Guest MauiWowee Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 My A/C is a little weak. Is the conversion to R-134 worth it, and how much should it cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 One gentleman recently (within the past week) said that his Buick dealer did it for $54. Fifty something, I know. That is of course you don't need new parts, or they can't talk you into buying some new parts.Mine's cold but keeps having low freon charge messages, and sometimes will disable the compressor. It's getting filled back up tomorrow, for two cases of Cherry Coke. My dad has like a dozen old cans of R12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Hmmm...someone got saying that the cost of R12 has actually dropped, because demand for it has fallen because everything has R134a. But I don't know. It might not be readily available.Some Explorer dudes of mine were actually talking about converted from R134a to R12 My dad bought the cans right before R12 was pretty much outlawed in the early 90s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 If you can get you hands on R-12 at a good price and it doesn't need much I would stick with the R-12. If you are not get good cold air flow you may have a plugged evaporator. They get cover with a fuzzy gunk that blocks the air flow and insulates the evaporator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spongebob Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 r12 is alive and doing well its on e-bay all the time its not illegal and you can buy it as long as you have a certificate to do so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 That's what I meant by illegal; not easily bought by anyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 The one thing to watch for in the conversions is if any parts are marginal, the higher pressure in the 134 system may cause a failure. Just happened to a friend of mine on a '93 Buick. It cooled very well but the compressor seized after ten days. If the system is just a little low, I agree that sticking with the R12 is a better deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spongebob Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 oil was probably not changed.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 When I took off the cap of my AC system, there was a "pssssht" of escaping freon through the shrader valve or whatever. I describe it as being like a tire valve stem. Is it just like a regular valve core? Can I screw it out and replace it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MauiWowee Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 So, F14.........where do I deliver the Cherry Coke?LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spongebob Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">When I took off the cap of my AC system, there was a "pssssht" of escaping freon through the shrader valve or whatever. I describe it as being like a tire valve stem. Is it just like a regular valve core? Can I screw it out and replace it? </div></div>why not try tightening it 1st.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 I thought about that; tightening the shrader valve. I'm gonna do that.I was a bit on the lighter side with that question though. Don't worry, I'm not actually that dumb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spongebob Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Haa, you would have figured it once you had the tool on the valve.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 Yup. Took a can of R12 and two 12 packs of Cherry Coke to my mechanic and he pumped it back up. He also got out his sniffer and found a tiny leak near the firewall, and he tightened that and the shrader valve up. It's putting out air at about 45F. Yay. Gotta keep my cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted May 11, 2005 Share Posted May 11, 2005 Maybe, but I doubt it. I suspect it may have been oil related though. The whole reason for the change was a leak in the evaporator that coated the surface with oil and stuck on junk so air flow was seriously reduced. The a/c tech convinced him to changeover since the whole system had to be purged and taken apart, and that does make sense. The compressor may have died even if he stayed with R12. I do suspect some of the cases where compressor failure followed a changeover was the system had been running for some time in a less than perfect state, and it was only a matter of time. Not too many people take a system that is operating properly and deliberately spend money to change to something it wasn't designed for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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