Air conditioning R-134a leak -

A/C has been weak - then yesterday totally not there - no cooling at all. Brought it in today - leak in coil - dye coming out of drain hole- guy charged up the system and cooling fine but could not get to leak w/o removing dash he said a seven hour job and thus too big a job for his shop. Only charged me $55.

Advice invited.

 

You can try some magical AC repair guys in a can crap like this stuff from Walmart, and it might (maybe) buy you some time--but if there's dye in the evaporator housing drain most likely there is a leak in the evap coil or plumbing and it will have to be opened up to repair. On many vehicles this is a PITA remove 90% of the dash to do thing; on some there are tricks and shortcuts that make it less of a PITA.

Perhaps someone that's "been there and done it" on a 2nd gen can help?

Four years old is kinda' soon for that to happen, how many miles on the truck, has it lived outdoors a lot (I ask because detritus can collect in the evap housing and make the coil corrode)?

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Oh, I forgot. R-134a is not Freon®, that's the Chemours Dupont Company's trade name for a number of its halocarbon refrigerants (R-12 used in auto AC most notably), Their R-134a halolkane product is registered as SUVA®...

OK, I'm anal--so what?

 

About 57k miles - I have only owned it for a month - no evidence it was ever anything but street driven. Very clean under carriage - vehicle is from Texas - some evidence it saw a lot of dust / sand.

Shop recommended a bigger shop down the street - I will check with them next week - or drive until it leaks out again before doing so?

I have thought I should bring it to a dealer for the 60k service - I hope I don't have to go to them for this.

 

Oh and I edited the title - @cliffyk

 

Do not use that leak sealer crap. It contaminates the entire system. When you do make the repairs, all components of the system will have to be replaced.

The only ones who use that stuff are the ones selling. Once you find out it was used, it's too late.

With that said, the only way to properly repair is to remove the dash. The job is not difficult, but is time costly.

 

If the AC works

Cool...

You know, if topping off the refrigerant lets it work OK for 3 to 4 weeks you might want to consider buying manifold/gauge set and just tossing in a can of R-134a every now and then (also, using a can of the snake-oil [one can] won't hurt anything). We did that with my wife's '89 Celica, converted to R-134 by letting out the R-12 (fshhhhtttttt), load a can of PAG oil, filling it up with R-134, and loading a can whenever it got low--ran it for 3 years that way. , throw a 20% of coupon on it and it's just $48, I have seen it sometimes on sale for $39.99...

 

That manifold is something to think about - I will see how long this recharge holds

 

You don't absolutely have to have the full gauge set to toss in a can of refrigerant, you can get "recharge" kits with a single hose/gauge, but having the manifold/gauges is the right way to do it--and is a good place to start an AC toolset. The only other thing you'll need to do the whole job is a vacuum pump; but HF has those too-- ; it runs great, used it when we installed a new system on our house last year. Just make sure you keep the oil topped off;

$17 FJC 2200 Vacuum Pump Oil - 1 Quart

Amazon is the best place to buy it.

 

I just found my condenser coil leaking, so if I replace the coil do I have to vacuum pump the air out? I'm prob going to end up taking it to the shop just to recharge it, since I prob wont need do that again.

 

Update - the charge lasted a few days - going into the $hop tomorrow for a new evaporator.

 

So both the condensor and evaporator are leaking--bummer, you will want to replace the drier as well--but the AC shop will likely do that.

2013 is awfully new to have both coils go...

 

Two different vehicles