A/C leak stop opinions

johndeeregreg · Jul 15, 2015

hi everyone. my 96 chevy 1 ton has a slow leak in the a/c, i haven't spent to much time trying to hunt it down, but it holds a vacuum for a while,
seems like it might have dropped some overnight, that was a year ago i had it in vacuum. I just had it at 100psi for 30 min and it might have
dropped 3 or 4 pounds.

truck mostly gets used on short hauls with the water hauler tending the sprayer, so we can usually get by with out it, but it would be nice to have
working ac for that and other times when the truck goes out on longer trips. i have charged it with Freon and it seems like it worked for 2 or 3
days.

so my question is if anyone has an opinion on the a/c leak stop stuff that you can get and if any is better than the other?

thanks

Bob · Jul 16, 2015

tractorguy2 · Jul 16, 2015

Don't use it. It causes all kinds of problems. Also very hard on ac equipment.

gab · Jul 16, 2015

Death sentence on whats left of the a/c.

mite-help · Jul 16, 2015

what about the detector dye only. [blacklight] ok to use?

Super Trucker · Jul 16, 2015

Not a good idea. It plugs the orifice tube in the expansion valve. Check the condenser on the front of the truck for a impact hole. Then start going to the connection points and then the seal on the front of the compressor. soapy water will work for a leak detector.

Bob · Jul 17, 2015

If you have the least bit of respect for anyone that may in the future connect their gauges or recovery equipment to your leaky junk, the answer is NO to nasty sticky slimy dye.

showcrop · Jul 17, 2015

A friend in auto repair told me to go ahead and use it on my tractor. A year later I had a much more expensive repair because the receiver-dryer was plugged up and had to be replaced.

willie in mn · Jul 17, 2015

That's not a slow leak if a charge lasts only a few days. A slow leak will hold charge for 3 to 6 months.
Willie

glennster · Jul 17, 2015

i'd nix the stop leak. if you can visually locate the leak or find it with soapy water (check the charging ports, they can leak also) see if you can beg , borrow or steal an electronic leak sniffer. you'll drop at least 150 for a decent one. another option is a dye shot leak detector kit from any auto part store. napa has em for about 30 or so dollars. a small can of dye, pair of yellow glasses and an uv flashlight. charge the system, give it a quick dye shot and then run the ac system. in a day or so, pull the truck in the shade, don the spacy looking special yellow glasses and go over the system with the flashlight. the dye will fluoresce at the leak. right after shooting the dye in, clean up around the fill port to remove any spilled dye so you dont get a false reading.

john in la · Jul 18, 2015

Dye has it's place especially when dealing with intermittent leaks.

The problem with dye is most add to much to start with thinking more is better;
And some techs the first thing they do is add dye to a system when all they had to do was break out the black light because another tech had add dye 2 years earlier when fixing a different problem.

I think some manufactures are even adding dye on the assembly line.
But that may have more to do with the training of their warranty techs than a promotion to how good dye is.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Jul 19, 2015

A/C stop leak ranks down there with Scotch Locks. I'd like to kick the guy who invented both in the "you know whats". You can buy refrigerant with dye in it already. Charge it with one of those. If it only works for a couple days it's got a big leak. You can probably see where it's leaking from the oil buildup.

ASEguy · Jul 20, 2015

Amen.

A/C leak stop opinions

johndeeregreg

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Bob

Well-known Member

tractorguy2

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gab

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mite-help

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Super Trucker

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Bob

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showcrop

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willie in mn

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glennster

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john in la

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Brian Jasper co. Ia

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ASEguy

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