New A/C compressors, condensers and blower motors from Dubai for export

The family is the air-conditioning circuit and the parts that move air through it: compressors, condensers, evaporators, expansion valves, filter-driers, blower motors, condenser fans and cabin filters. Each is quoted new, by VIN and part number, with its grade and brand named. The condenser sits with the radiator at the front of the car, so the engine-cooling side is on our radiators page, and the two lists often travel together.

Refrigerant gas is not supplied, and no unit leaves us with gas inside it. Mahle's workshop guide explains the care involved: liquid refrigerant evaporates so suddenly at normal temperature that skin contact can freeze tissue, and the contents of a cylinder or an opened system escape at high pressure. The same reasoning keeps recharge cans, aerosols and loose compressor oil off our quotes. Your workshop buys gas locally, in the type the car's label names, R134a or R1234yf.

A compressor that has failed rarely fails alone. Hella's workshop guide says to flush the whole system when a compressor is replaced, because debris from the failed unit cannot be ruled out, and that compressors, driers and expansion valves cannot be flushed, so the drier and the valve are replaced with it. Sanden's checklist says the receiver drier must be replaced every time the system is inspected. A workshop restock list therefore pairs each compressor with a drier, an expansion valve and a set of O-rings.

Sanden's failure guide names the habits that kill a new compressor: moisture from leaving hoses or components uncapped, leaving the suction and discharge caps off the compressor, and a saturated drier. The cure starts before fitting. Every port cap on a unit we quote stays on, and a person asks you to keep sealed bags closed until the workshop is ready. If you buy only the compressor and refit the old drier, the new unit inherits the moisture.

Oil is the other half of the question. Denso says its compressors are pre-filled with the correct oil before shipment, that oil should never be added to the compressor itself but to the condenser, drier or evaporator, and that without oil the compressor seizes. Hella says a few types cannot be drained at all, naming the Denso 5SE and 5SL and the Visteon VS16, which arrive pre-filled. We do not drain or top up. A unit the maker supplies dry travels dry, no refrigerant is ever in the box, and the packing list says what the box holds.

Heat does not fall evenly. Baghdad's July mean daily maximum is 44.7 degrees Celsius and its record is 51.8, set on 28 July 2020, and Wikipedia adds that dust storms from the western deserts are a normal summer event. A condenser in that air clogs its fins, and Mahle lists contamination and stone chips among the causes of condenser failure, with frontal impacts particularly common. For Iraq and the Gulf we therefore expect condensers, fans and cabin filters to lead a list.

The coast is a different problem. Mombasa's mean daily maximum is 32.8 to 33.3 degrees Celsius from January to March, and its relative humidity averages 80%, in the 1991 to 2020 normals. Nairobi, at 1,795 metres, tops out at a March mean of 28.0. Mahle notes that condensation forms on an evaporator's fins and that bacteria and fungi nest there over time, which is why it advises disinfecting the evaporator and replacing the cabin filter at service. We expect a humid coast to use filters and evaporators faster than a cool plateau.

Mahle sets the service rhythm: an A/C check with a new cabin filter every 12 months for passenger cars, and a service with a new filter-drier every 2 years, because even new systems lose up to 10% of their refrigerant a year. For a fleet that is a repeating order of filters, driers and valves, which suits a trade list. Our own export enquiries put cooling and A/C fourth among part groups, 13 of 97, behind body panels, electrical items and lighting.

UAE customs data show Gulf demand for compressors but cannot isolate cars. Heading 841430, compressors for refrigerating equipment, was US$208.7 million of UAE-reported exports in 2023, and it covers every kind of refrigeration. Saudi Arabia took US$56.7 million of it, 27%, and Iraq US$21.6 million, 10%. We cite it as the size of the Gulf cooling trade and not as a count of car compressors.

Genuine means the carmaker's own compressor in its box. OE-brand means the maker that supplies the carmaker, sold under its own name. Denso, Sanden and Visteon compressor models appear in the workshop guides we read, among them the Denso 5SE and 5SL, the Visteon VS16 and the Sanden PXE 13 and PXE 16, and which of them is OE-brand for a given car is a part-number question. Quality aftermarket is a branded replacement made to the same pattern. We hold no measured Dubai price for any A/C part, so each quote gives every grade it can supply.

The compressor type matters more than the grade. Denso lists three oils: PAG 46 for mechanical compressors on R134a systems, POE for electric compressors on either gas, and a PAG 46 with additives for mechanical compressors on either gas. It says only its specified oil keeps its warranty valid. We give no warranty terms of our own, so we ask whether your compressor is belt-driven or electric and which gas the system takes before a line is priced.

Fins and ports decide the packing. Condensers and evaporators are thin cores of fins that bend under load, so each goes in its own carton with a rigid face and nothing stacked on it. Blower motors and condenser fans are bulky and light, and cabin filters are bulkier still, so a list heavy in filters is billed by volume. Compressors are the dense pieces, and they fill the gaps beside the cores.

Keep every port cap and sealed bag in place until fitting, as Sanden's failure guide advises. Tell your agent before it books if any line is not dry, and ask what divisor it uses for volume: DHL's 2026 UAE guide divides length by width by height in centimetres by 5,000, and other agents differ. Sea groupage is more forgiving of bulk than air, and our cargo-agent page explains how a groupage list is built.

Kenya's East African tariff, in the 2022 edition updated in June 2025, puts complete vehicle air-conditioning units under heading 8415.20, and oil and air filters under heading 8421, in the 25% band, while most other car parts pay 10%. The sources we read do not rate a compressor, a condenser or a cabin filter by name, so your clearing agent classifies those lines. Add Kenya's 2.5% import declaration fee, 2% railway levy and 16% VAT.

Nigeria's import prohibition list, as read in September 2026 from a copy held by its competition regulator, names used compressors, air conditioners and fridge-freezers, which is one reason Nigerian buyers order new. On drive side, our research notes read compressors as units that usually fit right-hand-drive versions of the same model and engine, and name the heater and air-conditioning box as side-specific on some models, so that part is quoted by part number only.

Send the VIN, the engine code, whether the A/C is manual or automatic climate control, and the gas type from the label under the bonnet. For a compressor add the model code from its own label, and say whether it is belt-driven with a clutch, clutchless or electric. Photograph the old compressor's label and connector, and the drier or accumulator if you want it quoted beside it.

A person replies on WhatsApp with each line by grade and brand, a drier and valve suggested beside each compressor, and marks anything that the gas type or the unit's make could not settle. Payment is arranged in that chat, six or more parts make a list, and your agent collects the order in Dubai against the packing list and the certificate of origin.