Tall Giraffe

Yes

TG

dougq

Thanks TG

finalwish

Has anybody run into an issue on when the heater is turned on, there is a major leak of r134a? The ac runs fine during the hot summer months, but as soon as that one day when it gets cooler, the heater turns on, all the r134a leaks out? Do you know what to look for to repair? I refilled with r134a and it’s fine but when heater is on, low in r134a again.

kajtek1

Put some dye in it.
When heating doesn't have direct connection with AC system, quite possible weak oring expands in warm weather and shrinks when cold.

dougq

Finally got my A/C back up and running.
I wish to thank Plutoe, Tall Giraffe and kajtek1 for their input.
As mentioned I have replaced the comp, rec/dryer and exp valve.
That exp valve was a lot of fun, totally buried.
I managed to get the water collector out without taking out any circuit boards.
I flushed all the system and learned not to use rubber hose for that.
I flushed a lot of solvent through the evaporator before realizing I was flushing the rubber hose on the output as it disolved.
I had a little dribble of oil as I was starting to add it to the evaporator input.
So I had to guess the ammount of dribble and put it in the output, where it stayed.
The system held 30 in of HG, over night, so I was confident it would not leak.
Of course the weather is not conducive to testing A/C, but we had a very sunny day that heated up the car and cold air was experienced at all vents.
Hopefully it will be the same next summer, and of course the dehumidifying effect will help during the wet months.
DougQ

Tall Giraffe

Congrats! Im sure its a great feeling to get it working. In my case I stripped one of the allen bolts in the exp. which made the journey leading to it all that more fun at the end Also I had to go there twice since I had to replace the evaporator after a failed hope my evaporator was ok.

Im still surprised you actually flushed the condenser.

If you took your time and were thorough, you should have a long lasting system.