Jeep Cherokee Forum - a/c problem 2000 Cherokee 4.0

I've had mine for a couple of years. I found out early that the evap had a minute leak. My neighborhood mechanic told me it was so small he had to use his ppb sniffer to find the leak.

Later, he told me about Super Seal that swells o-rings and seals and I put that in followed by refrigerant. It worked great for a whole summer in 2011.

Now, I've recently begun to have problems. I charged the system in April 2012 with the sealant followed by new r-134 and it cooled great. Recently, during the heat wave, I turned my system on and it was not as cold as before. It felt like there had definitely been leakage due to the air temp from the vents.

I sealed it again, as this stuff leaks out with the refrigerant, put more r-134 in. It cooled great just after. An hour or so later, I hit the road, turned the a/c on and I hear a screech-like sound from under the hood, switched a/c off, then back on again and heard the sound again.

The air was not icy as just after the charging, so I just switched it off. Later, I look under the hood and I can see what appears to be refrigerant spray on the hoses, and on my oil filter. The spray is just below the metal crimped/clamp area of the hose going into or out of the compressor.

I've seen this before with an '01 cherokee I had prior. On that one, I actually saw a quick spray shoot from behind the metal crimp/clamp on the hose and it stained the hoses and the oil filter then also. I was never able to figure it out then because I lost it soon after in an accident.

Anyone, do you think this is hose issue? compressor? It's almost as if the coolant is being pushed on one side through the system but when it gets back to the area of that hose, close to the compressor, it's not allowed to continue flowing so it pushes it's way out through the clamp on the hose.

Help,advice is appreciated.

Scott