converting AC to 134a

[musthavemuzk]

i have noticed in my friends 92 grand am as well as mine on hot days that the AC just does not keep up well. so i am thinkin that they are in need of a recharge. so with that being the case we figured we may as well convert them while we are at it.

is this a dificult procedure?

any tips or tricks?

 

thanx in advance

 

Monty

[GnatGoSplat]

On my 89, I simply just refilled it with Ester oil and R-134a freon and that's all it took. It blows plenty cold.

On my wife's '88, we did the same thing. It blows cool, and takes FOREVER to cool on a hot day. I have no idea what it would take to make it blow COLD.

[musthavemuzk]

on most days i end up turning mine down to either normal or bilevel as it gets plenty cold. then on other days it stays on max. these can be same temp days. on my trip home to IA the first week in july it ran on max basically the whole trip down. of course the temps were in the mid to upper 90's.

 

Monty

[91GranSport]

I have R-12 in my '91 Regal GS. The frigerant is still leaking at one of the nipples, but only a very minor leak. R-12 is much colder than R-134a. What I did instead of spending lots of money converting to R-134a was I charged my A/C with alternate refrigerant. I used this stuff called "Redtek". This stuff is colder than R-12! It's propane based so it's actually flammable but there are other refrigerants out there that are compatible with R-12. You can find this stuff called "Duracool" which isn't as cold as Redtek or R-12 but it's compatible with R-134a and R-12 and it works pretty good. It isn't flammable either since it isn't propane based. I'd say converting to R-134a should be your last resort and you should only do it if you have severe leaks.

[GnatGoSplat]

True, there are a lot better refrigerants than R-134a, but the really nice thing about R-134a is you can get it ANYWHERE.

 

Every auto parts store should stock it, and it's inexpensive. The exotic stuff is harder to find, and sometimes costs a lot more.

 

My '99 Silverado uses R-134a, and it's A/C blows ice cold. The '94 CS convertible I just bought also blows ice cold on R-134a.

 

I would be happy if I could just figure out what the secret ingredient is to add to an R-12 system to make it blow as cold as a native R-134a system using R-134a freon. My friend tells me the secret is a "variable orifice valve"... anyone know anything about that?

[91GranSport]

Shawn, your R-12 should feel much colder than your R-134a. Here in Canada you can't pick up any refrigerant at all unless you have a special license, whether it's R-134a,

R-12, R-12a, or anything else for that matter. I'm not sure about any valves or orifices but I know you usually just use a special adapter and dump the stuff in. Just be sure not to overfill it!