2005 - common AC leaks?

You're on the right track. The o-rings and fill valves do eventually leak, but quite a few of these systems failed when a stone hit the condenser. Look for an oily spot there.

Hopefully the system leaked out fast. When it is a slow leak, the (automatic variable-speed) compressor can kill itself trying to maintain pressure with a declining amount of refrigerant.

Good luck!

 

Put a gauge on the low side with the car at rest not running nothing Do you see 80 or 90 lb? If you see 40 well that's not too good the minute you turn the air on it'll suck that down to zero and try to run the compressor to death That's just a quick down and dirty basic low side quick look I'm guessing it's low so while it's low crack open all of your hose connections that you can see underhood. No rings are all common sizes you want to get the latest and the greatest blue green whatever it is no argument here the latest compounds for the given sizes A lot of times you can walk in the auto parts store with the o-rings that you took off and get individually all seven eight nine whatever it is and that's pretty much that You can buy an assortment on Amazon of the latest and greatest compound and have a bunch left over that you'll never use whatever makes you happy. Install those close all the fittings don't over torque stuff no need That's why the seals are there o-rings. Now if you want if you feel like it because your system's only been open a few minutes gas it up whether you're using 134a or envirotemp makes no matter Just put it in there wait for the compressor to kick on watch your sight glass Just as it begins to clear stop filling and you should be at 37 to 40 lb on the low side pretty consistently and we're not looking at the high side don't know if you have that capability doesn't really matter and by now you're fat silver tube is getting cold You may want to not continue to hold it because it's so cold and the inside of the car should be getting plenty cold should be set on low lo not a number. And then if you've really found your sniffer and got a battery in it you want to sniff down there at the footwell which is very close to the evaporator case and all and stick your sniffer wand up in there and listen and wait usually on these cars it's evaporator core that's the piece inside the car or if you look at the very bottom of your condenser down near the road you'll see a lot of destructive nonsense going on down there possibly it's very common generally under the hood around the o-rings is not a thing in these cars but since everything is so old I would go ahead and put the latest and greatest o-rings in If I'm already almost out of gas Just seems a good thing especially in the southeast where we live with our air conditioning Good luck.

 

I've owned several Gen 2s. Pretty much every single one has needed a refrigerant top off 'once' and never again.
Your 2008 is going on 16 years old. NO fluid system is 100% leakproof. An AC system is losing refrigerant from the day it's initially pressurized. If you have the proper equipment to evacuate it and put vacuum on it for testing, then great. If not, take a look at the sight glass or hook up some gauges and see if you have pressure. I've never had one of my Gen 2s need more than that single top off, and none of them have ever needed additional AC work, which is probably just good luck I guess. I wouldn't go tearing anything apart just yet.
There's plenty of info in the forum about using the sight glass.

 

Same here to be clear but if I'm low enough on gas that I can crack the system at 16 years or whatever might as well put new o-rings for me personally here where I am in the south where it's hot enough for you can have a stroke so I just do it's cheap and doesn't really cost me anything the cost of the o-rings and the two wrenches and you know seriously But if you can get away with just adding that's cool too we've got two that we've done that too and two that I cracked open the o-rings because they were showing like near zero on the flow gauge when I open them it made a little hiss noise and done those two cars got new o-rings and I did vacuum those two down and let them stand an hour at vacuum etc and then gas them up with enviro temp I like that stuff works good very cold and so far those two are still in the loop doing very well.

 

Just pray it isn't the evaporator core. The whole dash needs to be taken apart to get to it, so it is a (relatively) expensive part and a lot of labor.

The one in our 2007 failed shortly after we bought it used, luckily with a warranty from the Toyota dealer. It took them a bunch of tries to fix the problem: first topping off refrigerant, then replacing half the lines (I don't recall which half), then finally biting the bullet and replacing the core, and finally one last trip in to plug in some wires that they forget to reattach (couldn't redirect air flow). No problem with the AC since they replaced the core. This part was partially redesigned for the next generation. Gen 2 has a valve built into the core and if the valve fails it is the same thing as the whole unit failing. Next generation they moved the valve forward into the engine bay where it could be serviced separately. That said, rotted out evaporator cores are a common problem in all types of cars.

 

Yeah the evaporator radiator is the condenser down at the very bottom usually the right hand corner when you're standing in front of the cars where it takes a beating usually it just blows the little fins out the tubes are fine everything works doesn't really matter it just looks ugly and it worries people but it doesn't cause any problems The main thing you want is to see your sight glass almost clear every time the compressor kicks in should pull the gauge down to 37 somewhere right in there and the sight glass should almost be clear you see a bubble go by every few seconds if it immediately pumps up and clears up completely you're slightly overcharged as far as I'm concerned but probably won't hurt anything. It will just leak out quicker to get to a resting point which may be lower than what you want or need you'll find out in a few days

 

Hope it works for you, but be prepared if it doesn't.

The part in front of the radiator is the condenser. I've done a few of them on various Gen 2 Prius. If you need to replace that you can get a Denso unit from a reputable aftermarket source. If you have any concerns with road salt or rust, get all the mounting brackets and hardware from the dealer.

The other "big" leak point on these cars is the evaporater core inside the dashboard. It's a whole bunch of labor to remove the entire dashboard assembly to get to the heater-A/C housing.

You might want to take your car to a shop that can diagnose any leak source. (Sure, "O-rings" can leak, just haven't seen it very often).

Good luck

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Yes but there's nothing you can do about that except let the freon out or suck it up and vacuum down the system for about an hour realizing you're desiccant and your dryer of the system is very old but that would probably get most of it out for a while but as long as it's working and everything is recirculating and moving around I would probably leave it alone until it gets so cold it starts freezing the moisture inside of the lines I wouldn't worry too much

 

Most of the time that means you went from empty to partially charged.

Be careful because putting too much in can blow seals or weak points due to high pressure. Running it with very low refrigerant can cause the variable speed compressor to run at excessively high rpm’s. You also want no oil or sealers in the refrigerant you add.

The right way to charge a system like this is to remove old gas, vacuum to a low micron level and then weigh in the proper charge. Getting the equipment to do this right does not make sense for the average diyer. So taking it to a pro automotive AC shop gets you an accurate diagnosis and cold air without wasted effort.