AC Leak - Pulling my hair out.

[Alex_M]

Hey all! Need some help from someone more experienced with AC work. I have a refrigerant leak that I cannot find. It leaks out every 12-24 hours, so I've been living without air for the most part. I've put UV dye in; couldn't find anything. Put a double shot of dye in; couldn't find anything. Hoping it were a small leak since I couldn't find it with dye, I tried a refill with stop leak. No change, didn't even seem to slow it down much if any. I replaced the high and low side valves, no change. I purchased a sniffer, put a charge in, and I've been going over it for the past hour. Every line, every joint, all over the condenser, around the compressor, in the vents, under the dash, everywhere. The system lost about 5psi while I was searching with the sniffer but I cannot for the life of me find the leak. I did confirm the sniffer works with a controlled leak out of my gauge set.

One piece is that after I have charged the system, if I walk by the passengers side of the truck in the evening I can smell the refrigerant so I expect the leak is somewhere in the engine bay, not under the dash. I am trying to avoid replacing everything just to start fresh, but that is nearly the point I have reached. Any input on better testing methodologies or likely spots to check I may have missed, I would be greatly appreciative.

 

[BattleTank]

Start the engine, run the blower on high and turn off RECIRC. Run a garden hose of water into the vent at the bottom of the windshield for 10 seconds. Shut the hose off. Observe the water coming out of the drain hose on the firewall with your UV light. Any signs of green in the water?

 

[Alex_M]

Having trouble finding my UV light now. Lets assume the answer to that is yes (will confirm once I find the light). What would that point to - evaporator?

 

[BattleTank]

Correct. If the evap was leaking, the dye would be stuck to it, depending on how humid your environment is. Introducing water into the duct system should wash off the dye and flush it out the drain tube.

 

[OR VietVet]

How are you checking for the dye leak? Eyesight only? With a UV light? Have you never noticed where a/c oil would leak out and leave a wet spot? Seepage at the compressor is hard to find sometimes and refrigerant is heavier than air. If you check at connections/seals areas, check at the bottom. Sure sounds like a leak at the evaporator, like @BattleTank was alluding to.

 

[Alex_M]

Wonderful - thank you very much for your help. I'll check it out.

 

[Alex_M]

How are you checking for the dye leak? Eyesight only? With a UV light? Have you never noticed where a/c oil would leak out and leave a wet spot? Seepage at the compressor is hard to find sometimes and refrigerant is heavier than air. If you check at connections/seals areas, check at the bottom. Sure sounds like a leak at the evaporator, like @BattleTank was alluding to.

With UV. Negative, I have not noticed any AC oil. Thank you!

 

[BattleTank]

On another note.... Get yourself a new orifice tube, a can of a/c flush, new PAG oil and new freon. I can't believe they still sell that crap. You need to get that stop-leak out. Many a horror story about it. If you go to a shop and tell them you put it in, they won't touch it because it screws up the machines.

 

[Alex_M]

Understood and good to know - thank you.

 

[louu]

I never had any luck with dye. Go on Amazon and get a referigarant snifer/detector. Their cheap and actually work. Use it to sniff the compressor behind the clutch. Might new the condenser, the condenser on the 2016 and other years around that are known to wear and crack.