Refrigerant leak

[HM.89]

Hello.

My 96 Explorer LT is leaking refreigerant in that hoses and valve.

Have anyone had the same problem?

Thanks.

 

[sehaare]

How did you determine it was leaking from those points? Are you sure it is not the dryer/accumulator that is to the left of them. They are known to develop leaks under that foam.

 

[HM.89]

How did you determine it was leaking from those points? Are you sure it is not the dryer/accumulator that is to the left of them. They are known to develop leaks under that foam.

Hi sehaare, thanks for the reply.

I think the joints are leaking the refrigerant, i see the red stain just on the joints, and in the valve placed on the right.

 

[XLTrunner]

I think you have your terminology mixed up. The valve and hose connections you have circled do not contain r134a refrigerant. Looks like a coolant leak.

 

[sehaare]

I think you have your terminology mixed up. The valve and hose connections you have circled do not contain r134a refrigerant. Looks like a coolant leak.

XLTrunner, I think you are correct, I now see that the OP is from Bogata Colombia probably they either use differnet terms down there or it is a translation thing.

 

[sehaare]

Hi sehaare, thanks for the reply.

I think the joints are leaking the refrigerant, i see the red stain just on the joints, and in the valve placed on the right.

I see you are from Bogata, I spent a couple of nights there a few years back when I was flying into/out of Cucata to work at the power plant there. Nice city, It probably would have been even nicer if I wasn't there by myself or spoke Spanish. lo siento, no hablo español was the phrase I used most often.

In the US, refrigerant is the term we use for the R134 in the air conditioning system. The hoses that you have circled look to be the heater hoses and those would have Coolant in them. The first thing that I would do would be to check your coolant level and see if it is low. Then fill it to the normal range and run the engine until it is up to normal temp and see if you can see coolant spraying out of the connections that you have circled. It is possible that it might come out as steam that you can't see easily but most coolant has a sweet smell that you can't miss. If the leak is from there, you can see that there are hose clamps there, you can try tightening those to get the leak to stop. I'd wait until the car cooled down though as the hoses might be cracked and tightening might cause them to split and you could get severely burned if it sprayed hot coolant on you.

Depending on how old the hoses are you might just want to replace them. In the US all auto parts stores carry heater hose and you could just take the old hose in to match up the inner diameter and then have them cut you a new one to length. I would assume you could do the same way down where you are at.

This should be a easy fix. Good luck amigo.

 

[HM.89]

XLTrunner, I think you are correct, I now see that the OP is from Bogata Colombia probably they either use differnet terms down there or it is a translation thing.

Thats right, its a translation thing, its coolant (red liquid), not refrigerant. Thanks!

 

[HM.89]

I see you are from Bogata, I spent a couple of nights there a few years back when I was flying into/out of Cucata to work at the power plant there. Nice city, It probably would have been even nicer if I wasn't there by myself or spoke Spanish. lo siento, no hablo español was the phrase I used most often.

In the US, refrigerant is the term we use for the R134 in the air conditioning system. The hoses that you have circled look to be the heater hoses and those would have Coolant in them. The first thing that I would do would be to check your coolant level and see if it is low. Then fill it to the normal range and run the engine until it is up to normal temp and see if you can see coolant spraying out of the connections that you have circled. It is possible that it might come out as steam that you can't see easily but most coolant has a sweet smell that you can't miss. If the leak is from there, you can see that there are hose clamps there, you can try tightening those to get the leak to stop. I'd wait until the car cooled down though as the hoses might be cracked and tightening might cause them to split and you could get severely burned if it sprayed hot coolant on you.

Depending on how old the hoses are you might just want to replace them. In the US all auto parts stores carry heater hose and you could just take the old hose in to match up the inner diameter and then have them cut you a new one to length. I would assume you could do the same way down where you are at.

This should be a easy fix. Good luck amigo.

Thanks! Yes its coolant (red liquid), not refrigerant, my mistake. The coolant level is the same, i think the leaking is minimun, I've tightened the clamps, its fine right now. I'll be checking daily.

Greetings from Colombia.