How do I go about fixing this leak at the A/C condenser?

Refrigerant has been leaking at this connection on the condenser on the drivers side. The pictures below look clean because I cleaned it off before taking pictures. It was caked with oily grime on the connector and part of the aluminum tube. I recharged it last year but it is completely gone now. I check every where else for leaks in the A/C system and this is the only evidence of a leak I can find.

I re-tightened it but I'm not sure if that will work. I tried looking on parts.toyota.com for an O-Ring or gasket that goes on that connector but couldn't find it. Do I have to replace the entire hose?

 

A new o ring should fix that. But you'll need a special refrigerant o ring

 

You can buy packs of different sized O-rings from your local parts house, match up the size and thickness, replace and bring to someone that can pull vacuum and recharge.

 

Had this happen with my last truck on the high pressure line fitting on the passenger side. Be sure to clean off the oxidation on the mating surfaces before installing the new sealing washer, or it will leak again in six months.

For your low-pressure fitting, the sealing washer P/N is 90210-A0002, also interchanges with aftermarket P/N MT1218: https://parts.toyota.com/images/parts/toyotaOEM/fullsize/a1_876959L.jpg



The washer is 70 cents. Most of the cost will be labor (evacuating and recharging the refrigerant on a metered machine, adding PAG oil). Recommend you go to a shop and have them do everything parts & labor, so you get a warranty on the work.

 

Yep. New O ring. You should be able to save it.

 

Wow thanks for the information. That saves me a little bit instead of buying the whole kit. I just looked on Autozone they want to sell the whole O-ring and seal kit for $20.00 and some places as much as $30.00

I'm trying to do it myself. I don't think I have much refrigerant left since I hooked up a manifold gauge set and it shows less than 10 psi on the low side. I still need to get a vacuum pump to pull a vacuum after I change the seal. Since the compressor is not being changed do I still need PAG oil?

 

Yes the PAG oil is evacuated when you pull a vacuum on the system. You really should have it charged by an A/C service cart that can meter the amount of refrigerant and PAG oil. Filling with the parts store cans is really inaccurate and can cause the system to malfunction.

 

ENSURE that the A/C system does not have any remaining freon in it before you open up the system!!! Freon will freeze your skin and destroy your eye balls in an instant.
If you are not sure if there is still freon in the system, take your truck to a professional.

 

Doesn't the oil circulate in the system with the refrigerant? How does it stay in the compressor?

 

Yes, oil circulates with the freon, but it falls out of suspension when the system is off. The oil resides primarily in the compressor, the reciever/drier, and the condenser.

 

Basically this, it's an oil mist carried in the freon. The compressor is made to pump vapor, not liquid or bad things happen. Ask me how I know.

 

Yes, this is a simplified description of A/C systems and oil, but prolly enough info to satisfy the issue.

Ha! You lost an A/C compressor, huh? I imagine it won't tolerate liquid on the suction side for long...

 

From what I understand, the PAG oil is not supposed come out if refrigerant is leaked out as a vapor. But the PAG oil does come out if a machine recovers the refrigerant as a liquid. When pulling a vacuum, the purpose of it is to boil away moisture in the system and no PAG oil comes out since no liquid refrigerant is coming out. Please correct me if wrong here.

 

Pulling a vacuum

The is very little if any. Static pressure is a little over 5 psi.

 

When a freon leak develops, typically an oily residue is visible at the site of the leak (one diagnostic when looking for freon leaks), but this oil is not a substantial amount and not enough to worry about. When freon is recovered a very small amount of oil comes out with it. The only time that I add oil to a system is when a component or components (compressor, drier, condenser, or evaporator) is replaced, or when a large release of freon occurs. Such would be a blown hose, when a pressure relief plug lets go, when an o-ring blows out (uncommon), or when a condenser sustains damage. With these occurrences, you will likely see a whole mess of oil that has been sprayed all over the corresponding area.

My two cents.

 

Not me, a customer of mine. John Deere tractor with Delco A6 compressor. This was years ago and he kept killing rebuilt compressors, I assume because he never pulled a vacuum and because at that time the compressors came with a full system charge of oil. When I blew the system out with nitro it looked like a geyser, blew my container over and sprayed oil everywhere. I think there were at least 2 quarts of oil in that thing. And I was wearing half of it.

 

This! ^^ Don't add oil if you don't know for sure how much you have lost.