Is there any way to tell if you have a leak inside the car while you have the A/C running? Would it smell funny? Any side effects and/or health risks? Any info on this would be appreiciated!
If you can smell it, it is definatly a health risk, but otherwise no you won't be able to smell it. The best way to tell is to put die in the A/C system and check the tube where the condensation vents from for the die later. Another is a refrigerant detector, but those are expensive.
If mold & gunk builds up in the case for the evap core, it can make it smell pretty funky when you turn the a/c on. A refrigerant leak is not something you'd normally smell inside the car.
At the professional level, you can buy cans of deodorizer to spray into the HVAC air intake at the cowl to kill the smell. I don't know if you can buy it at a retail parts house or not, but it's worth a try.
1) If you have a leak in the cabin enough to smell, it would only be there for a few minutes and then your A/C would not comoe on anymore due to the low side pressure being too low.
2) The best way to check the evaporator for a leak is with a nitrogen tank and an electronic leak detector. This is how I verified mine in the 89. Leak detector will not cut it.
3) To deodorize, there is special spray that you can buy. Turn your system to MAX and spray it at the fan intake at the passenger footwell.
thanks for all the replies! the a/c on this car had not been used for at least 5 years, and a bunch of dust flew out of the vents when i turned it on. i never bothered trying to fix the a/c after i bought the car cuz i thought it might be expensive, and to be honest i never really knew what if anything was wrong. over the weekend my mechanic helped me fix the vacuum leak i had and asked why i hadn't bothered with the a/c. he checked for leaks, checked the compressor, replaced some o-rings and said he believed all i had to do was refill the system. he recommended i go with freeze 12. said it was cheap and easy to do. not knowing much about this, i trusted him and bought everything i needed for about $45. he replaced the valve and filled up the system. didn't take more than 10 minutes. he had an electronic leak detector and it didn't detect any leaks. i had the a/c full blast and after a couple minutes it started blowing ice-cold air. on the drive home the compressor never turned off on the normal setting, although on the max setting it seemed to turn off every so often for a couple seconds and then come back on. it hasn't been a week yet but it still blows very cold. i guess my only concern was because i didn't know anything about this freeze 12 stuff, and i thought there was a slightly different smell when i had the air on. maybe it was all in my head, or the fact that the a/c had not been used for so long and the air ducts were dirty, but i started to worry about the possibility of some kind of leak that might not have been detected. again, it might have been my imagination, but i thought i felt a tingly sensation in my nose from the air i was breathing.
i've done research regarding this freeze 12 stuff and it might not have been the best route to take according to some, but it seems to be working fine for now. again, i went without a/c for 5 years so anything is better than nothing. i'm going to see if i can find this deodorizing spray that was mentioned to see if that helps any. perhaps the tingly sensation in my nose was from the funky smell or the dust affecting my allergies.
Freeze 12 is junk. You're better off to switch back to R12.
The repair company I work for, at one store the manager had a woodie for Freeze 12 for a short while, not much before I went to work there. It got to the point where when a car would come in for a/c repairs, if we'd done a Freeze 12 conversion the year before, we credited that repair cost towards the repairs they were now needing.
I wouldn't convert to R134a, either. R12 is the best, pay the extra money for the more expensive refirgerant.
Of course, it's insanely hot here, so a/c performance is much more important than cost savings.
Freeze12 is R134A (80%) with R142B (20%) for the oil distribution. It's good the friend changed out the seals. The biggest issue with this stuff is the 142B is of smaller molecules. A leak would allow it to escape first meaning you are not circulating oil anymore. How long would your engine last with no oil? Yet, if it works, go for it.
I have been saying lately that with the rising price of R134A (cheapest here is Wal-Mart at $8.88 a can) and the falling price of R12 ($20 a can on ebay), an R12 system should stay R12 if possible.
On another note, if an R134A retrofit is done properly, it can come close to R12 performance. Last weekend I got both of my Mustangs to blow 42 degrees in 93 degree ambient temperature. Pressures were good enough for the stock compressor to handle.
Key to retro fit kit is you got to change the compressor oil with Ester oil or similar. i do this for a living for the military. 134a is a good choice it just has to be done right. 9 years and still blowing cold.