what tools do i need for an ac leak?

Save yourself a lot of time and just bring it to a good ac shop.
They'll inject dye and enough refreigerant to get the compressor running and then they'll sniff the ac system and confirm the leak by UV light.
Hopefully just a loose fitting and not damaged condenser or leaking ecoil under dash. Around here the test is $100 or so.
Must be a million ac joints in Arizona.

There's 2 million videos on YouTube and 3 million ads for ac leak detection.

 

If that's the case, wouldn't your time be better spent researching a few A/C places near you for those that have good customer reviews?

 

AC is NOT something that untrained techs (people) should work on. It is VERY tempting due to the potential for high repair costs, but you should NEVER EVER recharge a low system unless the source of the leak is found and repaired. That type of work on a hybrid requires about $6k worth of dedicated AC equipment due to them requiring special AC oil.

*Can* you top off a slightly low AC system with R134a and get away with it? Yep. Should you? No.

My suggestion is to do your homework as you suggest and go to a local Toyota Dealer with a good reputation for the repairs.

 

A lot of homework needed here. The question about the proper compressor oil is the least of it.

Basically, you first need to figure out where the leak is coming from.

Once that is understood, and given you do that homework, then it may become obvious what tools are needed to replace the failed part. If the leak is not visible via use of UV dye then it is probably due to a leak in the evaporator, hidden behind the dashboard, and that will be extremely tiresome to get to.

It will be reasonably costly to gear up to do this repair, so it may not be economic unless you plan to do such repairs several times to amortize the cost of the vacuum pump, manifold gauges, etc.