When your car's air conditioning system fails to blow cold air, one cause could be a refrigerant leak. If you add refrigerant to your system needlessly and without properly diagnosing a leak, however, you may end up overcharging the system and damaging it permanently. In order to avoid causing harm to your car's A/C system, you can confirm that a leak is the culprit in just a few minutes with the right tools.
Purchase a hand-held sniffer. A sniffer is an electrical device capable of scanning any suspected areas for a variety of refrigerants. Turn the sniffer on and set it to scan.
Pass the sniffer's probe over any possibly leaking areas. In order for the sniffer to work effectively, you should move it around the area at a rate of about one inch per second.
Listen for any signals from the sniffer. Most sniffers alert the user of a refrigerant leak with an alarm or a buzzer, though some models just flash their lights. If your sniffer does not detect any refrigerants, your A/C system's failure might not be a leak after all.
Purchase a fluorescent dye UV detection system. Most kits come with the dye, a pair of yellow goggles or glasses which allow you to see the fluorescent dye and a fluorescent light.
Follow the directions provided by the manufacturer when adding the dye. Do not add more dye than instructed to by the user guide.
Turn the car on and turn the A/C system to full blast for several minutes to ensure proper distribution.
Put the goggles on that are provided by the kit and thoroughly examine your A/C system with a fluorescent light. The goggles will allow you to spot any leak that you have.
