I have a 1996 Astro. I put a remanufactured engine in about 2 years ago. About a year ago my a/c started to stop blowing cold every once and a while. It blew cold when the temperature was below 70 degrees, when it was raining and when I reved the engine. when I turned the van off it would make a pissing noise for a minute or so. I took it to the ac place about 3 weeks ago and they said I needed a compressor. Today I was driving and heard a loud pisssssssssss. I first though it was a tire, but I could smell something funny and smoke came from under my hood. I got home and lifted the hood and there was green fluid around my ac radiator connection. The fluid did not leak from the radiator itself, it leaked from the hose that goes from the radiator to the thing that the blower blows the air over before it gets the the inside cabin.

My first question is: This metal hose that goes from the ac radiator to the other thing, do I have the replace the hose or do I have to replace an O ring at the connection where it leaked. Second, could the compressor have caused this or was the compressor just not able to build up pressure because it was leaking before. It has been making a quit pissss sound for about a year when I turned the van off. I would think that after a year all the r134 would have leaked out. I check the "freon" levels a couple of times with the craping ac check gauge that is attached to the freon container, during that year and the pressure was the same. does anyone know what I am talking about or had the same problem? Anyone know where I can get a ac Diagram for the van. I bought a vacuum and gauges and I am going to do this myself. If you have any other question dont hesitate to ask. Thanks