Pontiac: air conditioning, ac lines, pontiac grand am

Question
Hello Harold: A very general question: is it possible to run some sort of scan of an air conditioning system in order to pinpoint a leak or other malfunction without going step by step in trying to eliminate the problem? I have had my 1997 Pontiac Grand Am "topped up" twice this season and it is losing its cool again. I know it can run into money having a system repaired so thats why I wonder if a problem area can be pinpointed rather than by the trial and error system.
many thanks...Miller  

Answer
Yes, there are two good ways of finding the leak. One is with an AC leak detector. It is a hand held "sniffer" that you run along all of the AC lines and components. It beeps when you are near the leak.
The other way is with a dye that is put into the AC system. You then use a black light and special glasses to find the exact point of the leak.
I use the second method because you can see the leak rather than depend on the electronic sniffer to be right.
The most common leak on your car is the evaporator core.