Air Conditioner (A/C) Recharging

[Soul Shinobi]

My '92 Legacy L A/C hasn't worked since I got the car and I'm about sick of it. Being an older car it uses the R12 refrigerant that was phased out in automotive use in favor of the more environmentally friendly R134a refrigerant.

I want to recharge the system, but getting R12 refrigerant in would require me taking it to a shop and for about $100 someone certified to touch R12 would recharge it. I asked my trustworthy mechanic what to do and he said just to buy a retrofit recharge kit (about $33 from Wal-Mart) because that's what he does anyway to older car that need a recharge at his shop.

It just seemed too easy to me so I thought I'd do a bit of research and asking around first.

On www.wikihow.com on the "How to Fix Your Car's Air Conditioner" page there was a scary warning:

Be extremely cautious about converting your old R-12 system to R-134a. The R-134a conversion kits sold at Auto Parts stores and even WalMart, are called "Black Death Kits" by some AC repairmen. Frequently, the new R-134a refrigerant will not circulate the R-12 oil and you will burn up your compressor. The R-12 mineral oil has chlorine contaminants that will destroy the R-134a PAG or POE special oil. The only way to reliably convert from R-12 to R-134a is to remove the compressor and flush out all the old oil with the new type of oil; then replace the old Receiver-Dryer or Accumulator with a new one; then flush out all the lines, the evaporator, and the condensor with special cleaner then vacuum to a steady vacuum; and finally charge with 70-80%, (by weight) of the original R-12 weight, with R-134a; and expect poorer cooling ability. It is much easier to keep the old R-12 system running with R-12 that is readily available via ebay.

Alright, well, problem is, to get a proper conversion it would cost over $200 at most shops, and also, it's highly illegal to buy R12 from an eBay seller (unless you send the seller a copy of your certification to handle what ever class of hazardous material R12 is, which all the sellers I've seen request).

So I'm really not sure what I should do, so I made this poll to see what you've all done. I'm still thinking of taking a shot at the $33 retrofit-recharge kit from Wal-Mart, but I am also worried about doing damage to my A/C system. The only other option I'm considering is recharging it with R12 one way or another, but that worries me because acquiring and using it myself would be difficult (because it's illegal) and it's nasty stuff that I don't want randomly dripping on me while I'm under my car one day!

So that's what I'm thinking, either the cheaper R134a recharge or an R12 recharge of some sort.

[ericem]

R12 should work for sure. I did(my dad he is a licenses HVAC tech) worked fine. Then he tried R34b, and thats what im using now.

Probably be better off using R134a i would think r12 would cost quiete a bit, no systems I know of that still use it anyway. Its not really nasty though, don't know how you think it gets recharged xD. If its completely dry the system then it will probably need to be vacuumed the system, and therefore you need a recovery tank, thats really the proper way of doing the job by the way and you need proper guages not the ones on the bottle.

[Murphy]

we havent converted any of our cars, they are all R12 still, my uncle does HVAC repair for all of P.A.T.s company trucks
so he has a kit at his house to recharge and he gets R12 from work

[Bheinen74]

about a month and a half ago, i removed my compressor as the clutch front was bad on it. I installed used compressor i got from Matt Monson last year. I replaced the drier. Then had local chevrolet dealer leak check, and recharge with R12 freon. works as good as new now. cost for just the shop to install and recharge was 200. the drier was like 25 and the used compressor wasnt too pricey.....


well worth the money, we have been in the 90*s plus F the last 3 weeks.
ps, how do i get to vote 3 times total, my 93ss needs a recharge, and my wagon needs a new condensor and then a recharge. I voted based on my 92ss

[Soul Shinobi]

I can't enable multiple voting, wish I could.

I want to hear about someone trying a R134a recharge kit. Anyone know someone who's done it with an older car at least?

[Bheinen74]

the r134a retofit kit.....well, all i have been told is that our cars were designed for r12, and that r12 cools to a lower temperature.
The r134a will work, but it puts more stress on the compressor to achieve a less cool temp. therefore better off to stay with r12, it is easier on the compressor, and cools better.
i am sure you can find a repairshop with r12. about 5 years ago, dealers would say no way on it, but it is beginning to show a comeback as the reason above calls a need for it still.

[Soul Shinobi]

Sounds good, I guess calling around couldn't hurt.