Hi all - just joined. I worked as a Domestic Appliance Service Engineer about 20 years ago in the days of R12, but have since re-trained and now work as a school teacher. I have only had a car with air conditioning for about the last four years and a few weeks ago the a/c stopped working. I can't bear to get my cars looked at by others so there was only one thing to do and that was kit myself out as cheaply as possible and repair it myself. Got the gauges at low cost (Chinese) and a second hand vac pump for free and have just bought a Tiff 5000 leak detector from a seller on ebay who advertised it as fully working. This afternoon I got down to checking it all out but the leak detector found nothing even though I knew from the gauges that I had a leak. I actually soon found the leak in a pipe that had corroded where it touched some sound deadening that had probably harboured water. Even then the unit would not detect the refrigerant (R134a). My question then, at long last, is have I been sold a duff unit or is it only suitable for R12 which would have still been the refrigerant in use at the time of its manufacture?
Thanks, David