AC refrigerant leaking from evaporator drain?

[R13]

I notice a fluorescent green (i.e. shows up under a black light from the dye they put in the system during the last recharge) spot on my garage floor yesterday and have tracked it back to the drain tube for the AC evaporator. The system still seems to work, and I'm not sure it has leaked any further since leaving that spot.

I have had the car at the track recently and while I was obviously not running with the AC on, everything I'm sure got very hot as a result. Is there a pressure-relief function for the refrigerant loop that might lead to this? If not, any other ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Could be a couple of things:

1. Dye from Refrigerant check - could mean evaporator leaking

2. Coolant - original coolant is green, check coolant bottle, but also give it a smell, if it smells sweet, probably coolant.

Either way the above two things could lead to the dash needing to come out to change either the heater core, or the evaporator.

I would definately check you engine coolant level, and if you have no reference, check is regularely to determine if it is that leaking. You can also pressure test the coolant system to verify leakage or not.

Sorry the news is not better, and I hope I am wrong.

Regards,
LarryB

 

[R13]

Thanks Larry.

The good news is that I know 100% that it is not coolant. I've dealt with that recently with a cracked coolant bottle, and there isn't a coolant hose in the car older than 9 months at this point. The coolant in my car is blue-ish and has a distinctive smell. The glow from the spot under a UV lamp was the same as in the sight-glass on the AC dryer, so the AC is definitely the culprit.

I'm just going to let it ride and monitor if/when it continues to leave a spot and see when it stops blowing cold. If I'm lucky it'll be a few months and I won't need the AC anyway for a while

 

[bonds]

Most likely the evaporator or expansion valve, I see it all the time on older honda's and acura's..