good price for A/C conversion (r-12)

What's a good price for converting and servicing an r-12 a/c system? The local Midas shop quoted me $230 to do it. Most of the places I call say they can't even do it, because they don't have the equipment to recover the old r-12.

By the way, is there an easy way to confirm that I am using r-12 at present? I'm assuming that because I've never had to service the A/C before, and I bought the truck in Jan 1997, and it's pretty unusual for people to have the air serviced in the first 5 years of a vehicle's life, especially if you're getting ready to sell it. But what if the PO did have it serviced, say in 1996 - were we into r-134 by then, and if so how could I tell by looking?

the fittings are different from r 12 to r134. R134 fittings are larger,and look like quick disconnect fittings,r 12 will have external threads to screw the gauges on.

I work at Advance Auto, we sell a kit to do it, it is super easy I do it for people in the parking lot sometimes, takes about 20 minutes. The kit comes with new screw on fittings and schrader valves, and all the 134 and install stuff. If you have nothing but vapor in the system, just screw out the old valves from the hig and low side, then screw on the adapters and fill it with 134, the kit is designed to neutralize r12 vapors. otherwise, screw the new fittings on and go back and ask to have your 134 system vacumed. Kit cost aroud 35 bucks. really, if you can pump gas you can convert a car to 134

I'm assuming your Jeep is a 92, so that would be R12. My 94 is as well, 94 was the change over mid year to 134. Where are you located? I found a local shop in my town who could recover the R12. Why do you want to change? As long as its not leaking, I'd keep the R12, it blows colder than 134. I converted mine, but only because I had a leak and no freon left in the system.

hey bro i did mine in the drive way for about 80 bucks . forget goin to the shop all do all my work

I have a 90 and was able to convert mine in about 15 minutes with a kit from Auto Zone.

Question: if there's no R12 left in the system, where do you think it went? Probably the result of a leak, in which case you'll need to have it repaired. If R12 remains, how do you plan to recover it and pull a vacuum on the system before using one of those R134a kits?

I suggest leaving the conversion to a pro, not to those who aren't trained or lack certification.

OK, I'm agreeable, I thought it was more involved. I'll still need to have somebody recover the old r-12, I suppose. I don't want to vent it off, unless there's practically nothing left, but that's probably not the case. It was working great a week ago but yesterday it didn't work hardly at all, in a 20 minute drive. It was actually pretty sudden, I thought I'd get more warning time. I guess I sprung a leak.

So, are there any tricks or hints to using the kits? Just go down to autozone/advanced and follow the instructions on the package? Are any kits better than other kits? What about fixing whatever caused mine to leak (or making sure that it really is the parts the kit replaces)?

Yeah, islander, I'd rather keep the r-12 but I don't know anybody to get new r-12 from. This a/c has worked great for 10 years, 15 if the owner never did anything, and I've heard the r-134 doesn't cool as well. I'm in Memphis, TN. I'm surprised you found somebody out there in enviro-nazi-Cali to do it. I thought they had huge fines and undercover bust rings for using r-12 out there.

The manufacturing of R12 is no longer permissible, but you're still allowed to use it.

If your AC went from working great a week ago to hardly working at all, then there's definitely a problem. Again, take it to an authorized service center for diagnosis. They can verify a leak by pulling a vacuum on the system and using a leak detection kit.

You heard correctly.....R134a is not as efficient as R12. That's why some people install a larger compressor when converting.

Another alternative is Freeze-12. You might want to google and read up on it. Maybe other new alternatives out there as well.

with the sudden loss of AC there are a coupla things that you might try.
1) with the car and compressor running, look on top of the reciever/drier, there should be a bubble glass where you can see fluid, if its not there or there are bubbles, that is a problem

2)check your relays, migt be as simple as that

3)inspect the compressor and clutch(free from debris, much more requires more tinkering than you want to do)

You can still get r12, the problem is that a 13oz can of r134 costs about 6-14 dollars depending on brand/quality, r12 cost about 70 to 100, and you have to have a special permit to buy it most places. The kits are increadibly easy to use, some of them even have a small cd-rom with instructions, but the box tells you enough. you may also want to get a can of the uv dye and the pen, then search for the leak in a day or so.

As far as what brand, my reccomendation is the arctic freeze brand. the kit comes with a guage, and with it you can buy normal cans of 134 and reuse the fill hoses and guage. the other kit we sell is good as well, but if you want to refill it later you have to buy their brand of 134 due to the adapter.


Air conditioning is not as big as a mystery as people make it out to be, but there are tricks to know

Add me to the "I did my own with the kit" list. I did however have a professional draw a vacuum. Works like a champ. If you hava compressor, harbor freight has a $15-20 adaptor that will draw a vacuum but by the time you get that and buy the guages it's about the same as what the shop will charge.

I did it my self in the parking lot too.

BUT:
Look into this new refridegerant called 12-A.
Its suppose to run WAY cooler than R134, it's currently sold at pep-boys for a decent price. I'm looking into converting soon, it has a lot of goos benifits.