How can you find a leak in the Refrigerant (sp?) lines? The freon is all gone in my a.c. lines, and the compressor will not activate because of this. The previous owner said there was a leak in the lines. Is there anyway to check where the leak is? thanks for any advice.

 

theres a few ways but not for the home mechanic because you need special tools. what we do in the shop is we will evacuate all the refrigerant out of the system then put a vaccum on it and see if it will hold that vaccum for a day, if it does then you dont have leaks and we just recharge it. If the vaccum is lost then we have different ways of detecting the leak. For example we can recharge the system then go around with a leak detector that can smell the leak and will beep when it passes under the leak. Or we can add a dye into the system that will be only visible to UV light which will glow when it leaks out. Or we have a spray that we spray all over the lines and will bubble when we find a leak- just how you find leaks from a tire. you can try that method at home by using a spray bottlw with a soap and water solution but its only good for the parts you can see so you cant really find any leaks in places that you cant spray.

 

Well said, couldn't have said it better. In other words "Take it to the shop" and hurry summer is coming

 

taking it to the shop is the best option. Just tell em to evacuate it, if it holds pressure they will charge it right up but make sure they use some UV dye. If your lucky it will last a while, if you gotta leak you will be back within a matter of few days to a week or so (depends on the size of the leak) Just hope its a hose and not something like the old compressor which is not gonna be cheap. One more tip, when doing A/C I highly suggest you dont use used, or rebuilt parts. From what ive seen the used parts guys end up coming back 75% more ofter for A/C repairs in the long run the guys who get the New parts. Pay a little more now or pay alot later, that is how the A/C goes. No cuttin corners on A/C repairs.

 

actually the vaccum for a day thing is used and means there isnt anymore refridgerant in the system... go ask your instructor, he'll clarify for you, but you got the right concept down...

 

I don't want to intrude on this thread, but I have an A/C problem. During highway driving the A/C seems to flutuate. I can tell because the air gets really humid sometimes and it's the type of smell after you turn off the A/C but leave the fans going. Not 100% sure, but during local driving a/c works perfect.

Any suggestions? should I take it to a shop? I lived through it since last year, but I really want to get this problem corrected (I've posted about this before but I couldn't fix it).

thanks!

 

I see what your saying but even when theres still some refrigerent in the system we will still evacuate whats remaining and vaccum it down 30 min to a complete vaccum if no leaks were found other methods.

 

your right, you still evacuate the system to get the moisture and refridgerant out and put in new refridgerant. its not used a s a method to find leaks. im ASE certified in AC system. if you ever take the AC ASE test, youll see a question simlar to this in the test, according to your answer...youll get it wrong.

 

ok ic ic I didnt sign up for the ase this year