I had my air conditioner recharged on my '94 Bonneville last summer. The shop which did so said my compressor was in good shape. After the recharge, I had constant cold air for about two weeks; after that I only got cold air when I accelerated briskly, and within about a month cold air was gone completely.

Now, with summer coming up [and possible trip to FL] I have seen at Advance and other shops DIY leak finding systems. Are these worthwhile or are they even possibly harmful? If I should avoid those, how much should I expect a shop to charge- or how much have you been charged- to find and fix the leak?
Thanks-

The kits aren't too bad...Make sure you find a kit with a UV dye and a UV light that comes with it. Make sure that you don't make a mess in the engine bay while adding the dye, otherwise everything will look like a leak....

I've had good luck with finding leaks with the stuff in my old 95 SSEi....

x2 the dye is helpful, as opposed to a halogen sniffer which has not worked for me.

my shop charged $25 per lb (so 50), like 50 for compressor oil, and $150 for a used compressor...they gouged me, and it stopped working like 3 weeks later...i can't fix it myself, only shops can buy refigerant in my state, so i have to buy some next time i go to illinois

Ummmm......Napa/Checker/O'Reilly'*/Advanced ALL sell R-134a on the shelf.....?

Unless it'* just a MN thing?

wondering about the mechanics of this... How do these kits stop the leak?

THen, if it'* a bigger leak than the kit will stop, will using this kit screw things up for a A/C shop if they have to fix things later?
Thanks, guys!

ummm, is your ac compressor clutch ok?? does it engage and disengage like it'* supposed to??

If the system is emtpy.....then it won't cycle anyways, which will be somewhat misleading to a bad compressor and/or solenoid....

Either way you have to charge it with something to find it.

As for screwing it up, I don't think so, as long as the directions are followed correctly.