How to Connect Two Low Pressure Aluminum Pipes for Air Conditioner

deemeehaa

Hi there. I have a 1999 Mercury Villager and a few days ago I decided to turn on my A/C, and to my surprise, there was no cold air blowing out. I opened my hood, connected a gauge to the A/C low pressure port, and it indicated that there was no Freon in the system. I drove to my local Walmart and bought a few cans of R-134a. As soon as I started refilling the system, I could hear a hissing sound in the back of my vehicle. At first I thought that my tire popped, but after further inspection, it turns out that there is a tiny hole in the low pressure aluminum pipe for the rear A/C. The "tiny" hole is able to empty all the Freon in the A/C system in about 25 min.

Patching the pipe is not an option because a good portion of the pipe is corroded. Patching it would only cause problems in the future. I originally wanted to replace the entire low pressure pipe going from the rear evaporator to the compressor, but I was unable to find the pipe online. Then, I figured that I could just cut out the portion of the pipe that is bad and replace it with store bought aluminum pipe (same size and thickness). I have the tools to bend the aluminum pipe, but I don't know how to connect the two aluminum pipes together.

This brings me to my question. How do I properly connect the two pipes together? Should I braise the two pipes together? Should I use some kind of coupling?

Thanks You in advance!

***** Below are some photos to help you better understand the situation *****

Picture of how I want to cut the pipe



Another view of how I want to cut the pipe



The Hole