Hi,

My Integra is having issues. One is, my AC & heater have stopped working. AC doesn't blow cold and doesn't even seem like the compressor turns on. The heater takes a while to blow warm (not hot, warm). I noticed that there are two lines, right by the distributor and intake that are leaking a greenish color liquid. I asked my mechanic and he thinks it could be dye in the freon (he put dye in the freon to troubleshoot a condensor issue). To me, it looks like coolant. Oh yea, not to mention, my coolant reserve bottle goes dry. I have to fill it up every two or three days. Car doesn't overheat, thankfully. I've looked under the hood with the engine running and I don't see anything leaking. I'm guessing its a slow leak or it leaks more when I'm driving the car down the road. The coolant reserve drying up, don't know how. There are no coolant leaks coming from it or underneath the car. Really odd.

Can someone please help? Attached are some pics....thanks in advance! I've searched the forums to see if I could find anything that could help at least identify which lines these are and I couldn't locate any.

Thanks,

- DM

 

Those are a/c lines, follow them and you'll see.

 

Thanks. I had a feeling they were a/c, but I saw the lines actually run under or thru the radiator to the other side of the engine bay. And with the leak being green in color, I thought perhaps it was something radiator related. Especially since my coolant reserve keeps drying up.

Do do these a/c lines have a particular name, by any chance? I started looking on eBay for replacements and seen some called “discharge” or “suction” lines. Thanks again man!

thanks,

- DM

 

If your ac lines are actually leaking, it is more than likely the o-rings needing to be replaced and not the lines them selves. The rubber that you are seeing is a thermal insulator, not a Freon seal of any sort. I am not sure if ac refrigerant is actually green like that, maybe someone else knows...

 

It's probably the UV dye they put in to find the leaks. Do you have any pics of the actual leak? Those are solid lines, if they were cracked you would not have any pressure in your AC system at all, freon would go straight out the crack. If they are not cracked, it could be one of the o-rings. It's best to take this to a local shop where they can put the system under vacuum and verify there are no leaks. You really need to do this before adding any more refrigerant.
As far as your heater blowing only warm and your coolant reservoir going dry... Sounds like a head gasket. Not that uncommon or hard to fix. If the coolant is not leaking onto the ground, it's going out your tailpipe. A leakdown test is the best way to determine a head gasket failure. You can rent the tool for cheap if you have an air compressor. If you have not done so already, I recommend bleeding your cooling system using the service manual.

 

Everything he just said. And yes, AC freon is green. But you don't need new lines if that's what's leaking just the o-rings in between line connections.

 

Wow, 1st thanks for all of the feedback. Its very helpful! Very much appreciated!

@ CandyRedRC46 - The rubber, makes sense those are insulators, since these are AC lines. Thanks. I'm hoping its like you said and its just o rings and not something more serious. Appreciate it man!

@ thewrai6th - I don't have any other pics of the leak other than what I shared on this thread. I could take some more, however. I'm guessing it would probably be best to have the AC on and running while I try and locate the leak? I mentioned that it doesn't seem like the compressor turns on when I turn the AC on, but hopefully something will show up while I have it cut on. The mechanic I use just fixed a condenser issue because my AC wasn't working before. And I didn't really use it much this summer...a couple of times. I'm hoping its just the o rings and not the lines.

I took a look again yesterday. Here are some things I found.
1) Its moist on most of the insulator pieces and some of the engine bay. Also, the under-side of my cone filter of my intake, is also stained green. Perhaps the leak sprayed all over around the lines. I took the cone filter off and looked inside the intake and there was oil residue inside. Is that normal? There is a rubber hose that runs from the valve cover to the intake, so I'm guessing this is where it comes from?
2) Took the oil cap off and took a peek and didn't find any coolant mixed in with the oil.
3) As for my coolant resovoir, Still nothing obvious. Perhaps its going out the tailpipe, like you mentioned. I'm praying its not my head gasket because I just got it replaced over the summer. My engine is a lsvtec and the mechanic did not like that the holes of the head gasket did not line up between the head and the block, but I told him that this is customary with these type of lsvtec engines. Depending on which gasket you use (non-vtec vs vtec), the holes don't line up perfectly either on the head or the block. I ended up just using a vtec head gasket a friend of mine had extra (new) from his gsr. So, the mechanic put it on for me. The funny thing is, my car never overheats. When I had issues with the head gasket the 1st time, there was coolant leaks on the block and my car would overheat some or run hotter than normal (past the half-line mark on the gauge).

I should just take it to a shop. I wanna try and identify where the AC leak is coming from though, so please let me know if I should turn the AC button to on and try to locate the leak better this way please? This way I can try and keep the shop I find honest when they check it.

Thanks very much guys and let me know about the AC test (best practices)....you are awesome!

- DM

 

If you aren't getting heat it could just be you are low on coolant, or its just old and doesn't transfer heat as well anymore. A thermostat this time of year is a good idea too. It is recommended to use distilled water because it doesn't have the impurities of tap water.

 

Thanks man....appreciate it.

- DM