My 1996 honda accord has a refrigerant leak somewhere. if I put in new refrigerant it blows cold for about one day, and then dies out.

I bought one of those black-light test kits and ran it through the system and checked under the hood, however I could not spy out a leak anywhere.

So now I am thinking it is the evaporator in the dash. Reading through the posts, apparently the o-rings go bad on these things.

Should I buy a whole new evaporator, or could I just get away with replacing those o-rings? If so, does anyone have a source?

 

There's a good chance your evap is OK, and only the orings at expansion valve and thermal feedback bulb need to be replaced. Also clean any corrosion (white powder) from the fittings w/ a nonmetallic brush.

It will be difficult to tell if leak in evap (I'm assuming there is one) is orings or tube defect. I considered a leak test, but getting the necessary fittings was a big challenge. Instead, I purchased a used evaporator for about $50. You may want to consider this option, however orings should be replaced on this unit also.

Check car-part.com for possible sources of used evaps near your zip code and check ebay. I found ackits.com to be a good source for nylog (oring lube), PAG, orings, and any other fittings you need.

You will need a vacuum pump (check for rentals), some refrigerant can fittigs, and a set of AC gauges to charge your system.

check autoacforum.com for tips on diy charging. Two 12-oz cans of R134a will be fine to charge the system.

I'm assuming you have some experience w/ auto AC. If not, you may want to do all the replacement work and go to a shop for charging AC.

good luck