A/C Leak Testing Using Compressed Air, Soap and Water (any car) — Transcript

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1. 0:00hey guys scanner Danner here today we're
2. 0:02working on a 2004 something Seve what is
3. 0:06this Timmy Paula and Paula thank you
4. 0:08with an air conditioning problem from
5. 0:11what I was told they put a couple cans
6. 0:13of refrigerant in it they being the
7. 0:15customer a few weeks ago and now it's
8. 0:18not working so let's see what kind of
9. 0:20pressures we have we'll do our normal
10. 0:22checks depending on what we see whether
11. 0:25it be a leak check with a leak detector
12. 0:28or using soap and water and a depend on
13. 0:30what we have less pressure wise so let's
14. 0:32get our gauges connected see what kind
15. 0:34of rest pressure we have both side is
16. 0:37connected there's nothing in this system
17. 0:39it's empty let's get our high side gauge
18. 0:45hooked up to so I can take my makeshift
19. 0:47glasses off now and a high side service
20. 0:52port is down here make sure my valves
21. 0:58are all tight okay and then up here
22. 1:04again we're empty static pressure there
23. 1:09is no low in high side I'm going to put
24. 1:11air in this system Timmy can I get a
25. 1:13rubber tip there nozzle all right so the
26. 1:20leak detector is not going to be very
27. 1:22helpful no refrigerant we're going to
28. 1:24use soap and water this is not the ideal
29. 1:26method I used to have some fittings I'm
30. 1:28gonna have to make some additional ones
31. 1:32again no problem with 150 pounds of shop
32. 1:35air that's what we're going to use 150
33. 1:39being what Pete's compressor set at
34. 1:49about 100-120 this is good we just
35. 1:53waited for that compressor to shut off
36. 1:55so you guys can hear me well this
37. 1:57dropped from 120 down to 105 in a matter
38. 2:02of three or four minutes so we have a
39. 2:04pretty significant leak in this system
40. 2:06before we start spraying I want to make
41. 2:09sure again that my compressor works that
42. 2:11all of my electronic controls work so
43. 2:13I'm gonna have actually Timmy can I
44. 2:17borrow you again just jump in this and
45. 2:21turn the air on and we'll run it for
46. 2:24about five seconds one of the things I
47. 2:26didn't talk about my last one is
48. 2:29refrigerant picks up the oil and carries
49. 2:33it through the system so that's what
50. 2:34lubricates the compressor and in this
51. 2:36step we're running this compressor dry
52. 2:38no oil which is why we don't want to do
53. 2:41this for very long Caleb onto the gauges
54. 2:43go ahead Tim and start that turn the air
55. 2:46on
56. 2:52okay good so I saw about 25 and 200
57. 2:57roughly I like that that means our
58. 3:00compressors functional we're good to me
59. 3:02thank you you suck key off and practice
60. 3:05functional all the wiring all the inputs
61. 3:09going to the engine computer the
62. 3:10computer the outputs the relay all of
63. 3:12its good that's what that test does you
64. 3:15don't want to run it longer than five
65. 3:16seconds simply because that compressor
66. 3:20is running without lubricant again the
67. 3:22refrigerant picks up the oil carries it
68. 3:24through the system and without
69. 3:26refrigerant in here we're just using
70. 3:28compressed air that compressors running
71. 3:30dry but if the test you want to do
72. 3:31because again you don't want to sell a
73. 3:34major overhaul on some kind of AC leak
74. 3:36only to find out later that you need an
75. 3:38AC compressor or you have some kind of
76. 3:40electronic control issue we know we're
77. 3:43good there let's find our leak fix this
78. 3:45system and pressure has not totally
79. 3:49equalized yet so these numbers are a
80. 3:51little bit off from where they were
81. 3:52before but we still have enough in here
82. 3:55where we can start spraying as far as
83. 3:59what i'm using i'm just using a cheap
84. 4:02car wash and generally what you want to
85. 4:05use is a 50-50 mix if you go a little
86. 4:08bit too much water not enough soap it
87. 4:11wont bubble as well for you so you
88. 4:13really want to be generous with the
89. 4:15amount of soap you're using okay so just
90. 4:17again knowing systems knowing designs we
91. 4:20want to eyeball our components and every
92. 4:23car is different there's no really know
93. 4:24one place you can you need to start but
94. 4:26there's a fitting right there that's
95. 4:29your suction discharge hoses if you
96. 4:32follow the fatter line that's your
97. 4:35suction line and the skinnier line
98. 4:37underneath that is your discharge line
99. 4:39and so those are rubber connections I
100. 4:41want to spray those displaying both
101. 4:44stocks in the discharge hoses I'm
102. 4:47actually going to spray the entire face
103. 4:51and housing of the compressor
104. 4:57then we will follow those lines that way
105. 5:02there are some fittings over there we'll
106. 5:10get to the condenser here in a minute
107. 5:12these lines come up this way
108. 5:15and I want to remind you guys that with
109. 5:17the gage is connected that's an area
110. 5:20that you can have a leak as the service
111. 5:23ports but our gauges were dropping even
112. 5:26with these connected so we do have a
113. 5:28leak elsewhere that is not the service
114. 5:31ports so right back here I'm spraying
115. 5:33the block that goes to the evap and now
116. 5:43we're on to the condenser which would be
117. 5:46helpful to get this out of my way all
118. 5:50right down here front faces oh look at
119. 5:53that right there
120. 5:53without even spraying it we have
121. 5:56evidence of a oil leak you can see the
122. 6:00discoloration in the fins on the right
123. 6:04hand side of this condenser so that's a
124. 6:05real good suggestion that our leak is
125. 6:08right there so before we spray it we do
126. 6:10those kind of visuals over here too and
127. 6:14we'll see anything there but certainly
128. 6:16right there looks like an area where we
129. 6:21have a leak so let's play that really
130. 6:24good kind of watch that for a minute
131. 6:27maybe on that outside fins and that
132. 6:43Oh
133. 7:40I can't get to the other part of the
134. 7:44condenser that I want to get to to see
135. 7:49it remember that our Looney Tunes one
136. 8:05cartoon with the abominable snowman he
137. 8:08keeps wiping himself to say she's just
138. 8:10hot remember that one any melt at the
139. 8:13end remember Timmy no the abominable
140. 8:19snowman it was like Daffy Duck I'll hug
141. 8:33him and I'll stroke him I'll call him
142. 8:35George remember that what touch it like
143. 8:42she's hot she's hot
144. 8:46melting that evidence of oil here is
145. 8:53suggesting to me the condenser the
146. 8:55problem is I can't get to the part on
147. 8:57the side where I believe the link is and
148. 9:04what I need to do to do that is move
149. 9:09this entire support out of the way which
150. 9:13really sucks and we got looks like
151. 9:19refrigerant oil all over that area hey
152. 9:26Pete how much of a pain is it to move
153. 9:28this rad forward so I can get to this
154. 9:31corner of the condenser on this bar over
155. 9:35that whole block
156. 9:39well diagnose
157. 9:41no actually the way it goes is is I'm
158. 9:44going to go back and work on that Ford
159. 9:46truck and I'm going to make you guys
160. 9:47take the floor and probably they're like
161. 9:50the corner the corner of this peep here
162. 9:53I'll show you while you're here look at
163. 9:54the corner of this being cotton see the
164. 9:57discoloration I mean you really can't
165. 9:58because I sprayed it but that bottom
166. 10:00right corner and I need to get to the
167. 10:03outside where the tubes connect and I
168. 10:06can't I'm almost positive that is where
169. 10:09our leak is you're not going to have
170. 10:10that unless the training cooler lines
171. 10:13are there no cooler lines are on
172. 10:15or on this side the only thing that
173. 10:18would cause that as a refrigerant oil
174. 10:19leak or refrigerant leak
175. 10:21I need this pulled forward to be a
176. 10:24hundred percent I mean you're going to
177. 10:25be in there anyway changing this
178. 10:26condenser take these mounts maybe off
179. 10:31two bolts here take this out of the way
180. 10:35Tim you're out man I'm walking away for
181. 10:37a minute I'm going to do my other car
182. 10:39and giving you a job to do cool has to
183. 10:47be cool he doesn't have a choice well we
184. 10:52could just throw a condenser in and
185. 10:54cross our fingers
186. 10:55all right Linden we need to confirm it
187. 10:58all right pausing it here alright so
188. 11:01thank you Tim for pulling this apart in
189. 11:04here we can see our leak now it is
190. 11:07definitely in the corner of the
191. 11:08condenser all right so if we did the
192. 11:13leak is right here guys I'm going to see
193. 11:15if I can show it to you at least Tim did
194. 11:19not have to pull this apart for nothing
195. 11:21this is
196. 11:27absolutely where the leak is you can see
197. 11:30some bubbles right from my angle I don't
198. 11:34know if you'll see it where you are
199. 11:36Caleb I carry the shame it's about see
200. 11:44it you'll start seeing them a bit
201. 11:53so surprisingly the evidence was there
202. 11:57for the oil these r134a systems what I
203. 12:01found in the past is the water just
204. 12:03washes the oil off and it's very
205. 12:05difficult to find leaks based on the oil
206. 12:09there's a nice big old fat bubble right
207. 12:11there
208. 12:13but yeah leaking condenser and of course
209. 12:18with this system being open to the
210. 12:20atmosphere the accumulator dryer should
211. 12:23be replaced this is a fixed orifice tube
212. 12:27system and it has a accumulator dryer
213. 12:31not a receiver dryer so the repair to
214. 12:37write this up is going to be condenser
215. 12:39and accumulator and the evac and retards
216. 12:43and they should be should be okay did
217. 12:47not find any leaks anywhere else the
218. 12:50only other thing that you would have an
219. 12:52issue with with this kind of testing
220. 12:54would be the evap itself and then the
221. 12:57compressor shaft seal these are things
222. 12:59that you can't check with this leak leak
223. 13:04test so you know there is the
224. 13:08possibility of having another leak at
225. 13:11the evap core another leak at the
226. 13:13compressor shaft seal you know those are
227. 13:16things that I don't think you need to
228. 13:19panic the customer with but let them
229. 13:21know about it that those are two areas
230. 13:23that you did not really leak check so
231. 13:26there's no refrigerant in the system and
232. 13:27I'm not putting refrigerant in here with
233. 13:29a leak right here you know what bring
234. 13:31your customer I'll show them where the
235. 13:32leak is do the repair you'll be fine I
236. 13:35don't think you need to be overly
237. 13:38concerned about the evap and compressor
238. 13:40shaft seal again two places you can't
239. 13:43find with the soap and water test it's
240. 13:47up to you guys you want to put
241. 13:48refrigerant in it and do the final
242. 13:50checks on those two locations with a
243. 13:52leak leak detector feel free to do that
244. 13:54but pretty simple diagnosis here
245. 13:58condenser leak and again don't forget to
246. 14:02do that compressor
247. 14:03with your air pressure to make sure
248. 14:05everything electrically is good sorry I
249. 14:07may have missed quoted this type of
250. 14:09system that's on this come over here
251. 14:11Kalyan and I'll show you why this fat
252. 14:14line right here that goes to my
253. 14:17compressor that's my suction line and if
254. 14:24this was a orifice tube system with a
255. 14:28accumulator dryer there would be a dryer
256. 14:30in this line and there's not this line
257. 14:33goes straight up this way over and into
258. 14:37the block at the evap and that actually
259. 14:40looks like that's an expansion valve
260. 14:42right there at the evap core so that
261. 14:45means that this uses a receiver dryer
262. 14:48which is on the high side of a system
263. 14:50which is this guy right here this guy
264. 14:53right here so this is not a orifice tube
265. 14:55system this is a thermal expansion valve
266. 14:57system and so it needs the receiver
267. 14:59dryer not accumulator dryer and then
268. 15:02another question I had off-camera from
269. 15:04Tim was should we do this
270. 15:05you know the orifice tube or the
271. 15:07expansion device and the answer is no in
272. 15:09the case of a leak that's not necessary
273. 15:11the only time you'd want to do the
274. 15:13expansion device whether it be an
275. 15:15orifice tube or TXV would be when you
276. 15:17have a compressor failure and so no it's
277. 15:20not necessary
278. 15:21so receiver dryer and condenser cool got
279. 15:27it so thanks for joining me guys I
280. 15:30appreciate you guys being here don't
281. 15:32forget to check out my website at
282. 15:34scanner Danner comm and then scanner
283. 15:36Danner premium which I'll take you right
284. 15:39into my classroom at Roselle Technical
285. 15:42College and I can train you to be a
286. 15:44diagnostic technician both here on my
287. 15:47free channel and scanner Dan or premium
288. 15:49so again thanks for joining me special
289. 15:51thanks to cameraman Caleb we'll see you
290. 15:54guys next time