I got in my car today to go see the Transformers movie and the outside temp was low 90s. I noticed my AC wasnt cooling like it normally does, it would blow cold for about a min the get hot.... blow cold for another min or so then blow hot for 3 or 4 mins. Well I get home after the movie and I investigate. It didnt take but a sec to realize my prob was from this "hissing" pipe coupling. Can anyone tell me first WHY its leaking? And what part do I need to fix it?

I got some pics here to help ID this stuff..

 

take 2 on pics

 

This time with photobucket!

 

Is this a hole I see?

 

Its illegal to recharge your AC with a leak in the system. Youll have to find it and have it fixed.

 

You can recharge the system yourself once you see where the leak is and fix it. The reason it blows cold then stops is the a/c compressor clutch is turning off cause the system pressure is low. All cars have low and high pressure switch that turn the clutch off if the pressure is to high/low.

 

I decided to take another trip in my car yesterday evening, I was gonna roll with the windows down ( the 260 AC... 2windows down goin 60mph LOL). Well at one point it got a bit warm inside that car while I was idleing, so I flipped the AC on to max to cool it off some. Turns out the damn thing work great for a solid 30 mins or so with no probs whatsoever! I think, hmmm whats up with this?! I took the wifes car to work last night just incase. I get off work early take another look at this supposedly leaky pipe.... It looks fine. I start it up with the AC full blast..... it worked fine......I waited to see if it would do it after the car got warm...... it still worked fine. I dont know wtf is up with this thing but its got me wonderin whats going on! I even tryed to turn the AC from max to ac so the compressor would have a chance to kick off, it did, and started up again, and STILL no hissing or apparent leaks!

 

Ya,we'll send Al Gore over to write you a ticket!!!!!

 

Check the charge on your AC, it sounds like you might have a low or high pressure switch that is acting up. The hissing sound you heard was probably the system balancing out after you shut the car off. I say that because I did not see any traces of a leak on the fitting that you took a picture of and the fact that the AC started to work correctly again. If the switch is bad it might cause the AC compressor to cycle incorrectly and will cause the air to blow cold then hot then cold as you described.
Also it might have been noticable hissing since at the time the AC was cycling a lot

 

Ok I figured out my problem. Turns out that the clutch on my compressor is slipping. I was noticing how the AC was only acting up under acceleration, so I was at work showing a buddy my prob and I revd the engine rpms from right there under the hood. When the "hissing" (and or) spraying noise kicked in I just happend to be looking at the compressor and I noticed the clutch was slipping. Its funny how when the clutch was slipping it sounded just like a high pressure leak. But anyway...... it looks like I got to come up off some cash and pay somebody to replace the compressor!

 

he uses more energy on his house in a month than I use in a two years. when he practice what he preaches, he can come give me a ticket.

 

can't ya just replace the clutch instead of the whole compressor??