Hybrid ac uv dye

Maintenance/Repairs
21

@"“Rod Knox”

I have 2 amusing stories to tell, regarding leaking evaporators

One time, I was working on an older vehicle with low refrigerant charge. None of the visible components . . . hoses, lines, txv, condenser, compressor . . . were visibly leaking. And the sniffer didn’t react to them, in any case. I had a suspicion that the evaporator was leaking. My sniffer . . . this one, I believe

http://www.cpsproducts.com/product/leak-detection-seeker-LS790B/

indicated the evaporator was leaking. The other guys were very skeptical, because many of them had bad experiences with that exact model. Indicating a leak, where there was none, or not reacting to a green compressor

In any case, I got the upsell. Sure enough, the evaporator was a goner. It had been leaking badly, and had accumulated quite a bit of dirt. So bad, you could hardly see it, underneath the crud

But that sniffer also let me down plenty of other times

The other story . . . a customer comes in complaining of ac not blowing cold. And he also CLEARLY stated he wanted the car gone over, front to back, top to bottom. He wanted to know everything that was wrong, and wanted estimates to repair. To be fair, the car looked exceptionally clean. Glossy paint, expensive Michelin tires of the correct type, not Costco specials. He had only genuine Benz parts on the entire car.

I found a few minor things wrong, and prepared an estimate.

I also recharged the ac and injected dye. I let the car idle, while I was preparing my estimates for the other things. Soon enough, there was a bright green puddle under the car . . . right underneath where the evaporator drain tube was. I raised the car and the tube was dripping green dye. I also quickly removed the blower motor to get a look at the evaporator. It was glowing green.

When the customer got hold of the estimate, he APPEARED to go ballistic. I watched the whole thing, and I can tell you with 100% certainty, that it was staged. Completely fake. I watched his face, and listened to what he was saying. It was clear he had rehearsed his BS game earlier. He said his car is in excellent shape, and how dare we imply his car needs any work. He got the service manager involved, and he told me I wouldn’t be getting paid for my ac diagnosis and inspection of the car. In spite of the fact the customer had agreed to all of this in writing. When shown his signature at the bottom of the paper, he said he didn’t sign it. In any case, I lost out, and the customer left with a list of everything that his car needed. I have no doubt this POS went to another shop and had all of the work done, for a much lower price.

Price shopping is one thing, but calling honest people liars, when YOU are in fact the liar, is another thing entirely :cold_sweat:

22

To be honest, the cost of the hybrid dye is a turn off. Several bucks for every dose.

The dye used to find leaks is profit center, like anything else. The cost of the materials used in a repair are marked up and charged to the customer, just like the refrigerant for the A/C system or the fluid for a power steering repair. Since you’re in a fleet maintenance shop, I assume you have a method of charging the city/state/whatever for consumables you use in the shop?

As for sniffer leak detectors, I too had several over the years until I found the Inficon Tek-Mate. Best leak detector out there.

23

It’s been several years since I last tried a ‘latest and greatest’ sniffer @asemaster and no doubt improvements have been made since then that I’ll never have the opportunity to see first hand but the UV die was such an indisputable and certain indicator that I just quit trying the sniffers. My approach to the AC leak problem with fleet vehicles was to add the die the first time I serviced a vehicle. In bulk the die was quite cheap and with 1 oz of oil in an oil charger the die could be added in just a few short minutes. And the fleets that I was lucky enough to service had managers who saw eye to eye with me. They all looked at the long range picture for avoiding down time. Most people lean more toward “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

24

@asemaster

I have 2 choices . . .

Buy my own hybrid ac uv dye injection/leak detection kit. I’ll claim the tool as a tax write off, as I always do. The idea of spending money on tools doesn’t bother me, because I spend thousands every year. The thought of finding the best dye injection kit FOR ME is bothersome, because I’ll have to do a little research.

Tell my supervisor to submit a request for such a kit

Trust me, the second option is like pulling teeth. My boss doesn’t have a problem doing these things, but it’s got to go through so many people . . . by the time the tool actually arrives at the shop, more than a year may have passed. The problem is nobody is eager to do paperwork, and that’s probably why it takes too much time to get certain things done

By the way, uview has NOT responded to my email. Just as I suspected they wouldn’t. I’m not going to call a non-toll free number in Canada. Since I’m getting conflicting information, to a degree, anyways, I’ll assume that dye in the link I posted is NOT really safe for hybrid ac systems.

25

@“Rod Knox”

I also take your approach, whenever it’s practical to do so

If there is no obviously visible leak, and the sniffer does not react to anything, I recharge and add dye. Vehicles get scheduled services every 4K/6 months, whichever comes first. If it’s leaking at a decent rate, more than likely something will be visibly green next time the truck comes in for service. And I also put a sticker in the engine compartment, stating that uv dye was added. That way, the next guy knows he can use his black light and yellow glasses. The next guy might be me.

26

About spending money on tools db4690, I wore a nice satin Snap-On Racing jacket with my name monogrammed on the back to an antique/classic car show recently and when someone asked me what it cost I told them $6,000 and they didn’t believe me. Little did they know what it likely did costme. I feel sure that there was never a year from 1981 until 2005 that I didn’t spend $6,000+ with Snap-On and my rep gave away some great stuff at Christmas.

27

@“Rod Knox”

My average has been at least $5000 on tools per year. That’s including stuff off of the truck, ebay used tool purchases, sears, and online tool vendors

Even the years that I don’t buy a scanner or a tool box, it’s not gone down

I feel if I didn’t buy some used snap on tools via ebay, the amount I spend could be far higher

If I see something on the truck that looks promising, but I don’t need it right away, I often wait to get it cheap via ebay

28

The local Snap-On tools distributor was good at staying ahead of the curve in the tool trade @db4690. I recall tearing into a Ford steering column years ago and running into tamper proof torx bolts and while no one else had heard of them Snap-On went out of his way to get the the bits to me that day but they were not cheap. And Snap-On bought out Sun Equipment which was always a pricey product line with scanners and the Vantage pseudo scope which took the rocket science out of operating a lab scope and were price competitive with the Tech scopes.

29

I’m pretty loyal to Snap-On too. Aside from the quality of the tools being far and away superior to anything else out there, I’ve found that their service is top-notch. If I want something that’s not on the truck, my dealer will have it dropped shipped to me directly. If I need something new or warranteed to finish a job that’s in the shop my dealer will go out of his way to get it to me immediately. Years ago when I was switching jobs the Snap-On dealer moved my toolboxes across town for nothing, even though I was moving out of his territory.

My current Snap-On dealer will occasionally start looking through my toolbox and cart, looking for tools that may appear worn so he can warranty them out before I even notice. Who else gives service like that?

The price for Snap-On may seem a little high, but the cost is actually quite low.

30
The price for Snap-On may seem a little high, but the cost is actually quite low.

If you’re a professional mechanic…then Snap-On is the way to go. As a backyard mechanic with pretty reliable vehicles…my tools don’t get used any where close to a professional mechanics…so my Craftsman and Husky have suited me well. But I do have a couple 40yo Snap-On ratchets. I also have a Husky 3/8" socket set that’s even older.