You probably leak your car air conditioner if it isn’t able to cool enough the interior of your car. Suspecting a leak in your car air conditioner but can’t find out where it is? In this article, we’ll discuss how to find a leak in car air conditioner. Accordingly, we’ll also talk about the ways to fix this problem. With that, let’s get into straight steps to find and fix out your car air conditioner.
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How To Find A Leak In Car Air Conditioner
To find a leak in a car’s air conditioner, you can try using a UV dye kit, which can help you locate the source of the leak. You can also try using a soapy water solution and look for bubbles, which can indicate a leak. If you cannot locate the leak, a mechanic might be able to help diagnose and repair the issue.
Other Methods To Find A Leak In Car Air Conditioner
Leak in a car air conditioner could occur in various components. Before learning ways to fix this problem, you should know how to find them. Here we discuss the most common used method to detect a leak in the car air conditioner.
Visual Inspection
First of all, you can visually inspect the condition of your car AC’s components. Car air conditioning includes compressor, condenser and refrigerant lines.
Check out all of them to find any residue of oil or refrigerant. Most probably, this is the most rapid and simple method so you may not skip it. This is because you can easily find a leak just with a visual check.
This is an effective method to detect slow leaks when there is no serious damage. But, when you don’t find anything, the possibility is the leaks are unnoticeable. They can’t be detected under your naked eye, so you should go further.
Soap Solutions
If the visual inspection didn’t get any leaks, then you can simply use soap method. Firstly, you have to make a thick soap solution and fill it up within a water spray bottle. Also fully charge the AC system and then spray the solution over the components. If there are any leaks, the leaking gas will form bubbles with foam in areas of leaks. This method works well if the leak isn’t too small.
Dye Method
Whenever none of these two methods work well, then it’s the moment for the dye method. Usually, this is the most common method used in car shops. First, you have to mix a UV dye within the refrigerant for this method. The dye illuminates under UV light when it is mixed up into the refrigerant. You will be able to spot them once there are any leaks here. If you didn’t notice anything, therefore you have to go to the following method.
Leak Detector
The refrigerant leak detector (freon sniffers) detects the chemical of the refrigerant to find leaks on air condition. Leak detectors prevent you from testing via the soap solution or dye methods. This device is particularly effective when the suspected leak is far away from your view.
In maximum cases, you will possibly know where the leak is by the refrigerant leak detector (freon sniffer). So, you can buy a best refrigerant leak detector to look for leaks in your car air conditioning system.
Here are our recommended best leak detectors that help you to spot your leaks.
- Elitech WJL-6000 Freon Leak Detector Halogen Leak Detector
- Fieldpiece Heated Diode Refrigerant Leak Detector
Hopefully, these tools will help you to find out where the leak is. When you notice any leaks, you have to fix the problem.
How to Fix a Leak in Car Air Conditioner – Ways to Fix This Problem
Finding a leak in car air conditioning can be difficult. But once you notice it, you have to take an approach to fix it. Hopefully, there are some ways to fix a leak in a car air conditioner system.
Leak sealer
When the leak is small, you can simply stop it by using a leak sealer. So, you can use a leak sealer to fix small leaks in your car air conditioning system. Leak sealers are very simple to use and always cost-effective. They will interact with moisture condensing at the leak spot and solidifies upon interaction.
Using leak sealer is a cost-effective rapid and simple method to fix the small leak. Here are our recommended best leak sealers for you.
But, take into consideration that, a leak sealer will not stop the large leak. So, once they do not work as you expect, you have to replace the damaged part to solve the problem.
Replace Bad Parts
Replacing the bad parts will be one of the best options without any doubt. You don’t face any problem especially when you address an expert one.
Although, you have to spend some money on new parts and install them in your car. Some tools will be required but there are many reasonable options on Amazon. Particularly when you’re in the fixed budget but trying to find out the best tools to fix your problems. Here are our suggested best tools and parts needed to resolve a large leak.
Meet The Mechanic
Finally, the last option is to take your car to a mechanic and allow him to fulfil the repairs for you. This will be the most suitable option for most of the people. Because everybody will not be able to detect the AC leaks and fix their own.
When you’re addressing an expert, most importantly you don’t have to find out the leaks yourself. The mechanic will find out the leak in your car air conditioner and solve it.
In Summary:
When you can’t find anything under the naked eye, you can use a soap solution or dye to detect the leak. There are also reasonable refrigerant leak detectors which easily sniff out the leaking spot. Always remember that finding a leak in the car air conditioner is dependent on yourself.
Likewise, solving the problem is also, depending on the types of leak in your car air conditioner. Usually, small leaks can be stopped by simple using a leak sealer. Otherwise, the damage part needs to be replaced if the leaks are larger. Once, you won’t be able to detect or repair, simply take your car to a mechanic.
