Normal A/C Compressor Leak Rate?
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 3,771
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From: MANDEVILLE, LA La
Normal A/C Compressor Leak Rate?
Anyone know the allowable Freon leak rate through the compressor seal in the late models.I heard years ago that a half of can a year is OK.
This sounds a little high.
What's your opinion?
This sounds a little high.
What's your opinion?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,839
Likes: 22
From: San Diego, Ca
Zero - though all systems leak - usually at hose fittings and the pressure hose hook ups. Good systems leak less than a half ounce a year which should keep it cold for about 7 to 10 years. If yours is leaking at the shaft seal, you need to fix it. That puts additional wear on the compressor and as it sheds metal, it all gets stuck in the orifice and plugs it up. Should it go on long enough, it will wear a groove in the compressor shaft and it will never seal up again. Some too have reported that compressor oil slung all over the underside of the hood leaches through and ruins the paint, including any repaint. Use some Simple Green to get it off there if yours is slinging oil.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,839
Likes: 22
From: San Diego, Ca
For GM - the Evaporator seems to be the most leak prone; followed by the shaft seal on the Nippondenso Compressor's ('88 up and the Porsche guys seem to have the same problems with them). My entire unit, save for the condensor line to the Evaporator, has been replaced at one time or another - some of it under warranty. Otherwise, the only GM I've ever owned wherein the a/c didn't break was a '95 Gran Prix. It used the variable displacement compressor - no orifice or cycling - and it was still blowing cold when I got rid of it after 10 years.
