Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

If you have a leak, which it sounds like you do. Constantly putting refrigerant in isnt going to do you any good. Automotive AC systems have so many joints that can leak that they just plain suck to work on. Done that for a living the last 20 years. It always seemed unless the leak was obvious, you just kept chasing it for years on some vehicles. I cant tell you how many vehicles I have had come into my bay that customers said werent blowing cold air (which they werent) and you evacuated and pulled a vacuum on them, noticed that they also held a vacuum, then charged them to where they were supposed to be and still never found any leaks.

Most refrigerant oils, if not all of them now, have dye already in them. So if you have access to black lights and yellow glasses, you can use them to locate leaks throughout the system. Check all the spots where AC lines connect to eachother or another component in the system. Also look around joints for any buildup of oil that would indicate a leak. An AC "sniffer" leak detector tool is the better tool for this sort of thing though, especially for checking if an evap inside the dash is leaking. Also dont forget that a compressor clutch can leak through the front seal on the compressor itself. The last Burb I fixed AC on had rear AC as well but that was a 92. Rear lines were shot.