Hi,
I hope some of you guys out there can help me with my daughter’s car. She has a '92 Honda Prelude. I took it about a month ago to get the AC charged back up, and the mechanic added a dye to see where it had a leak. He also replaced some kind of fitting with a solid brass one. He said that he thought that would take care of the problem. Well, everything was O.K. for about 2 weeks. The freon goes out again. I took it back and he looked at it with a special light and the only place he saw any kind of leak was around the new brass fitting he replaced. And he also said that it didn’t look as if that fast of a leak had come out at the fitting. Anyway, he recharged it, at no charge, and told me to come back if there was a problem. Less than 24 hours later, the AC was not cooling again. I took it back and he searched all over the AC system for any signs of a leak but couldn’t find any. He charged it back up again and told me that if it leaked out again he would have to go in the dash and possibly look a radiator or something that is part of the AC. Well, less than 48 hrs. later, the same thing. No air. I am getting ready now to take it back up there, but I wanted to try this website first to see if anyone has any idea what or where the leak could be at. He said that he searched all under the hood but couldn’t see any other place that it could be leaking, especially not that fast. Please help! It is starting to warm up quickly in Georgia. Thanks to anyone who has any answers out there.
Robbin
What he should be using is a refrigerant sniffer. This is a detector that can locate leaks as small as a 1/2 an ounce per year. The leak could be at the evaporator core behind the dash, which a dye won’t reveal. But if he uses a sniffer, and sticks the probe in the vent opening and the thing goes off, that’s where the leak is.
Tester
How many times are you going to take it to the same technician? When asked to define insanity, Einstein said something like insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. You need to find another place to take your car. This air conditioning technician hasn’t proven himself to be competent. Find someone else to fix it.
Thanks for the advice. I just took it yesterday to a different mechanic, and he said that whoever had looked at it must have been blind not to have seen all the leaks it had. What is strange is that when we purchased the car less than 2 yrs. ago from a car lot dealer, the AC was out in it then, but they paid for a new compressor and got it going again. The mechanic told me yesterday that everything was leaking on it - the hoses, the evaporator core, the compressor - just everywhere. Needless to say, it would cost around 1300.00 dollars to get it fixed, so I just told them to close the hood up and not worry about it. So I guess we will be car shopping now. Thanks for all the advice.
Be cautious, you had one mechanic that said no leaks and now a different mechanic that says everything leaks. Sorry to say you need another mechanic to leak test the AC, everything leaking raises flags for me.