A/C Conversion Help

[YoYiTo]

Last week it was hot here in South Florida it's been about 90 degrees all this week. So I turned on my A/C I can't remember when was the last time that I used it and it's blowing hot air . So I went to local car shops so they can refill Freon to the car. The cheapest place I've found was $30 a lb. Many mechanics told me that I have the old system.

A mechanic told me that he can do it for me for $100 but I'm not sure becuase he deals with civics. Should I trust him??

If no, what parts do I need because probably I can do it myself. I can go to my local Auto Store to get the R-134a freon for $2.99 each.

Thanx for any reply in advance.

 

[epj3]

You shoudl convert it to r134 (i think), which is enviromentally safe, but it is not safe to you. Do not drain the r12 (freon) that is probably in there right now, stuff can kill you by suffocating you, and puts holes in the upper atmosphere. Take it to the dealer, they would probably do whatever needs to be done.

 

[carcus]

You will be changing from R12 to R134a. R134a is a higher pressure system so you will have to change over parts of the system. Not going to be cheap. I would just get the R12 topped off at the shop and forget about the conversion unless you have a leak or bad compressor. You can buy R134a at the local auto parts shop, that is the good thing about R134a, now...with R12....not environmentally safe, stuff is expensive and you just can not buy it off the shelf.....that is why they make a killing off the stuff.

 

[Paco]

I've had my '92 325 for the last 4 years. When I first bought it the A/C was not cooling right. Before buying it, the dealer had the system Re-Filled. I believe there was a leak that they did not wanted to fix, however, the year after that when the summer came the A/C did not work anymore.
I spoke with a friend of mine and decided to purge/vacumm the system to clean anything that was left in it. Following that we filled it up with the 134.
The kit was something like $20 for the fittings and I believe I used like 3 cans of the 134.
2 years later it is still going strong.