Anyone converted their AC?
 

Hi -

My AC system needs recharging and I'm kicking around the idea of converting it from R12 to the R134 stuff. Has anyone had any experience, good or bad, with doing this?

Thanks...

mz

The previous owner of my FD had the conversion done. It is rather pricy to have the conversion done, but R12 is getting so expensive that I think in the longrun, it will be a cheaper option. The AC runs great and very cold.

They sell the conversion kits at most auto parts stores for about $45. Takes about 10 minutes to "convert" and charge. It does not cool very well compared to stock. If you can find some 12 somewhere, its worth it

Why not just use the R-12 substitute...the one I used is called Freeze-12 and it blows very cold. You can buy a kit that comes with 3 cans for under $50 from Ebay.

I could never get an answer as to why some people convert to R-134 when these substitutes are damn cold, anybody know??

Here's a simple approach that worked for me. First make sure you have the black - port installed, not silver - dryer. Have the system totally evacuated - including the compressor oil. Add the pressure fittings, the correct oil for R-134a (mineral oil doesn't work) and the correct amount of R-134a. Don't bother replacing the o-rings unless you find a leak. Mine has been blowing 54 degrees for the past two months. No problems yet. I had the oil and refrigerant added by a local garage and it cost me $60. The only caveat is that the shop owner said this approach works well most of the time but there are instances where he's had to go back in and replace the o rings later on.

How long have you had this installed in your system? When I first bought my TII it would blow the coldest A/C I've ever felt...you could see frozen condensation in the air. But then the A/C clutch stopped working(2 A/C guys swore up and down the compressor had failed). So, I had no A/C for 1 year and then I had the bright idea to replace the clutch. That was in the dead of winter. My motor promptly blew on Christmas of 2002. I spent 2003 putting a new motor in...and now I have a MS Protege and the RX7 has taken a back seat while it receives a fixed suspension and new computer. But the A/C no longer blows cold at all and it needs to be recharged. I've been looking at alternatives(Freeze-12 being one of them) and they seem pretty good...but your the first person I've known to put that stuff in.

duracool works pretty good on my 91, it's a r-12 substitute. I had the 93 converted over, old oil evacuated, new oil and it's pretty damn cold. Cold enough that I don't remember thinking "this stuff isn't as good as r12."

Tim

I've had it in my system for about 3 month now...actually turned it on yesterday to see if it was still cold and it's as good as ever.

Funny thing happened to me though, I thought I had an A/C leak 3 weeks after I had it recharged, turned out to be a faulty ECU that I was borrowing from a buddy...wasn't turning the A/C on and I never new it until I plugged in a different one. Man was I happy to know that I had no A/C leak.:)

This is what I did except that I went ahead and replaced all the o-rings with R134a types too. You're going to have to discharge and evacuate the system anyway so you may as well. The only way to get all the oil out is to drain the compressor; evacuating the system does not remove the oil. Add the correct amount of the new oil and charge with 134a.

I had it done for under 800$ that included a new compresor. (310$ from Malloy I beleive.)

Damon, I'm curious, can you give me some input as to why it would be beneficial to convert to R-134 rather than just use a substitute for the R-12? Thanks.

I just had my '94 converted, it cost me $188 at the dealer. However, my car was converted from R-12 to R-12a, it's supposed to be less stressfull on the system than R-134.

My A/C only blows to 48 degrees F though. It didn't feel much cooler than before the conversion (when the A/C system was slightly low on R-12).

At the time I converted there wasn't much info to be found on the substitutes so I stuck with 134a. I figured if it sucked I could always re-evacuate and try something else.

Shitty, I bought r12 off ebay. Fucker blows 38F at the vent.