Visiting a buddy of mine about 45 min drive. When I got near his house, I stopped by a McDonalds to grab a snack. When I came back to the car and started up the engine, a fairly loud hiss started in the engine compartment! White "smoke" started coming from under the hood. For about 15-20 seconds, and everything seemed to go back to normal. I say "smoke" because it seems to evaporate and disappear almost right away, while smoke (from fire/heat) would continue to drift into the air. When I left my buddy's house, I realized my A/C wasn't getting any cooler. Which makes me think the white "smoke" was refrigerant/freon leaking out. Maybe an AC line cracked or something. Where should I start? What should I look for? Your time and feedback is great appreciate.

 

check where the thin aluminum ac line runs under the intake duct. between the MAF and the TB. this is where there is clearance issues and it rubs if you have aftermarket or Z-tube installed.

 

Found it... not the aluminum, but rather a rubber hose. I have a Vortech, so hose and tubes might be hard to distinguish compared to stock engine or may have been relocated. This hose has an aluminum end that goes to the front of the car (air filter is blocking it) I think it goes to the radiator. The aluminum part is a J, up then curved back down, I can't see it after this point. The other end of this connection goes to the engine, to the driver side, closer to the front of the engine. Near the dipstick, actually. I see florescent green splatter near and around the rip in the rubber part. This I assume is radiator fluid. My question now is, can I drive the car to the mechanic, or should I have it towed. I drove the car home from my buddy's house, so I should be ok?

 

It's probably florescent refrigerent dye/oil. They put that in there for lubricating A/C components and so you can trace leaks . Car is safe to drive . Go to a shop and tell them what happend and show them the spot. Any tech worth his salt will be able to tell if its a a/c leak just by looking at it

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Turned out to be an AC line, the piece of crap cost me almost $200 for the part only and had to be special ordered. Everything looks good now, the mechanic zip tied it prevent it moving around. I drove home and check everything again and it looks good. AC is nice and cold