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OTR oil leak
Not to good with understanding more than the basics of air conditioning.
Have had to add a small Freon charge about once a year to keep the OTR cold. I have just found this oil leak on the condenser where the large hose with the blue marking band, (see attached pictures) is attached.
Is this a major issue (don’t use the OTR until fixed) or a OK to use, just get fixed sooner than later?
Chuck
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
18 Replies
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It’s amazing how clean a 20 plus year old Prevost Bay is and how well it’s made. I work on a lot of different Fiberglass motorhomes in different bays working ontheir Aqua Hots and even on newer coaches not nearly this nice.
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Chuck, Are you sure that is the area of the leak? You have either cleaned the area with degreaser or if it is the leak source it is miniscule.
Generally speaking A/C system leaks such as behind the compressor clutch are identified by black grease at the leak. I have never seen a clean leak location.
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Jon:
Cleaned the area while up in Massachusetts, 1,200 mile drive home and found the leak. Had a drip of oil on my garage floor, looked up with flash light and saw a droplet of oil hanging from the bottom of the nut shown in the picture. Touched it with my finger before taking the picture so oil residual is not as noticeable as it was before I touched it.
I did have the leak around the compressor shaft seal as you noted, that was fixed about 1 1/2 years ago.
Can I make a couple of hundred mile trip without damaging anything or should I just keep the bus air (OTR) off?
Chuck
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If your system is so low the system pressure drops out of range it will stop functioning and should not harm itself.
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Comments about the cleanliness of Chucks bay made me giggle. Chuck only noticed the oil drop on the garage floor because he was about to eat dinner on the garage floor. There is nothing on this planet that is cleaner or better cared for that Chuck’s bus!
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I’d try tightening nut first.
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Thanks Doug
Glens:
Tried to tighten, wouldn’t budge. Assume it’s because of the PSI on the hose.
Chuck
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
My concern is that the leak may not be the fitting but rather the point of attachment of the fitting to the panel. If so, the price of poker goes up. Agree with Jon, not likely to cause a disaster. If this is not a R22 system, can top it off quite a bit for not much money. And keep an eye on things. Could go a long time before having to do anything else. Perfection being the enemy of success. While leaks from unknown sources tend to drive me crazy, as long as I have a handle on it (and take my medication) I can tolerate not throwing money in that direction – as long as it is cooling ok.
Mike
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Agree with Billybeaver and the old farmer “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. You have already confirmed it is not a loose clamping nut – the nut is tight because it was installed tightly and retains that installation torque, the pressure of the refrigerant is minimal in comparison to the clamping force of a properly torqued nut. Tightening it more could make it worse, over tightening a flare seat fitting can make a leak by “over flaring” the tubing end spreading it too thin and exceeding the ductility limit of the material and causing it to crack = big leak.
As long as the oil level in the compressor is good in the sight glass, and you are not having to add large amounts of refrigerant regularly, as long as you keep it charged per the floating balls you should be OK. There are likely myriad small leaks throughout a 20 year old system. Don’t tell the EPA.
You could find someone with an electronic leak detector and “sniff” the fitting, might tell you where the small leak is. Likely at the flare/seat interface, but as another cited, could be where the flare seat male fitting is soldered/brazed to the copper condenser plumbing.
In summary, unless you have other reason to discharge/recover refrigerant, fix other things, evacuate/recharge, best don’t mess with it.
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Jon, Mike, & David:
Thanks for your input. Think I will leave well enough alone if or until things get worse. The thought of opening up Pandora’s box by damaging the soldered/brazed fitting scares the H out of me.
David: Agree with the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
Mike: Can you share the medication you take to tolerate leaks? LOL
Jon: Your note on the system shutting down if it gets to low is comforting.
Chuck
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Our OTR systems have protection against low or high pressure for the same reason which is to protect the system.
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If the leak is the hose fitting just tighten will probably not stop anything, but many years and tons of leaks loosen the fitting, yes you will loose a little freon and then tighten should fix leak.
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Jim Beam
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This post was timely for me as I was getting ready to ask a related but slightly different question. I’ll just jump on here since the conversation is similar.
This week after running the coach (without OTR running) I saw oil on the ground below the AC compressor and see that it has leaked oil below the compressor shaft. Pretty obvious to me it is the compressor shaft seal.
I am headed to Florida at the end of the month. Is there any issue with driving it (without running OTR) and getting it repaired in Florida? Also, is that seal something I could consider doing myself (I have done alternators) or is it something I should just let a pro take care of? If it is something you have done, does anyone have the service manual with instructions?
Thanks as always!!
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An OTR compressor seal for a professional is about a 2 hour job, more or less, and involves popping off the clutch and the bolts behind the clutch to expose the seal.
It is not complex, but after completion will require some recharging. The system can have most of the refrigerant pumped to the system, and then the compressor sealed at the valves to minimize the refrigerant needed to recharge.
Take advantage of the Prevost service manuals on their web site because they do a great job of providing instructions.
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