thanks is have an appointment to have it charged on Tuesady. The shop said $140.00. they said they'd use dye to see if its leaking, does that sound right?
I don't know about the dye. My mechanic just hooked up his gauges and was able to tell me that I had no freon. So he fill me up with freon and told me if it loses freon before the end of summer then come back in.
You can buy a DIY kit and do it yourself for a lot less $$$. I got a decent kit and have used it a number of times w/o issue on a few different vehicles. They have a leak stop you can put in the system as well.
Yeah, i got kit from walmart (AC REFILL KIT R-134A RECHARGE.). U can do it by your self. Its realy easy. Just plug hose to connector, start engine and wait for refill. Good luck.
Those kits and leak sealants aren't exactly the right thing.
If you are loosing freon it should be fixed properly. Could be costly, depends where the leak is coming from. You also need a vacuum pump to evacuate the system. If you recharge empty (leaking) ac without prior evacuating you will have moisture in there, and that can cause all sorts of problems later on.
ps/ die is one of ways to check for leaks, but this is rather a DYI thing... I assume desent shop will use electronic freon detector of some sort.
pps/ and I really don't recoment charging without proper gauges. It's fine to buy cheap freon from walmart, but you should get yourself a real manifold gauges set. (~100$) those gauges they have in the kits - completely inaccurate and dangerous, you can not even get a normal reading with those.
I agree with SSn, get yourself a manifold gauge set and see whats going on. Don't just buys cans with the gauge on it, you have no idea what is happening on the high pressure side. That may or may not be important, depending on what is wrong with the system.
Jeff
__________________
Jeff in Minneapolis
'00 A6 Avant Quat 145k
100% stock
Air conditioner charging
