My Freeus has an AC leak, and I want to find it. I haven't spotted any obvious oil at a connection, it will hold a vacuum for a few minutes, but leaks down when charged within a couple of days.
I can't find any dye that's useable with the ND-11 oil that this system uses. My buddy has a sniffer but it's unreliable, either it pings wildly at any place in the engine compartment or, sometimes, nowhere.
I replaced the condenser, dryer, and one of the lines with a hose in it about 1.5 years ago. There are only two lines with a hose section, so I'm halfway inclined to buy the other one, replace a bunch of o-rings, and see if it holds a charge.
Tips, tricks, cheap sniffers that work, (?). I'm open to suggestions.
Will it help if I call it a Challenge project? (I'd be lying, but hey, I did get it for free...)
:-D
How are the valves themselves? Any obvious leaks there (i.e. signs of oil). I had a slow leak in our old '05 Honda Odyssey that turned out to be one of the schraeder valves. I was able to replace it cheaply after I bought the appropriate tool (that wasn't cheap) that allowed me to change the valve w/o losing R134a. EDIT: I think this was the tool I used: https://www.amazon.com/MASTERCOOL-58490-Universal-Remover-Installer/dp/B00069V310/ref=asc_df_B00069V310/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312026024613&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15382770488281532452&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003349&hvtargid=pla-568174171806&psc=1
In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :
I did listen for a hiss when I pulled the plastic caps off of 'em.. and didn't hear/see anything. I'll check them again. I can pull them right now without worrying, since it's lost its charge anyway. One of the valves was in the line I replaced last year, so it was new then at least.
I think Friday I'm going to get it up on the lift and get the bright lights out. The compressor is on the bottom front of the engine, hard to see without getting it in the air.
When my valve was leaking, I could see some oily residue when I popped the cap off. Not the most scientific test, but in my case I was lucky and it was obvious.
Figured I'd update this for posterity. Did some looking with bright lights, couldn't really see oil residue anywhere. Bought a new sniffer and the only hit we got was at the low side service port. Put a new schrader valve in there, pulled a vacuum, which it held for ~30 minutes. Charged again, blowing cold now. Guess we'll see...
