1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

lech auto air conditionin

IMAG0424.jpg

2007 Prius common leak. I just recharged this Prius 6 months ago and I can tell you the condenser did not look like this. The prius taxi after many mile the condenser is one of the first places to look and many times you will need to use a electronic leak detector set on vary sensitive level. After filling I retest knowing after a full charge when you can drive up your high side pressure and heat the condenser you have a better chance to find a leak. Even if I fine a small leak, I notify the customer if the leak gets larger later and you repeatedly let your refrigerant run low you increase your chance of burning up your compressor. Some times the customer is vary unlucky and the compressor burns on the first time. The Anatomy of Leaks: Weather it be water, air, gas, oil, or refrigerant and exhaust from the engine, leaks do not always leak. Some are dependent on vibration, movement or harmonics, temperature change up or down. pressure change up or down, rotation ie centrifugal force ( G force ) . example a tire, you can have a nail in a tire some times you can see it some times its buried in the rubber. there is the nail that leaks only when the tire is rotating then stop when still. There is the leak that only leaks when your tire is stopped on top of the nail and the one that leaks all the time. Same goes for A/C refrigerant. Some leaks will only leak when the system is full and can develop a high side hot pressure of 200+PSI then the a/c system will lose it charge down to a pressure , lets say for example of 150 PSI then stop. The a/c system is half empty and can no longer develop a high pressure so the leak stops or greatly slow down. This can happen in a matter of days and some times leave no sign of a leak no oil no dye then the other half of the refrigerant can take 6 months to a year to leak out. I have came across this many times over the last 30+ years. This is only one of many scenarios. PS. By the way when I recharged this to test the system for any other obvious leaks and that the compressor was still working the high Pressure was 157PSI on a 62 degree day way to high and there was no metal in the sock or filter screen, the compressor was making a little more noise then normal but working good. so what was causing the restriction in the condenser? The condenser is the first filter . After changing the condenser the PSi was back down to 98 PSI, And when I blow backwards through the condenser only some small pieces of metal came out the rest are stuck in the tiny inner tubes before they can reach the sock or filter.

IMAG0424.jpg