Never mind my previous post: 02 Sonata GLS A/C leak found in compressor, bad o-ring?

Not too surprising. Seals tend to fail more from age than use and 10 years on a piece of neoprene or rubber is a fair bit of time, especially in a part that operates at a fairly high temperature like an AC compressor.

Matt

When I had a leak in the AC system, my mechanic added a UV material into the system, then took a UV light and found the leak immediately...no guessing. And it was similar to your problem--a leak at the back of the compresor (and a 9 year old vehicle)

The AC on my '01 Buick went over the winter. Many auto AC units start having leaks at about 6 to 10 years. Use matters little, time matters a lot. In fact, many AC guys say to be sure and kick it on even in the winter for a couple of minutes to keep the lube in the system and seals from drying.

I have other issues with the Buick climate control so it will not be fixed. It gets driven a few hundred miles a year at best.

Fortunately, most modern cars use the AC to aid in defrosting so if you use defrost mode in the winter there is a good chance that you are exercising your AC system.

Matt

I guess not. Same thing my mechanic told me. But the litany of complaints from him about the cheap Chinese garbage that they make these compressors out of doesn't help either. He used a can of the sealer stuff along with the recharge but he says not to hold my breath and be prepared to buy a new compressor if it fails to seal. I managed to find a new one on Amazon (Four Seasons 58185) for $305 new which is dirt cheap compared to what Autozone / Advanced / O'Reillys wants ($500-600). I can't even imagine what an OEM from Hyundai would run me. Thanks for the reply.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

Yup, my mechanic told me about the UV stuff but said it was how the shops do it. He had the pressure testing equipment and such to do it but no UV stuff so it only appeared after the recharge. Now, time will tell if the sealant stuff will do any good. Seems to be a small leak so who knows. Cheers.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

It's funny because my wife's 98 Corolla still blows freezing cold air like the day it rolled off the line. Well, probably not but you know what I mean. Maybe in 98 they were still using better quality stuff than 2000 and up models. My mechanic blames the cheap Chinese junk these things are made with. He told me in the past months he's replaced 10 compressors on various makes of cars and all the replacement compressors are Chinese made.

I did use the A/C over the winter too for defrosting so if the leak was there, it probably happened some time after that. Thanks for the reply.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

I had my eye checked for a leak recently. They injected UV dye into my vein and then started taking pictures. When I took a pee, the toilet bowl was glowing all green. The surprising part was that the sides of the bowl up to the rim way glowing - that stuff goes all over the place. Anyway, I think the docs should have warned me about that. :-)

What they should have warned you about was hanging around places that have black lights in their bathrooms!!

Matt

Not to make you feel bad, but so does my 94 Chevy truck! No idea where its compressor was made, but its cast aluminum wheels have China cast into them and they have held up pretty well. :-)

Matt

I had that done for pics of my retina. Kinda pretty lime green. I think I saw the color on an old Plymouth once!

If everybody had glowing pee, you wouldn't need lights in bathrooms.

I think you're right about that color. I once checked out an RX-2 station wagon that was lime green. That car was kinda goofy and oddly designed so the color fit the general nature of the car. When I saw there was a fluorescent green shag rug in the shape of a big footprint in the back, I knew that I would buy the car. That thing was pretty fast for a hideous little Japanese station wagon. I wish I had that rug. :-)

Oops, make that an RX-3 wagon.

Except that UV dye doesn't glow...

You're right but gosh, so picky! :-)

"dsi1" wrote

Good thing you didn't pee in the pool when swimming

My guess is that being able to pee anti-freeze would make a fine Penn & Teller routine and would blow everyone's minds. They'd never be able to figure out how it's really done! :-)

It's pretty hard to hard to beat up cast aluminum rims though. No o-rings to go bad on those though. ^_^ Cheers.