A/C Problems

[Bluebird5.0]

My brother's 03 Impala LS 3.8 has been having cooling problems. He added freon a couple of times but it keeps leaking out. We're probably going to do a leak test. I just wondered if anybody knows of this being common for these cars to leak freon or anything like that before we begin on this. The best bet so far is this hose coming off of the compressor going to the right of the engine bay and connecting under the battery. That hose has a lot of residue on it. This concerns me since the engine is not leaking a drop of anything. Everything else in the engine bay is clean as a whistle yet this one hose has grease and dirt all over it. And near the connection to the compressor it is stained as if it was wet. I know some of these hose get cold with the ac on but the car was off for a while when I noticed this. Any advice would be great appreciated.

 

Thanks

[DiscoStudd]

Before you take it anywhere, be sure all of the fittings on the AC hoses/lines are tight. A fitting loosened on my 93 Cavalier right at the condenser once, and it pissed out all of the refrigerant. After tightening the fitting and pulling a vacuum on the system, I re-filled it and it never leaked again.

[Slade901]

Check the connections on the compressor itself and make sure the bolt is tightened properly which holds down the connection for the low side and high side. If it is leaking then then purchase a leak detention which includes the a dye and a goggle where you use it to see the flourescent dye and spot the leak location.