Has anyone tread this path before? My car has 105k miles and perhaps is a candidate for this. When we evacuated the system it started at 30 lbs of vacuum and went down to 27 in shortly.

 

an AC shop can inject a fluorescent dye into the AC system, and the location of the leak should be evident with a ultraviolet flash light with the car parked in a dark garage

leaks can occur in many places, the compressor, the evaporator, the condensor, anywhere in the plumbing, the connections to the AC reciever/dryer, etc.

btw, 30 lbs of vacuum is an impossible thing as atmospheric pressure is 14.8 PSI, so an absolute perfect vacuum would be -14.8 lbs... more likely it was 30 inches.

 

So, why blame the compressor? You have a leak, find it! 105k is not a lot of miles, my 1992 745 has 240k still on original compressor with R12, still ice cold! I never mess with it!

 

btw, 'anywhere in the plumbing' includes a cracked hose.