1st i dont want a debate if r12 or r134a is better or worse for our systems.

for those running r134a. i want to know how often you guys have to recharge your system. i just did a long trip two weekends ago and it seemed to have killed my ac. i had to recharge it again. 3rd time in 6 months.

 

You have a leak. I don't. I use R134 in one car, R12A in another.

 

Well, whether it's R12 or 134, it should not leak out. It's a sealed system. You've got a leak somewhere. Schraeder valves, fittings, compressor seal, evap, condensor. It's a pretty significant leak if you've needed to recharge it 3 x's in 6 mos. Best find the leak or you'll be doing a recharge quite often, then you'll get air induced into the system if not done properly.

 

Im sure you know this but if not you can buy dye that reacts to blacklight makes it very easy to spot a leak, or you can use an "ac sniffer" if you get your hands on one.

 

i bought a recharge kit from autozone. And it didn't work very well, I probably only managed to get the system to suck up one bottle worth of r134a out of 4, and after the connector broke at one point. So, ... i forgot the point to my reply. Umm... yeah goodluck.

 

their was this mystery stain on front crossmember maybe that could be it. i bought the stuff from advance auto. it stayed it have leak sealer with it. guess it didnt work so well. if i found the leak what would i do to patch it.

 

Depending on where it is you can just sodder(spelling?) the hole

 

I retro-fit my car with 134a two years ago and it still freezes me out of the car. I used it a couple weeks ago and it still worked.

I have managed to change over 9 different vehicles and they have all worked great. No damage to the compressor or the rest of the system.

Find your leak, fix it, fill it and enjoy for some time to come.

 

I had mine retrofitted and I get lucky if cold air comes out...

 

did it start cold and taper off or has the ac always been weak since your retro fitted?

 

Well, I work for a garage and we do A/C service.

The dye works really well. I was trying to find a leak in a 94 civic.... the die showed a hole in the condensor....

We recharge all vehicles with 134a... so far (2 months weve been using it... new shop owner) have not had any cars come back with problems.

We have however had a few compressors come in messed up from those self recharge kits. Whether they are directly connected to the recharge kits... dunno. But most of the compressor repairs had something to do with recharging their own a/c systems with those.

 

I'd say a few years is the charge time atleast. You definately have holes like stated by the others. Have a pro check it out. I have tried to work on a/c systems myself but I can't do much good. Probably the same with most of us here its dangerous too....


Santiago

 

when i recharged it, it would be cold for about 2 months slowly getting less cold then finally it would be warm.
it was retro fitted by the previous owner by a mazda dealer back in 95. i have had the car since 02. ac never blew cold. so i bought one of those recharge kits and recharged it. was cold but not freeze cold. and when the temp outside got to around 85 it never blew cold. thanks for the info guys. ill take it to a/c shop and have them find the leak.

 

If you're talking to me, I remember it being pretty cold when it first got retrofitted. This was in the spring and I didn't really need A/C. So, when I used it in the summer after not being used for awhile it really didn't blow cold air. It was retrofitted at the dealers and they checked for leaks, there were none.

But summer is almost over, now I get to wait a year before I have to worry about it again.

(Sorry for hijacking)

 

The main reason that people's cars come in with the "do-it-yourself" recharge kits and their compressors are screwed up is b/c they didn't vacuum the system down to extract the remaining R12 in the system and the mixture of freon blows out the compressor.

We have a nice little air powered pump that does the job great, picked it up from Napa for like $60 or so. But, you need a pretty hefty air compressor in order for it to work.