mortymower

I went to have my A/C charged after having the engine out (AC didn't work when I bought the car so I wanted to see where it leaked). He first charged it with nitrogen to make sure it would hold pressure and it was hisssing out of the front of the engine bay. We determined that the leak was in the condenser fittings. I have a condenser to instal but my question is once I get it installed can I just hook up my air compressor to my A/C lines and pump some air in to see if it leaks, or does it have to be nitrogen.

austin944

A web search reveals the following info about nitrogen testing:

http://www.autoactraining.com/artman...ticle_99.shtml
"Nitrogen is dry, therefore you are not adding any contaminants to the A/C system."

If you use your air compressor, you are surely going to be pumping contaminants into your A/C system, so I would advise against it.

Reimu

So how much did it cost to see where it leaked? I've gotta get mine fixed this spring, I don't think I can survive another summer like that.

mortymower

Well I just asked him to charge it, and he tried to pull a vac on it and that failed so he pumped it with N and we could just hear it hissing, and we felt around and could feel it escaping at the fittings. He charged me 20$ because I am a friend, but I think even if you are not a friend it would be between 30-50$ max.

tk's944

They also have little cans of stuff you pump into the system that you can see leaking with a fluorescent light.

That is do it your self, most of the time it comes with a kit that includes all the fittings and pressure gauges.

It works really good you just fill it up with the stuff then turn off the lights in the garage and use the fluorescent light to find the leak.