Finding the Leak in Your Air Conditioning System

If your vehicle’s air conditioning isn’t cooling the car interior well, or enough, you most likely have a leak. The refrigerant gas has escaped through that leak, so there’s no substance to cool the interior, the computers that run or regulate your car, or the defroster.

Did I run out?

It’s actually pretty rare that a vehicle comes to us because it’s “run low” or “run out” of refrigerant. 95% of the time, there’s a leak.

How do we fix it?

We have to find the leak first. Since refrigerant is a gas, not a liquid, the tiniest hole can let all of your refrigerant loose, and you’d never know it. We find leaks by injecting a Freon dye and then we use an ultraviolet light to either see the Freon that’s in your air conditioning system, or detect the leak that is allowing that colorless gas to escape. You may even hear the saying in the shop that “dye doesn’t lie.” If we didn’t use this method, we really couldn’t find many leaks with a naked eye.

Detecting a problem

It’s usually pretty easy to tell whether or not the air conditioning is working well in warmer months of Spring or Summer; the air isn’t blowing cold or cool enough when you turn on your A/C. Easy enough.

But what about the Fall and Winter months? The major tip there is that your defroster won’t be working as well. You may not have known that it’s your air conditioner that actually drives your defroster. So, if that’s not working well, then your A/C might not be working properly.

Explore more:
What’s That Puddle Under the Car?
Your Air Conditioner Is a Multi-Purpose System

Suspect your air conditioning may have a leak? Schedule an appointment and we’ll take care of it!