Has anyone had success with an A/C stop leak product?

kang · 03-24-2008, 12:27 PM

Apparently I have a small leak in my evaporator… and summer is coming…

I have mixed feelings about air conditioning stop leak products, but I noticed our host sells one:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/TOOL/POR_TOOL_CAT549_pg24.htm

Has anyone tried one of these products and actually had it seal the leak? Has anyone tried one of these products and had it do more harm than good? Has anyone tried enough of these to know which products work and which do not?

Hugh R · 03-24-2008, 12:29 PM

I think they're mainly stuff that swells rubber seals.

onewhippedpuppy · 03-24-2008, 12:32 PM

Fixing the leak could be cheap. Replacing your compressor, condensor, etc would not be. I've universally not heard anything good about these products. Hell, if nothing else just periodically add freon until you can afford a proper fix.

Normy · 06:23 PM

They just swell the rubber seals, yes.

"dr bob" over on that other Porsche website that begins with "R" made a post on one of my threads where I asked about a leaking AC system on my work car, a '97 VW Jetta. IT WAS very informative! Basically, the bearing on the AC compressor is very fragile, and if it is scraped or just barely gouged due to lack of lubrication, it looses its seal instantly and now you are forced to replace the compressor.

Search my name "Normy" over there. Hopefully the raving, foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalist christian John Dunkle won't ban you for doing a search for my lost screen name there. If he doesn't notice, it is only because he is at his boyfriend Don Watson's house.

N!

futuresoptions · 03-24-2008, 08:29 PM

I have used both types. Until about 2 yrs ago all I was aware about was the type that softens the seals and thus repairing the leak if this is where your problem happens to be. Being in the a/c business I was suprised to find that they started to sell a product that you could put into a residential unit that would seal a leak say in a evaporator etc... I never used the stuff and thought it might not be the best thing to put into a prisitine system but I would always ask my buddies at the parts house how the stuff was selling and what the other technician reports from the field were. I only heard positive results from them. So when my suburban dumped all of the refrigerant out on the first cold front this winter. I decided that the seal on the compressor was the culprit and decided just to rebuild the compressor with new seals. Laziness got the better hold of me, but last month it got pretty hot and I stopped by autozone just so I could get some 134 and have a couple of days of a/c before having to pull the compressor out and repair it. I noticed that they had the seal softner "Stop Leak" $10-15 a can and that they had the good stuff $25 a can. I figured what the hell, I am planning on pulling the compressor anyway, if this stuff doesn't work I will only be at a $25. loss.... Well guess what, it worked a/c is still working great. The stuff hardens when exposed to air/moisture, so what I did was purge my system with a can of 134 prior to charging. I then drove about thirty miles with the a/c on. I have been very happy with the product so far.... It even states on the can that it will fill small leaks on evaporators etc..... so give it a try.... They only thing I would be afraid of is having moisture in my system when I went to charge it, because it may clog if it comes in contact with any air/moisture? so I would purge and leave a static charge of 134 prior to the addition of this product.... hope this helps

futuresoptions · 03-24-2008, 08:37 PM

I just checked the link to Pelicans item you were asking about. That looks like the same kinda stuff.... I would go ahead and order it since it comes with the fittings and hose.... I can't tell you how long this stuff will last, but I probably put mine in about the second week of February, and we have had plenty of low-mid 90 temps since then and it has done great....

kang · 03-25-2008, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by futuresoptions

I have used both types. Until about 2 yrs ago all I was aware about was the type that softens the seals and thus repairing the leak if this is where your problem happens to be. Being in the a/c business I was suprised to find that they started to sell a product that you could put into a residential unit that would seal a leak say in a evaporator etc... I never used the stuff and thought it might not be the best thing to put into a prisitine system but I would always ask my buddies at the parts house how the stuff was selling and what the other technician reports from the field were. I only heard positive results from them. So when my suburban dumped all of the refrigerant out on the first cold front this winter. I decided that the seal on the compressor was the culprit and decided just to rebuild the compressor with new seals. Laziness got the better hold of me, but last month it got pretty hot and I stopped by autozone just so I could get some 134 and have a couple of days of a/c before having to pull the compressor out and repair it. I noticed that they had the seal softner "Stop Leak" $10-15 a can and that they had the good stuff $25 a can. I figured what the hell, I am planning on pulling the compressor anyway, if this stuff doesn't work I will only be at a $25. loss.... Well guess what, it worked a/c is still working great. The stuff hardens when exposed to air/moisture, so what I did was purge my system with a can of 134 prior to charging. I then drove about thirty miles with the a/c on. I have been very happy with the product so far.... It even states on the can that it will fill small leaks on evaporators etc..... so give it a try.... They only thing I would be afraid of is having moisture in my system when I went to charge it, because it may clog if it comes in contact with any air/moisture? so I would purge and leave a static charge of 134 prior to the addition of this product.... hope this helps

That’s good info, thanks. I wasn’t aware there were two kinds: the kind that swells seals and the kind that stops leaks. I need the kind that stops leaks. I don’t think there is any moisture in my system, as it was just purged and recharged. As it slowly leaks, I think I’ll refill it with a stop-leak product.

kang · 03-25-2008, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Fixing the leak could be cheap. Replacing your compressor, condensor, etc would not be. I've universally not heard anything good about these products. Hell, if nothing else just periodically add freon until you can afford a proper fix.

Actually, no, the leak will be very expensive to fix. From what I’ve heard, when they built the car, they started with the evaporator and then built the car around it. See for yourself:

http://p-car.com/diy/ac/

Yes, I’ll add Freon periodically. If it lasts a few months, I’m OK with that, but if it only lasts days or weeks….

My mechanic quoted me $1,700 to replace the evaporator. If you check the DIY link, you’ll see that this is a fair price, given the amount of labor involved. The evaporator itself is about $450, here at Pelican. I’d probably have him replace some of the other stuff while he’s in there, like the expansion valve. My blower fans occasionally squeak, so I would be stupid not to replace those as well. I’d be looking at >$2,000.

mcuozzo · mcuozzo's Garage

FYI, if you use one of those stop leak products, chances are you can never have any work done by a shop on your ac system again.

Shops usually use a machine to identify the refrigerant\contaminants in your system. If there is a certain percentage of contaminants they'll refuse to work on your system. Nobody wants to contaminate their expensive equipment with that stuff.

I used to work in a shop in Phoenix (ie alot of ac work in summer!!!). First question we would ask is if you used stop leak. Then we tested it just to make sure. If they did or we detected a high pct of conamtination, we refused to work on the system. Even if you replace the suspect component, in order to recharge the system, you would contaminate the equipment.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

If you have the means to use the stop leak why would you take it to a shop... i have used it in my car and thats been over 6mos ago and the a/c still freezes me out everytime... good ole' r12

xK1LL3RTURTL3x · 06-25-2017, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kang

That’s good info, thanks. I wasn’t aware there were two kinds: the kind that swells seals and the kind that stops leaks. I need the kind that stops leaks. I don’t think there is any moisture in my system, as it was just purged and recharged. As it slowly leaks, I think I’ll refill it with a stop-leak product.

I used A/C Pro's stop leak in my 1991 mustang. It has the r12 to r-134a conversion kit. I bought the stuff that was JUST stop leak. So long as you follow the instructions to the t, it is a great produce. It claims that as long as it takes 2 weeks or more for your ac to stop blowing cold, it will work. However, mine was leaking out in 4-5 days and it sealed right up. i used it 2 years ago and haven't had to add any r-134a yet. just keep in mind, IT IS NOT REFRIGERANT!!! You will have to add that immediately after so that it does not clog up your service port (where you add refrigerant). Honestly, I have tried many products of this nature and anything that is freon and stop leak together doesn't work. I have never had luck with it and I've never heard of anybody who has but I will definitely be using A/C Pro stop leak again. And just so you know if you decide to try it, it is in a black can and it is one of the only ones that advertises to seal metal leaks, o ring leaks, and compressor leaks. idk what the success rate is but it definitely worked for me.