2011 Sportwagen AC Leak

[dux11sw]

The AC in my 2011 Sportwagen stopped blowing cold so I hooked up my gauges and the pressures were down around 20 psi so I clearly have a leak. I had a can of 134a so I charged it up to get the system working and started searching for a leak. It blows cold with a charge. There is dye in the system so it should be visible but I can't find anything. There are no spots on the condenser (although it needs replacement because the fins are all folding over) and there are no signs on any of the connections under the hood. I checked the water coming out of the condensate drain but that didn't show any signs of leakage either. The compressor was replaced before I bought the car and the AC worked great for the past 3 years. Are the evaporator cores in these series prone to failure and is there a good way to confirm that it is leaking? I haven't been able to find much on the AC in these cars other than failing RCV valves.

 

[oilhammer]

Only places I've seen leaks:

The drier "can" lower seem at the end of the condenser assembly.

Refrigerant pressure sensor (inside the connector housing).

Places I've seen have leaks CAUSED by something else (like former crash damage):

The short high side hose section from the line set from the condenser (under the fuel filter area).

The line set as it routes under the mount (there are rubber isolators that need to be in place or the lines can rub through).

Damaged hard lines from idiots trying to wrestle the DPF assembly out and in without dropping the subframe.

 

[dux11sw]

Thanks for the reply. I gave up and bought a cheap HF sniffer. It seems to be picking something up out of the vents when the ac is on but it wasn't a full-on alarm. I'll take a closer look at the drier on the condenser. The condenser looks like crap anyway so I will be replacing it and I'll do the receiver/drier at the same time. The fins are so deteriorated and folded over that I'm really not sure how much air is actually flowing through it and the intercooler and radiator behind it. When I did the DPF recently I dropped the subframe based on your advice (20 minute job) and the lines actually looked untouched. It had been done once before I bought the car by the dealer so they may have done it properly. I'll have to check under the engine mount and the pressure sensor too.