Beer:30

My AC is shot. Car is 21.5 years old and it won't hold a charge even with leak stop. Compressor seems to work because when charged it blows cold. Searching for AC leak is totally unproductive as AC is to short and leak turns up a bazillion threads.
Where are the common places to check for AC leaks on these cars?
Am I better off taking it to a dealer?

Thanks!

STRMLNE

Did you put dye in the system? Sniff test?

ncali

Take it in to an ac shop. they can use a leak detector and find it right away. to answer your question, anywhere there is a joint , a fitting , the compressor , the condenser, the dryer .If the compressor has never been changed
it could be a compressor seal

pewter99

common to leak at the ports...seals go bad

STRMLNE

do you happen to have a link or part. Umber for me seals at the ports? Thanks.

Silver85

If you can find someone with a proper leak detector it is usually easy to find leaks. Always confirm the leak by using soap bubbles. The schrader valves are rebuildable if that is the source of the leak. The hardest leak to find/confirm are on the evap coil and on the compressor shaft seal IMHO.

SG Lou

AC DELCO 152540GM Seal Kit which consists of about 25 different seals / o-rings meant for the entire system.
I don't know about just the port seals which consist of 2 o-rings. You might be able take one to a parts store and have it matched up.
Are you 100% sure it's the port seals that are leaking ?

STRMLNE

Yeah. I have a leaking port. Just need to find the right o ring. I don’t need all those other seals.

Cutlassmaster

Brian, I'm down in Fredericksburg and have a sniffer we can use to look for it. I also have any of the tools needed to assist. I hate the dyes and stay away from them. My compressor was leaking on the case seal so I rebuilt it last year. It is good to go now. Let me know if you want to come down.
Chris

STRMLNE

How can you tell the compressor was leaking without dye?

SG Lou

The gas detector aka "sniffer" will sound an alarm or beep when it picks up freon

Cutlassmaster

I have an electronic device that can detect the freon down to as low as a gram per year leak. It's very sensitive and has helped me over the years on many vehicles.

STRMLNE

You halogen test the whole system?

Smoken1

Any AC shop that sells the valves for R134 should have them instock