You could take a stab at both problems with one of these:
eBay link. It contains some stop leak goop suspended in a small amount of oil. That'd probably do you right.

As far as finding the leaks there's a couple of ways.. AC mechanics have a "hydrocarbon sniffer" that you can track leaks down with. You can also inject a florescent dye into the system and use a black-light to find leaks. Depending on the rate of leak though, you may find it's just easier to keep feeding it freon every 3 years.

In any case, to fix a leak you're going to need to be prepared to purge the whole system. AC mechanics will recover the refrigerant, pull a vacuum on the system (like 15 inHg) and see if it will hold vacuum. If it doesn't hold, there's still a leak somewhere. Many times it's the o-ring at the filling valves (called schrader valves).. If it's these that are leaking you can band-aid them by inserting an o-ring in the valve cap and srcewing it on tightly.



Yep, good point. It is a good idea to wait for a very hot day to charge your AC. It will be more accurate that way. As long as it's hot out there will be plenty of moisture in the air to condense.

In addition, if your charging process is taking a long time your AC core is getting hotter than it would if you're driving. It can be a good idea to charge until you see condensation, let it cool off (or drive around with the AC off) and then slowly add some more until it condenses again.


Thanks for mentioning. I had looked at auto-cool once upon a time but hadn't found anyone that used it. At 1/3 the volume I'd imagine it would be a lot easier on the pump. I couldn't imagine only charging with 4 oz of refrigerant but I might give it a shot when I run out of Freeze-12.

 

The total R12 charge for a 93 FD is about 21oz by my manual.

After the R12 pump out, the valves were changed over to R-134 valves, then the system was vacummed out for a few hours. Then the system was loaded with AUTOCOOL, 1 can of oil which includes 2oz coolant, and 1 can of coolant (6oz). Thus 8oz was loaded.

 

THANKS A LOT NEWBERND!!!!!!!!

 

What o-rings will I need to convert my system from r12 over to r134? It's a 93.

Thanks!

Cam

edit: sizes and location would be beneficial. I've got the manual but can't find the page that lists all the o-ring locations. If you could point me into the right area that would be great.

 

Is there any kind of general consensus on what is the best R12 alternative? I am looking at the Freeze 12 and the autocool. Are there any better ones out there? Or which is the best out of these two?


Thanks

 

Hi all

i went on ebay and purchased a freeze 12 kit, my question is

does it matter (red/blue) which one goes to which? i put the blue shrader valve to the low pressure hose


my problem is like someone who did this before, refridgerant isnt getting into the system with the new valves. how do i fix that? i went to all the local automotive shops and none of them had a straight r12 hose...

?

 

i am dealing with the same problem... don't know what my production year is but i have a 94 pep.

it has a leak in the high side hard line by the schrader valve.

trying to buy new lines from someone on this forum and need to know if it is R12 or r134.

i'll do some testing tonight...

will

 

wankel power, you are probably hooked up to the wrong hose!

you need to be on the larger of the two.

 

hmm im still trying but its not getting into the system


I attached it to the larger of the two hoses, and i left the car on for about 3 minutes and the can is still pretty much full... im getting frustrated..

 

turn upsidown and shake?

is the can getting cold?

 

Well right now im trying to put the leak stop in, and i followed the instructions, (AC on, recirc on, fans on high) and i turned the can upside down, but it doesnt seem to be going in.


Am i supposed to put the freeze 12 refrigderant in first? or what. ..

 

you can check by taking a small screwdriver and pressing down on the schrader valve of the large line.
there should be a vaccuum so you may be able to do it with your finger.
there should be a "sucking" noise or you should be able to feel the air pulling your finger.

take the screwdriver and press (real quick) on the valve of the smaller line. this should spray. make sure not to get anything in your face.

 

well i figured out why nothing was going in

the retrofit (new shrader valve) doesnt engage the old one if you know what i mean. this is annoying. i think my best bet is to buy a r12 hose and forget that retrofit garbage

 

that'll do it!

best of luck!

 

Wilbergt, conventionally, 134a lines use quick-disconnect fittings and R12 do not. Hopefully a previous owner didn't switch the refrigerant out w/out changing the fittings.

Wankel Power, I had the EXACT same problem converting an old BMW. I had to find to find a retrofit kit with a needle extension within the adapter. It was one of those expensive ($50?) universal kits with several adapters.

 

i bought a 134a kit from autozone and it had 4 fittings in it.

one of them screwed right on the schrader connector on my hard line.

Does this mean my system is 134a? i guess i could look in the book... huh.

 

uhhh to find out what sys. a/c ur running you dont need to look in any book. Its on the bottom part of your hood. when you open your hood it should be next to your left had (as long as you open ur hood with booth hands). Its near all the other labels on the underpart of your hood.

as far as the fitting... a r134a can not fit on a r12 valve, or visa versa. when i refilled my a/c i bought not only the r12 from ebay, but also a r12 hose and tap kit. dont go cheap now just get it all right the first time and you wont waste money.

fyi
before you pierce the can with the tap MAKE SURE the threaded screw is ALL the way down against the can. you'll know what i'm talking about when you look at it. if you dont have it all the way down you will waste a lot of r12. oh and use some gloves when refilling.

 

never thought... stupid... duh...

wiblergt <-- stupid

under the hood... thanks Enconsiderate!!

 

I know exactly what you mean. That's the problem I had. If you can't find an r-12 charging hose it might be easier to head to Pep boys and pick up a R12-->R134 adapter & hose. That should be under $20.

Good luck.

 

Referring to the post above, how would that work?


Maybe since i just woke up and im kinda absent minded, how would i go about attaching the r134 hose to the can of freeze 12? I've noticed that all the r134 cans have a larger (in diameter) tap area (whatever that is called)


thanks

 

I just switched to autocool today.

I think Chuck (the other guy that mentioned it, maybe running a little low on the stuff, but not by much.

I have a 94 that had freeze12 in it, then I decided to convert to Autocool on Chuck's recommendation.

I got their Recharge Plus kit ($70), which included 4 cans. 1 of stop leak, 1 of dye charge and coolant, and 2 of the coolant and a valved hose for filling.

The say remove the old valve and add the 134 fittings ($5-10) at any auto store, just two simple fittings and their caps. We first used the dye charge, and I had 2 leaks from the drier. This was because in the process of doing the V-Mount install, we were bending the lines and attaching them repeatedly. During the process I lost both o rings for them. That was fixed, then we loaded the rest of the dye charge, and using a blacklight found no leaks. Then the hose was removed, but the valve in the 134 conversion kit didn't work worth **** and the entire system evacuated.

Oop, forgot to mention oil. When I had the AC compressor out, I spilled the oil out of it. So I got the 500 weight mineral oil that is recommended and put about a half can in.

Anyways, we put back the original valve, and then filled it up. The standard r12 charge is .8 KG or about 1 lb 10 oz(or maybe 12, I forget). Each can of AutoCool is the equivilant of 18 oz of R-12. By my calculations I needed 1.5 cans to equal the R12 amount.

OK. So with the new valve in, everything was fine. Running the car parked got the temps down to about 70, using a thermometer stuck in a vent. Yeah, that may not sound like much, but that is with no airflow over the condenser, running 2-2.5K rpms.

I then went driving. Holding 70 on the highway the temps went down to 58. Then it started blowing warm. Now this reminded me of everything that always happened with my AC before. Fine when the car was just started, but in 90 weather, after the engine got hot, the effectiveness of the AC went to crap. I turned it off, opened the windows and kept cruising. A little while later, I fired it up again, and it was good and cold. Then I made some adjustments. I went from split vents (feet and dash) to just dash. I also turned down the fan. On the first setting (and maybe second), the system kept cranking out the cold air, no problem, temps back to 58, and I think I saw 55/56.


So there was my experience with Autocool.

 

Great!

Was this enough to make the nipples on your avatar stick out?

 

Nope, I was riding solo, and I didn't notice any shrinkage in the crotch area either.

 

Hi all,

sorry but i need to resurrect this thread


I didnt know recharging the a/c would be this much of a pain in the ***.

My original problem was that the schrader valves that came with the freeze 12 kit i bought off ebay, were not long enough and would not engage the existing ones on my car, so none of the freeze 12 could get into my system.

someone in this post had the same problem and bought an R12 hose. i purchased an r12 hose off of ebay, and

http://i6.ebayimg.com/01/i/01/d2/f4/41_1.JPG

the problem is, on the freeze 12 cans, the place where you put a tap on is too high, thus making the r12 hose useless.

i tried looker for longer schrader valves at local stores and all of them were the same length.



someone else suggested that i buy a r134 adaptor and hose, and that sounded plausible, but the threads on the r134a hose don't match up with the tap that came with the freeze 12 kit. The tap that comes with the 134a hose is fit for the 134a cans (which have a larger diameter)


so what now?

 

Bump... or is there a better thread detailing what to do about AC? I'm wanting to retain mine and I need to see if I have any leaks, if my condenser/compressor are fine too.