Dear Mr Pelchat,

I hope your mechanic (he knew your system was leaking) added some UV tracing dye and some refrigerant oil while doing the topping. Now is to trace any oily part of the system and attempt repair.

Which part of the system need some re-soldering? Aluminium pipe soldering is possible but need to find the expert shop to do it. Better to replace it than to solder it unless its a pinpoint leak (considering the high working pressure in the system).

Topping up using the quick recharge container sold at convenient store is easy but I would repair the leak first.

Yes, no cold air (compressor IS running) even after jumping the low pressure switch could mean low freon. Could mean other things too i.e blocked orifice tube, extremely worn compressor, blocked condenser (with compressor debris) but lets get to that later.

For environmental reason I'd prefer to repair the leak as letting the freon escape would affect the environment. The R134a refrigerant took some 10 years to degrade itself in atmosphere. While it doesn't cause any ozone depletion, it causes global warming.

Regards,
Amarin.