A/C blowing hot in 2001 Prius

So the A/C freon/?? is leaking out of my 2001 Prius. Two questions....

1. The first time I took it to the mechanic for the A/C, which was blowing hot, they put in $120 of freon/??, and said it was fixed. The A/C stopped working after a few uses. When I returned, they said they hadn't used dye to check for leaks, they'd used a "sniffer", so they would use dye this time for free. The found the leak. Should they have used dye the first time, or is this a common practice? They say the leak is small enough that it couldn't be detected using the first method.

2. Are there gaskets that could be replaced around the compressor? Is this a job a mechanic would do, or would they all just want to replace the part (I'm told it's attached to the radiator, and will cost over $700 in parts to replace both parts -seriously? who makes a car like that?). Or is it possible to use the kits in the auto parts stores that add some sealant and recharge? I read posts about the Gen II Prius warning against this, but nothing about the A/C in the Gen 1 - are they the same?

I'm not trained in air conditioner work but I know it takes certification and they are required to minimize freon loss.

We'd need a better description of the parts involved. However, the NHW11 radiator has both the air conditioner condenser built-in with the coolant core. This is a pretty expensive part.

Bob Wilson

If they put in $120 worth of freon I think you might be paying a bit much...
#1, the system uses R134a.
#2, Last I looked the system hold less than two $15 cans of R134...

For $120, (especially if they didn't do any leak checking) I'm thinking they charged you about $100/hr+ for the time it took to vacuum and charge the system even though it probably involved about 15 minutes of their time...

Levi