AC Leak Testing (write-up in progress, need your help)

Tools -



Leak Detection Kit, freon, reuseable hose and guage. Lawnmower battery? The Leak Detection Kit has a special flashlight powered by a 12 volt battery, rather than it's own internal batteries. Since the Riv's battery is under the back seat, I'll be running the flashlight off the lawnmower battery.



Inside the Leak Detection Kit. The basic idea here is that you inject flourescent dye into the system and watch where it comes out. The kit has a special flashlight and glasses to make the dye easier to spot.

Step 1 - Recharge the AC system

If you've got a leak, chances are your system needs to be recharged before performing the leak test.

To refill your system, first locate the low side pressure port -



Do not attempt refilling in the high side or the freon can will explode in your hand. The high side port is slightly larger than the low side port, and the recharge hose nozzle won't fit on it, so it should be impossible to refill into it by accident.

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Here's where I ran into my first snag -



I can't get my system to recharge into the blue (full) zone. It hovers right at the edge of blue and green. Do these small cans not have enough pressure in them to pump the AC system up to "full?"

One more problem - it's necessary to clear the air out of the syringe before injecting dye into the system. The little fitting in the end of the nozzle (2nd pic) is supposed to make it possible to eject the air only. That ain't happening for me. To make matter's worse, I can't practice to figure out what's going on because a little bottle of that flourescent dye cost $10! Any ideas here?

it's not the size of the can but the pressure behind it. try holding the can upside down when filling and keep the can warm in your hands. shake it a little bit when it feels like it's getting low too. i'm sure you read the instructions, but run the a/c on full cold when filling and checking the pressure. it shouldnt need more than 2 small 134a can to fill er up.

AC was on full cold. The first time I did this, I used one can to get up to that magic blue/green boundary. It wouldn't go past, so I assumed the can was empty. It seemed like it still had some in it when I took the hose off - spewed for quite a while. I put the hose on the 2nd can and filled filled filled. The needle never moved past the blue/green boundary.

IDK maybe the gauge is stuck?

Took another crack at it. Blew $30 on another guage (and a bottle of freon which I ended up not using). The new guage confirmed the 25 psi pressure which is the max I seem to be able to get into the system. I put a can of stop leak/leak detector into it to, but didn't see any leakage after letting it run for 15 minutes.

I tried to put more freon in after that and something in the AC system started making a clacking sound. The instructions for the freon say to stop filling and take the car to a pro if the car won't take more freon. I thought that implied that the car had been filled over the 45 psi max but maybe I was mistaken. Hopefully I haven't screwed anything up!

I think I may see if I can get through the rest of the summer with it and deal with this next year. There are so many things I would rather spend money on than the AC system, and pretty soon I won't need it.

Jack the R wrote:

I tried to put more freon in after that and something in the AC system started making a clacking sound. The instructions for the freon say to stop filling and take the car to a pro if the car won't take more freon. .

What was the "rest of the story ?" This was written in ' 07and there it ends ? What was the "high side" pressure doing ? This sounds like a plugged orifice tube to me and the refrigerant started to back up in liguid form in the high side line until it hit the compressor which was what was causing the clacking. Did the compressor get ruined and have to be replaced ?

Mr.Riviera wrote:

IDK maybe the gauge is stuck?

No - the cans are filled so as not to provide 25-30 psi at STP.

brutusk1 wrote:

Jack the R wrote:

 

I tried to put more freon in after that and something in the AC system started making a clacking sound.  The instructions for the freon say to stop filling and take the car to a pro if the car won't take more freon. .

What was the "rest of the story ?"  This was written in ' 07and there it ends ?  What was the "high side" pressure doing ?  This sounds like a plugged orifice tube to me and the refrigerant started to back up in liguid form in the high side line until it hit the compressor which was what was causing the clacking. Did the compressor get ruined and have to be replaced ?

Leaking compressor. I had it replaced and everything worked fine.