Red Angel AC Stop Leak

[thom4782]

Has anyone had any experience with this product - Red Angel AC Stop Leak. It is an oil based sealer that is supposed to work far better than other stop leak products. Most important, the vendor says that it will not clog the AC system or the equipment at AC shops.

[JFP in PA]

I would not use any type of stop leak in the AC system, too many cause more problems than they solve. Find the leak and fix it.

[thom4782]

I rolled the dice today trying to avoid a $2000+ AC repair job to replace my evaporator that has a small leak.

I did this after talking to the Red Angel 'stop leak' technical support folks. They assured me that Red Angel, unlike other stop leak products, is activated by contact with air and not moisture. Because of this, the Red Angel people claim that its stop leak product will not clog car AC systems or AC shop equipment. In theory it only does it thing where refrigerant is actually leaking into the air.

To get the Red Angel job done, I visited a local AC repair shop. They began the process by evacuating the system. Next, they injected a 2 oz bottle of Red Angle Stop Leak. They followed this by recharging the system with oil and 134a. After running the car for 10+ minutes, the shop used a sniffer to see if it could detect leaking refrigerant. It may have stopped the leak or not. On its most sensitive setting, the machine sounded a beep. It could be leaking refrigerant from my car or another. My car was downwind from a number of other cars having their AC systems worked on. Only time will tell if Red Angel works as promised.

[thom4782]

UPDATE

After eight weeks, the AC is still going strong with no apparent problems. This is far longer than it lasted previously after recharging.

There are two reasons reasons I gave Red Angel a try. Replacing a leaking evaporator was going to cost me $2000 plus. The manufacturer says Red Angel works differently than other stop leak products in that is doesn't rely on swelling o-rings to stop small leaks.

I'll let folks know in another couple of months if the system is still holding refrigerant.