Several weeks ago, I discovered my A/C system was without refrigerant. I figured maybe it was just a slow leak after running it for about 9 years now, so I charged it back up and it was working fine. Fast forward to today, and again I find the A/C not working and next to no charge (like 25psi on the high side).
When I put the refrigerant in last time, I also added a can of leak detector (fluorescent dye), but found no leaks in the system right away. Today, I started to poke around with the blacklight looking for signs, and again found none, except for a small amount of glow on the leading edge of the condensor fins just behind the oil cooler and on DS edge. I am still wondering if this represents the dye or just some old salts that got in there and didn't get cleaned out well, yet glow a bit under blacklight. Other than that, I find no dye anywhere I'm able to get to with the light.
So my question to you in the know is: does what I see on the condensor seem like what a leak would look like? Are there any other likely areas I should be investigating?
When I put the refrigerant in last time, I also added a can of leak detector (fluorescent dye), but found no leaks in the system right away. Today, I started to poke around with the blacklight looking for signs, and again found none, except for a small amount of glow on the leading edge of the condensor fins just behind the oil cooler and on DS edge. I am still wondering if this represents the dye or just some old salts that got in there and didn't get cleaned out well, yet glow a bit under blacklight. Other than that, I find no dye anywhere I'm able to get to with the light.
So my question to you in the know is: does what I see on the condensor seem like what a leak would look like? Are there any other likely areas I should be investigating?