Hey guys first time on here, hoping someone can help me out. Currently have an 05 g35 sedan, about 100k miles, fairly well maintained. Last week when I dropped my hood and a bunch of refrigerant started coming out as soon as it slammed shut. Haven't been able to pinpoint an exact impact spot or any obvious damage, however I am the 3rd owner of the car so assuming it was just a little push that broke something on its way out already. AC has not worked at all since, I attempted to recharge it, it was at 0 PSI when I started, once I got it up to a reasonable pressure the compressor did kick on and run until the pressure dropped (hoping that means the compressor is fine). Pressure dropped almost immediately so assuming I have a pretty good sized leak. I just ran the r134a with the UV dye through and it seems to be coming from somewhere in the front passenger side. Here's a couple picks with the dye, but not sure what exactly is effected. Basically I've hit a roadblock with figuring this out so any advice that could point me in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

A shop will test it by pressurizing the system with nitrogen and then spraying every fitting with a mix of dishwashing liquid and water. The leaking fittings will create a white foam for a pinhole leak or a bubble for a larger one. Sounds like you however gave a complete system hemorrhage which is even easier to find.

The biggest issue you will have is properly recharging the system, it requires a special type of high vacuum pump to create extreme negative pressure to pull out ALL moisture inside the system and then adding an exact level of compressor oil and refrigerant to ensure you don't just blow the compressor in a year.

For your vehicle I strongly recommend taking it to an AC repair shop for a permanent fix, you can try the repair yourself and locate the ruptured with more refrigerant but just know it won't last and will almost certainly damage other components in the AC system.

 

It looks like you need a new a/c hose. Seems like the metal fitting has corroded and when you closed the hood it finally cracked.

 

Yep, you can usually spot a leak ahead of time because there will be a big oily/dirty spot somewhere on the exterior of the system from all the compressor oil leaking out and dirt sticking to it. Definitely looks like that hose crapped out on you.