R134 A explanation

Your vehicle has a new AC refrigerant introduced in the early 1990's, called R134A. It was brought out to replace the old style freon that was destroying the atmosphere. R134A is a very good freon, but it is made of much smaller molecules than the old freon. This means it will leak out of incredibly small openings, openings that the old freon would not have leaked from.

Also, the new freon does not leave much of a trace when it leaks. The old style did. It is very difficult to trace or find leaks with this new freon. It is a problem that is occurring everywhere and with every repair facility.

To try to find leaks in these systems, we do the following:

• We visually inspect for physical damage that might cause a leak.
  One problem with this, is that we can only see about 75% of the system.
  The rest is hidden up under the dash.
  
  
• We pressurize the system and use an electronic leak detector to "sniff" for leaks.
  
  
• We install a leak detection dye that circulates through the system and when it leaks out with the freon, the dye leaves a stain that we can find using an ultraviolet light.

Even with all these methods, this system can have phantom leaks that are very hard to find. We tell you all this, so you can perhaps understand what we are up against.

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