does anyone know of a way to test your A/C system for where, not if, your leak is comming from. I've seen these UV light reactive pastes that u dump in to the ac system. But that seems like it would take a long ass time to work. Does anyone have any ideas?! i'm stumped

 

Ah yes...good old "messy" as we call the stuff. It's mainly used for slow leaks, that's why "it would take a long ass time to work." Our kit is basically a fitting over the high side port and a syringe like assembly where you inject dye into the system and basically let a customer drive the car for a while, have them come back and by using ultra-violet light (sometimes yellow glasses will work also, without the light), you search all lines, and components for leaks.

The only other method of detecting leaks is to use a halide detector, and move it about fittings, lines, and components. When I look for leaks, I look around first to try and locate a buildup or oily residue around any of the a/c system components, then start from there and go around everything in the system.

The old refrigerant (not Halide detectors) are pieces of sh*t in my opinion, the damn buzzer goes off, even when you first turn it on away from the vehicle. Hell I've played around by turning it on when I placed the probe near another tech's rear end and the thing just screams refrigerant leak...that's about the only thing they are good for...hehe. :chuckles: