r12 -> r134a, some questions.

[cp[mike]]

got my car and the a/c has never worked. i hit the button and the green light lights up, but the compressor never runs.

doing my swap, i found that it had absolutely no refrigerant in it, and its an R12 system.

i bought a conversion box, so i have enough r134a, and i got the "conversion oil" and fittings.

my question is, why would the car, being completely stock, have no refrigerant in it? i took off the line and it has some neon green stuff in it, dont know if thats the R12 oil, or what... very possibly the dye they use for finding leaks...

u think i should bring it to a shop, get tested for leaks, before i convert and fill it?

[img]http://****.su1d.net/greenr12stuff.jpg[/img]

[Maple50175]

weird. My ac doesnt work eaither it sucks. But i have no idea what u have to do to make it ice cold again


How to do u do the converstion thing?

[skubydobdo]

Having no refridgerant means there is a leak in the system most likely. It seems that somoeone threw in a shot of the dye with the last fill up. Take it to a shop, they'll use a light (black light maybe?) To find the source of the leak. Hopefully it's just a fitting or something and not a large component, that's huge $$$.

[mixmatch]

your gonna have to pull vacuum on the system to safely convert it so if there is a leak you wont be able to get all the old oil and stuff out of the system. so yeah take it to a shop and hope its a fitting and not a hose leak.

[cp[mike]]

thanks ppl, i guess ill replace the o-rings and make sure the hoses are properly snug. ill bring it to a shop and get it leak tested, then vacuumed out so i can fill it with r134a

[phatdoughnut]

What and how much does it cost for a bottle of that refrigerent? my wifes AC is not cold and i believe it needs to be recharged..

[resynch]

r134a is about $5 a can.......its alot cheaper than r12

[phatdoughnut]

so whats the delio? you just hook it up to that valve and let it flow, like a can of fix it flat?

[ACCORDianate]

I did an r12 -> r134a conversion without the kit:

http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthre...&threadid=9185

a word of warning: doing what I did makes the compressor sound like a Ford power steering unit, blows ice cold air.

[SoySauceCb7]

Whats this word you speak of, A/c?

[BustedLX]

The dye that's in your system can be seen with the naked eye if the leak is large enough. Most times the leak will be either in the condensor (from rocks and road debree smacking it) or in the evaporator for some unknown reason they always leak all by their damnselves.

Either way doing a vacum on it can give you some indication of the size of the leak. You are going to need to vacum the system in order to get all the moisture out. Whenever you find the leak, fix it, replace the dryer, vacum in, fill it 8oz of oil, and refrigerant. That will be nice and cold.

[cp[mike]]

thanks for the clear response jose. im gonna go ahead and do that at some point soon. thanks

[do0dfromcali]

I got mined swapped over to 134 for 150 bucks. With labor. The guy hooked me up. He said it still has a small leak, but whats good is I will just toss in another can of 134 for 5 bucks. The AC has lasted me all summer with the "leak" he speaks of so I think I should be good for continued cold AC

[Bluejayde]

150 bucks? HOLY SHIT! That's crazy expensive. I did mine myself for $25 dollars. To get it done at a shop is like $50 maybe. Maybe it's just that things are more expensive in Cali, but...wow.