Diy ac repair question

[pshabou]

What is going on everyone, beautiful lazy Friday and its 80 out.

I charged the AC today, ICE COLD AIR....Obviously I was out of freon so there has to be a leak somewhere, it is not just going to vanish. I charged it up with the r134a Auto Zone brand, they had a deal 2 for 20 without the hose, I had a hose laying around for a different car. Charged it up to 45psi.

I'm dealing with a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix, it was working fine last summer, but was hot this summer. I would like to repair what I can with the AC, what are some cheap things that I CAN do, basically where are the o-rings that everyone talks about, are they just the 2 o rings at the compressor? I am sure that I will have to take it to the shop and find the leak, but before that would like to see if I can eliminate the leak with a simple solution.

Thank You guys!
Paul

[BillBoost37]

O rings are cheap. But find the leak. Look for it like you would any other leak.

[J57ltr]

Charge it with a can of R134 with the ultraviolet dye in it, then buy a black light bulb from walmart, just the regular CFL style and find the leak. Common leaks I have found are the actual schrader valves and the compressor just behind the clutch. You also need to be able to read the high side as well 40-45 is good for low side but being able to read both will tell you more about the system as a whole. If you end up with sky high high side pressures you could end up with other issues too.

Jeff

[Impala131]

Charge it with a can of R134 with the ultraviolet dye in it, then buy a black light bulb from walmart, just the regular CFL style and find the leak. Common leaks I have found are the actual schrader valves and the compressor just behind the clutch. You also need to be able to read the high side as well 40-45 is good for low side but being able to read both will tell you more about the system as a whole. If you end up with sky high high side pressures you could end up with other issues too.

Jeff

I did this same thing for my old GTP, I bought a kit with the UV die, blacklight, and tinted glasses to help you see the dye. Works best to look for the dye at night. In my case, I had a compressor leak and there was dye all over my hood and belt system. Hopefully you will have something easy.

[J57ltr]

That dye can be a PITA, but I think it's worth it. It gets all over my gauges, but I have old house towels that I use for cleaning up. At night using the CFL that stuff lights up like the fourth of July, the ones that use LED's are pretty good too as long as you get the right wavelength. Incandescent "black lights" don't work at all, so avoid those.

Jeff

[HighOctaneRacing]

NAPA sells o-rings kit specific to your car. It has every o-ring for your ad system not that you need every one. Also they have genuine due kits with a UV light. 45 psi??? The system takes less than 2 IIRC

[J57ltr]

It all depends on temperature. You cannot tell how much freon is in a system just by low side pressure.

Jeff