I am a beginner at a/c repair. please pardon me in advance if my approach is beneath the exoerienced here. system lost refrigerant due to leak at least 2 years ago and was down when i purchased the car. previous diagnosis from repair shops claimed leak from evaporator. i find that unlikely as looking at the part it looks like a simple aluminum housing, not much going on. also in reading different MB material, i found these things hardly ever leak. perhaps hoses or connections to the evap fail but not the unit itself. so i will try to tackle it myself one staep at a time. my first priority is to find and stop the leak.
I understand that if the leak is small then i can apply vacuum, fill with refrigerant/dye and start looking for the leak. is this just a matter of getting a vacuum pump from pep boys and hooking up to low pressure side?
if the leak is big then it won't hold a vacuum. in that case i understand that i should apply pressure and look/listen for the leak. is this also just a matter of getting a pump from pep boys and hooking to low pressure side?
thanks for any responses.
jack