R-134 leaks out one day after recharge.

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Had my 1996 1500 air recharged three times and is gone the next day. The shop said no leaks under the hood. Leak detector points to behind the firewall under the dash. There has been dye put in, but I have been looking but find nothing. Is there a place that is a common for this kind of leak? Shop has giving up on me.
 

CumminsFever

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In my brother's 95, he just got done with the exact symptoms you describe. Turned out to be compressor shaft seal. Leaking behind clutch, you couldn't see dye. The engine fan blew freon to the back of engine bay so the leak detector went nuts around filter/drier area. Just my overpriced $.02!
 

Schurkey

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Recharging three times, leaks out in one day...and can't find a massive leak like that??? They must be blind AND incompetent. You need to report that shop to your state's Better Business Bureau, the State's Attorney, and/or whoever is in charge of licensing auto-repair places.

You need a refund of whatever money you paid them. They need to get a clue.

Find a competent shop, have them re-check. In MY driveway, that truck would get a black-light check for fluorescent refrigerant dye and whatever indicates would be handled as required. Then ALL the O-rings replaced, the receiver/dryer/accumulator replaced, the condenser inspected for various defects including folded-over or corroded fins, road-debris damage, etc. and replaced if there were any hint of issues. THEN vacuum-tested, and if that result is good, enough refrigerant added to leak-test for actual refrigerant leakage (not just dye traces or loss of vacuum.)

Evaporators are a pain in the axx, but y' gotta do what y' gotta do.
 

kolgeirr

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To add some additional info to the other posters; literally the only refrigerant-carrying part under the dash of these trucks is the evaporator. Both the input and output fittings of the evaporator stick into the engine bay through the firewall, so there aren't even any A/C line connections outside of the engine bay (unless that's a Suburban with rear air, then you have a set of fittings in the passenger rear undercarriage outside the frame rail). Assuming your shop correctly diagnosed it as a in-cab leak, there's only one part it could be, which is the good news.

The bad news is that you're pulling the entire dash to replace the thing.

Double-check everywhere else with a UV light before you go pulling the dash, just in case. Leak prone areas follow:
Compressor up top, driver side - front shaft seal behind clutch wheel, line fittings up top. Take the port caps off and listen, those valves like to leak. Pressure switches on the back of the compressor, and on the high side line.
Condenser, behind grill and horn, between the trans cooler (if equipped) and radiator - two fittings passenger side, and the condenser itself which can leak if it takes a rock or two.
Evaporator - passenger firewall. One fitting down low. Top fitting goes directly into the accumulator/dryer. One fitting on that for the low-side compressor line, one fitting for the compressor cycle switch. Can check the evap itself via inspection cam through the evap drain - on mine it's a little rubber L-shaped piece, passenger side firewall, near the evap fittings.
 

L31MaxExpress

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Ii would look under that HT6 compressor and on top of the mounting bracket. Nearly 10 times out of 10 on the Vortec trucks that is the only leak I find. Second common leak is the stupid rubber ball on the high side scrader valve. I recently discovered that Dorman makes one with an actual valve core. That stupid rubber ball is where I found the slow leak in my van. It was actively spitting bubbles of Pag and Refrigerant when I pulled the cap off.

Crooks at a local shop told my aunt both evaporator cores were leaking in her Escalade and need to be replaced for an huge $$$. She asked me to look at it, I could not find a sign of the cores leaking anywhere. Anyway I replaced the leaking high side port and leaking HT6. It has been solid for 3 years now.

10 years ago a different shop tried to get my grandmother with the old leaking evaporator routine. I had previously put dye in the system. The V5 on her 3400 Alero was pucking out of the shaft seal, obvious as day.

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