk/html/all_kits.html

For £12.50, I may be able to repair the pipe, it seems.

Any comments?

Hmmm! I would think long and hard about considering a welded repair on your aircon ally can be difficult to weld and if your not very carfull you can end up blowing a larger hole in the pipe than you are repairing. Another thing to take into account is that refridgerant gas becomes toxic when exposed to a naked flame An alternative you can concider is a special epoxy resin used on refridgeration repairs,I had  a commercial fridge successfully repaired using it .If you contact a local fridge engineer i'm sure the'll point you in the right direction  

Hmmm. According to the homepage of that same website http://www.aluminiumrepair.co.uk, one of the specific uses for that welding product is on aircon pipes. Point taken about the gas, but I would have to tke the pipe off the car to do the job anyway. As it is, I'll probably try Mark's suggestion of a hunt round the scrappies first. However, if I draw a blank, the welding option may become my only option. (That, or driving the car over a cliff! )
 

[JasonH]

Motorcycle radiators are often made of aluminium, I've holed mine twice and paid to have it repaired the first time. It turned out they just used a high temperature epoxy resin. So when I holed it the second time is used some high temperature "liquid metal" epoxy and it did a great job.

So if you can't find a replacement part I'd use some "liquid metal" epoxy based stuff on it.

[Matchless]

Just had a thought over a cuppa. Would a really tight tourniquet of PTFE tape and self-amalgamating tape be enough to stop the refrigerant leaking out? Probably a daft idea, but the leak is on the low pressure, rather than high pressure, circuit.

Static pressure is around 75 psi (cold) reducing to 30 psi when running so I doubt that you can patch it.

[Matchless]

What year?
Quick release or bolt-up connector?
I would get one from a breaker but removing it requires access from below to remove the compressor first,
its not a difficult job, just fiddly but would be impossible if you cant jack up.
Try putting a wanted add on here and wait for someone to start breaking one.

[Nickbat]

It's a 1995, with bolt up connectors.

Not sure I would have to remove the compressor though. If I undo the top end of the pipe, the sump bracket and the plate connector on top of the compressor, that should give me enough manoeuvrability to ease it out.

Problem with breakers is that either they cut through the pipes to get engines out, or they insist on you taken aircon parts out yourself - which would be fine if the car wasn't at the bottom of a pile in three inches of wet mud - wouldn't want to crawl under that or in that.