The $70 leak beeper?

My AC leaks like a sieve (full to empty in 2 days). I never bothered with it, but now it's getting hot, and rather than spend $100 on a diagnosis, I thought maybe it would be better to buy the tool and DIY. I tried the UV dye, but I could not find the leak. I suspect it is the compressor shaft seal.

What do you think? Is it better to bring it to an expert?

If you do try it, let us know how it goes, ive been tempted to get that myself after a failure with the UV dye. ( i used glasses too.. )

I use the leak detectors at work, for the most part they all suck. They can find the big leaks and some of the small leaks, but they all suck. Sometimes you only have a high pressure leak so you have to have the car running, with fans going it can throw off the detector. You are much better off using the dye or looking for oily deposits around seals, hoses, and connections. When the freon escapes the oil escapes too and deposits on the part right at the leak. If it is the shaft seal, you can see oil deposit on the clutch. If you can't find any signs of a leak, check the evaporator draing for signs of oil or dye. You can also, pressurize the system with air(supposed to use nitrogen) and spray everything down with soapy water and look for the bubbles.

They might help you find some leaks, but there are better methods.

i work at an AC shop and the only thing we use the sniffers for is when we run a car and let it sit over night all closed up. then we go into the car and see if it picks anything up in the ducts. if it picks something up we have an evaporator leak which means we get lots of $$ to replace an evaporator. it works very well for that.

edit...

as for harbor freight, they make alot of garbage. but I dont know about this particular tool.

[This message has been edited by Jrgicehc (edited 06-04-2008).]

I use a electronic leak detector at least a couple times a week at work (commercial refrigeration) and it always works great. Of course it costs about $500 too and not $70. Honestly if you are losing the refrigerant that fast I say look for oil around fittings or check everything with soap bubbles. If you can't find anything it may well be leaking in the evaporator.

As Brandon said I have used both, But if you see any oil around fittings use a soap solution to pinpoint the leak.If it is the compressor seal,you can close off the bottom of the compressor pulley with a cupped hand and saturate the area with your soap solution,Turn the compressor pulley to expose all of it's rotating seal to it's stationary seal. Make sure your condenser has no damage from stones and check all available fittings If you see a continous flow of bubbles you have found your leak.They don't have to be big bubbles,they might just show some foam after a few minutes,and make sure there is adequate pressure in the system to show a leak.