A/c line i think is cut open!

[ericradford01]

hey guys i did the body lift today and finally finished it. when i was done i made sure nothing was in the way of anything. i took it for a 10 minute ride and came back and when i turned off the car a sound like air was leaking out of sumthing. i looked and some kind of liquid was splattered around the bottom of my engine i think the a/c line is cut how in the world can i fix this and when will the noise go away? its been 20minutes and still making that noise. id really apprecaite the help i guess its to late to fix it tonight so hopefully my car will be ohk till tomrw

 

[dogfriend]

The noise will go away when all of the Freon (refrigerant) has leaked out.

To fix it, you need to get a replacement line, either from a dealer or from an auto parts store like Napa etc. You may be able to just repair the section with the hole; I have seen repair kits available for this.

When you have the replacement line, you can install it yourself or take it to an A/C shop for installation. You will need to have the system evacuated (pumped down with a vac pump) and then add A/C lube and Freon. Make sure to tell the shop what happened so they understand that the system has been opened up. Its important to have the system evacuated because opening the system up lets in water vapor which will hurt the A/C performance. The shop may recommend replacing the Receiver/Dryer at the same time which is a good idea to help performance. (The Receiver/Dryer is supposed to absorb any extra water vapor in the system).

 

[Longjohn119]

But on the bright side, you won't have to worry about a charge to reclaim the refrigerant ....

 

[ericradford01]

well it is light out side now and i def think it is the ac line. i tried turning on my ac today and the only thing it blew out was hot air. the only thing was that when the it stopped leaking it was just greenish liquid on the tubing? i thought it would be radiator coolant. but how much is this looking to cost me i am taking my truck in tomrw to the ford dealer to have them put on my tires that i ordered and get an alignment could they do this for me and how much is this going to cost. haha im sort on money and next week i have to take a trip to bonnaroo music festival 8 hours away. i must mention that my uncle owns the ford place and my cousin is the manager of the parts department so i hope this will help thats how he ordered my tires for me

 

[Glacier991]

DOGFRIEND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where ya been guy ? We missed you and your knowledge!

The greenish fluid was refrigerant oil tinged with dye. replace the line and replace the accumulator, have it evacuated and properly recharged. You'll be good as gold.

 

[dogfriend]

I'm still around here, just not posting as often.

To try to answer ericradford01's question about how much this will cost:

I had this same thing happen to my 82 Toyota PU in 1986 or 87 (I can't remember exactly, I'm getting old ) At that time it cost about $30 for the replacement line at the dealer, and about $ 45 or $50 to get an evacuation and recharge, so altogether it was about $80. I learned a good lesson: to be more careful around the refrigerant lines.

I'm guessing with inflation youre looking at $150, but impossible to say exactly without knowing which line needs to be replaced. I'm sure you will know soon enough.

 

[ericradford01]

wow i just found it will cost 180 bucks to get it fixed just for the cost of the line. it is an aluminum line so the guy cant really fix that and when i took it to ford dealer they tried to patch it but it wouldnt work at all. it just kept leaking out. well any other options out there seems like im going to just have to come up with the money now that it is 98 degrees here in south carolina and i have to take a 3 hour trip to the beach tomrw afternoon

 

[agallant]

THis happend to me last summer. I used a tube of JB Weld, charged the system back up and have not had a problem