Hi All,

Trying to diagnose my a/c problems...

Car: 1992 940GL with an A/C leak. I pressurized the system and got the comprssor to turn on (first time in several years). It blew gas out through a leak that appeared to be near the lower right front corner of the condenser. At this location there are what appear to be 3 electrical connectors attached to fittings in the condenser. My question is: for anyone intimately familiar with that area, is there anything that would tend to fail (i.e. a seal on one of those fittings)? Note that the leak does not appear to be in the vicinity of any of the tubing...just those connectors that appear to be attached to machined aluminum.

Many Thanks...

--Jim

Jim
Is your system still pressurized? Do you have access to the equipment to do the leak testing yourself?

I just replaced the condenser in my car because it was leaking. It had a small hole at one of the brackets in the rear just above these pressostats. When I removed it, I found that the pressostats were all about hand tight. The seals looked pretty good but I was a little nervous.

I guess what I'm getting at is, can you try to snug them up just a tad more and perform the leak test again?

It would be helpful to add the dye as the others have suggested to pinpoint the leak. If the system is already down, I think I would just replace the three seals on these things as it won't take you thirty minutes and you will have then ruled that out as the source of the leak.

Hope this helps
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Don Tibbetts; Living in the Florida Panhandle - soon to be known as Disney World North - The St. Joe Kingdom; 92 745T 94K mi

I found that the condenser was in fact the source of the leak. I replaced that, but the pipe from the condenser to the evaporator didn't survive the surgery. I think (make that hope) that once I replace that, I will be OK. I will do a 134A charge to to try get through the weekend then have the system evacuated and recharged next week. Thanks for all the help...

I'm not laughing at your misfortune in breaking the line because that's a $50 mistake but its funny to me that you broke that line because I did the same thing when I changed my condenser a couple months ago. I forgot to spray the fitting before I started twisting it and sure enough, it twisted up and I had to break it off. Needless to say, I hit all the other fittings with some PB Blaster before trying to loosen them.

Some others on here had mentioned the benefits of adding a SmartVOV to my system while it was down. It is designed to replace the fixed diameter expansion valve. Some of the beneits are colder vent temps. in city traffic and less compressor cycling. I put one of these in while my system was down and my air blows very cold now. Unfortunately, the A/C only worked for a few days after we got the car before dying so I really don't have anything to compare it to. Just thought I would mention it in case you had not considered it or heard of it yet.
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Don Tibbetts; Living in the Florida Panhandle - soon to be known as Disney World North - The St. Joe Kingdom; 92 745T 95K mi

Second vote for dye. The pressure switches are pretty reliable but obviously you have to experiment. They each have an O-ring that can fail, which is easily replaced, and worth replacing.

--
1992 940 wagon, 72k

Look for oil residue, which will tell you more about the leak. The pressostat seals can fail. You might want to inject some UV dye into the system and try to trace the leak further.

Those 3 pressure sensors I've seen them in Ebay for sale, check if the leak is were the sensor screws in or the condensor.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1839147422
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1996 964 126,040