RCV (compressor control valve) quality survey: so many choices; differences?

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cscmc1

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I'm seeing RCV's for our cars priced anywhere from $15 to $70-ish. Are these all Chinese-made, or are there actual quality differences between these? The old "you get what you pay for" adage comes to mind, but I'd like to understand what makes the higher-end units worth 4x as much as the ebay and amazon bargain-bin units. I'm not doubting that there are differences, I'm just wondering what those differences are. "If you want to replace it every year or two, buy the cheap one" does not tell me WHY the cheap one is inferior, so unless you have actual experience with a "cheap one" failing prematurely, please don't go there. ;)

Thanks; I appreciate any input you can provide!
 
JELLOWSUBMARINE

JELLOWSUBMARINE

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I have no experiance with aftermarket RCVs so no input on them, but... The O.E.M. RCV was used in my new to me 2011 warrenty repair. No one can say the a/c unit is improved because of it but it as a whole it is an icecycle maker @ *105 hot summer day. I generally stick to oem for expensive or difficult repairs I would prefer to not deal with again if possible. My philosophy is aftermarket is going to do minimum for maximum profit. Again in general factory oe has hours and $ invested.
 
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cscmc1

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JELLOWSUBMARINE said:
I have no experiance with aftermarket RCVs so no input on them, but... The O.E.M. RCV was used in my new to me 2011 warrenty repair. No one can say the a/c unit is improved because of it but it as a whole it is an icecycle maker @ *105 hot summer day. I generally stick to oem for expensive or difficult repairs I would prefer to not deal with again if possible. My philosophy is aftermarket is going to do minimum for maximum profit. Again in general factory oe has hours and $ invested.
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Thank you -- I appreciate the input! Trouble is, I'm having a hard time determining what exactly "OEM" is. People seem to like the Polar Bear units, and they are at the top of the price range, but there is no indication (that I can find) as to who actually makes them. I find the same to be true of the eBay and Amazon units. How many factories are actually pumping these out, and are the $65 units the same exact units as the $25 eBay/Amazon pieces? It's hard to find some of those details.

Thanks again!
 
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JELLOWSUBMARINE

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cscmc1 said:
Thank you -- I appreciate the input! Trouble is, I'm having a hard time determining what exactly "OEM" is. People seem to like the Polar Bear units, and they are at the top of the price range, but there is no indication (that I can find) as to who actually makes them. I find the same to be true of the eBay and Amazon units. How many factories are actually pumping these out, and are the $65 units the same exact units as the $25 eBay/Amazon pieces? It's hard to find some of those details.

Thanks again!
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Your probably right. How many manufacturers for this can there be for this? Maybe a good VW parts guy knows if they are produced by a specific company and relabeled.
 
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jetlagmech

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Must be nice to have choices. Back in 2012 when I replaced mine, (Amazon only sold books and CD's then) Polar Bear was the only source for one I could find. Not even the dealer could get one, they could only get compressor assy. I think it was about $69 then.

I usually look to see where stuff is made when I open the package, but that was too long ago to remember now. I would probably spend the extra for the Polar Bear unit. History of good part quality. That is the cheapest part of the job, The part was $70 but the shop charged $200 to install and reservice the system. Would have hated to have to pay the $200 again in order to try and save $25. My system has been good since. (I know....Coastal PNW, don't need much from the A/C system. But I did live in Vegas during that time)
 
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cscmc1

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jetlagmech said:
Must be nice to have choices. Back in 2012 when I replaced mine, (Amazon only sold books and CD's then) Polar Bear was the only source for one I could find. Not even the dealer could get one, they could only get compressor assy. I think it was about $69 then.

I usually look to see where stuff is made when I open the package, but that was too long ago to remember now. I would probably spend the extra for the Polar Bear unit. History of good part quality. That is the cheapest part of the job, The part was $70 but the shop charged $200 to install and reservice the system. Would have hated to have to pay the $200 again in order to try and save $25. My system has been good since. (I know....Coastal PNW, don't need much from the A/C system. But I did live in Vegas during that time)
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Thanks for the reply -- I am indeed leaning toward the Polar Bear unit; it looks like they have the drier I need too. I'm going to call them and confirm. As you stated, better to "buy once/cry once" than to buy an inferior part and regret it later. Their $65 valve might be the exact same as the $15 one on eBay for all I know, but I'll err on the side of caution I suspect.

Thanks again!
 
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PRY4SNO said:
I have this on my repair radar, do you have a part number handy?
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Part number depends on which compressor you have in your car and which style RCV is in your compressor. There isn't one part number for all.
 
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cscmc1

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Yes, part depends on which RCV you have; there are apparently (at least) two. One is held in with a snap ring, and one bolts down. I used an inspection mirror to look at mine and determine that it was the more common snap-ring type. It's Polar Near part number EX 019, but you can find similar RCV's on ebay, Amazon, etc... pretty easily.
 
PRY4SNO

PRY4SNO

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IXLR8 said:
Part number depends on which compressor you have in your car and which style RCV is in your compressor. There isn't one part number for all.
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Spoke with the parts department at a local dealer today. He said that the RCV is called a pressure sensor in their database. Based on my VIN, he listed the corresponding compressor and sensor, and mentioned that there's an o-ring that should be replaced at the same time.


AC compressor - 1K0820808FX


Pressure sensor - 5K0959126 = $127.68+tax + $3.40 for the o-ring (didn't get a PN)


EDIT:


Wow... stealership, indeed.


FCP Euro has them for $21-$27 OE quality, and idparts has them for $45 (aftermarket) to $78 (OEM).
 
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Not sure if yours is a sanden compressor (didn't find the manufacturer info) but this is the RCV I went with last year and it is still working well despite my compressor going bad at the end of last year: $50 - https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Control-Sanden-compressor-PXE13-Gogoal/dp/B0154WHSTE

It has pretty good reviews and looked like a quality product online. In person it holds up and looked better/more robust than the valve I pulled out.
 
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cscmc1

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jimmyfine said:
Not sure if yours is a sanden compressor (didn't find the manufacturer info) but this is the RCV I went with last year and it is still working well despite my compressor going bad at the end of last year: $50 - https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Control-Sanden-compressor-PXE13-Gogoal/dp/B0154WHSTE

It has pretty good reviews and looked like a quality product online. In person it holds up and looked better/more robust than the valve I pulled out.
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Thanks! I have replaced mine (with another Amazon product); so far so good. Your reply is good info for anyone looking to do this repair in the future though; thanks for commenting!
 
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00SamIAm00

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cscmc1 said:
Thanks! I have replaced mine (with another Amazon product); so far so good. Your reply is good info for anyone looking to do this repair in the future though; thanks for commenting!
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Which one did you end up going with? I bought the $30 one last year, and it already is starting to fail, especially at high ambient temperatures. Thinking about taking the $70 polar plunge...
 
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JELLOWSUBMARINE

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00SamIAm00 said:
Which one did you end up going with? I bought the $30 one last year, and it already is starting to fail, especially at high ambient temperatures. Thinking about taking the $70 polar plunge...
Click to expand...
Mine was replaced under warrenty 1 year ago and operating perfectly. From what it seems here on this thread a Polar/O.E.?
 
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cscmc1

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00SamIAm00 said:
Which one did you end up going with? I bought the $30 one last year, and it already is starting to fail, especially at high ambient temperatures. Thinking about taking the $70 polar plunge...
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Mine was even cheaper as I recall. If I have to replace it again I think I’ll go the Polar route too. I am comfortable doing all the work myself now, though, so it was worth the gamble to give this one a try. Thanks for the update!
 
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