thanks for the replies. as luck would have it, i went back under the gauges and lo and behold i could actually see some dye coming out of the connection where the expansion valve goes into the evaporator. i didnt see it when i initially tested it. but I noticed while running the car that th econnection got very cold and frosted, and was thinking that maybe it loosened up.

so i tried to tighten it a bit, but it still leaked. so today i have removed the expansion valve and retightened with some long wrenches for a lot of leverage that i managed to get into position. I have it under a deep vacuum and so far (an hour so far) it has held. so maybe its fixed this time. i am trying to retighten everything just to be safe---its very difficult to get things tight under there, plus you are afraid to be agreesive thinking about bending and breaking of the line to the evaporator, and believe me, i dont want to go there again for quite a while.

thanks for all the replies and help. i think the leak was so small initally that not much was coming out---in this case, the dye was very local and it was hidden by some insulation that i installed AFTER i had checked it the first time upon re-assembly. I am so paranoid now that i may drive a while san gauges so i can keep an eye on it!!!

thanks again.