Hi Group,
My wife's car has a slow A/C leak. We've had it at the dealer 3 times over the past 5 years and they keep telling us that it's fixed, yet every spring I have to recharge the system.
She just purchased 2 cans of R134A and one of them says "With Leak Sealer".
I'm checking with you experts to see if anyone has ever used this. Is it safe?
Thanks,
Dave
'72 mach1
The refrigerant with leak sealer is probably safe for use in your car.... however, most shops will refuse to hook their expensive AC recovery machine to a system containing sealer. If the leak stop doesn't work as advertised, you may be left with no shop that will work on the system...
I have had some success with slow leaks by pressurizing the system to 100 PSI or so using nitrogen and using soapy water to leak test the joints... This is, of course after a very close inspection.... the refrigerant will often carry minute amounts of oil with it and can sometimes act as a tattletale...
just have them put some dye in with some oil, it will show up fast. this is what is normally done with slow leak. check with UV lite, after running a while hope you are putting in oil too if you doing it yourself, cause that is leaking out too. the oil gets blown around through the system with the freon Good luck.
I don't know if new cars work the same as the old so far as refrigerent and compressors go, but one handy trick for those from the muscle car era is to use the AC a little bit every month, even in winter which--according to one mechanic I talked to on it--helps to keep the refrigerent from leaking out. (I'm guessing it helps keep the seals tight? Anyway, that was his trick, which he claimed worked well on his vehicles.)
On May 27, 7:27 am, vince garcia wrote: one handy trick for those from the muscle car
Starting in the late 60's and early 70's, (almost 40 years ago) car companies hooked the AC compressor to run every time you use the defroster, with a few exceptions of course. It takes the moisture out air so the windows don't fog up. I guess if you own a muscle car built before that it's a little something extra to remember.
The correct way for you to check this is to have them draw down a vacuum and then lock it down and hold it. Since you have been having this recurring problem, I would want to see ZERO pressure rise in 30-60 minutes. If it can't achieve that there is a leak. Not a little rise, ZERO rise in pressure, if there is a little rise, you have a little leak, and next year you will need another recharge. often the tell tale signs of the connection with the leak is the one with the gunk build-up around it.
It really is not rocket science, I have mixed and matched many different years air-condition components and hoses on the same cars, (92 serpentine fuel injected system into an 82 body) and sealed them all together with many years of leak free service. I have been blessed to have access to a nice dual recovery /recycle/deep vacuum/charge testing machine.
If there is a leak, the only true fix is to locate the leak and replace the offending seal.
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