[Iciclehead]

Gentlemen and Ladies,

I just got the car out of storage, did its annual maintenance and found, to my chagrin, for the second year running, that the AC system was operating poorly, vent temperatures on the order of 60F, way worse than the 35F I have typically seen.

The system is a Retroaire and has worked well in general, but last year I had the same issue except for the system was completely empty of refrigerant.
I (last year) went and checked for visual leaks, found a very small amount of residue on the suction side of the compressor fitting, tightened the fitting as far as I dared and was able to draw and maintain vacuum.

All good, or so I thought. I recharged the system, had a good year with AC in last year's driving system and fully expected that all would be well....but, alas....no.

There is sufficient residual pressure in the system so that the compressor kicks in and provides some cooling, just not enough. I have checked all the fittings again for any residue of any kind (PAG oil leaks indicating refrigerant leaks), no problems.

So, the leak is very slow, taking over a year to lower the pressure this much.

How to find it? Any ideas of tackling a leak this slow? Or do I just charge it up and deal with having to put in a can of R134a every year?

How about adding sealant to the mix? Don't like the idea, but then again, I don't much like the idea of redoing every fitting, replacing the O rings and perhaps still not addressing the issue.

Thanks,

Dennis

PS - when I installed the system the first time I forgot to mount the Schrader fittings that RetroAire provided. Looks like there is no real way to put them on now unless I evacuate the system....mind you, I also don't know how to do that. I presume I have to take out the little valve assembly on the compressor inlet/outlet and then thread the Schrader's onto those.