Twisted

I'm just passing on advice that I recently learned. If your car has R12, you may want to convert it to R134, as it gets expensive messing around with R12 in a leaky system. If you convert, then you can have a shop recharge the system, and add a type of dye that will stain the area of the leak. Or, you can use a produce called Freeze 12, rather than converting the system. A shop can add dye with the Freeze 12 with the same effect. This may be the cheapest route to go. Good luck.

VigCS

I'm going to convert to R134a....going to buy a conversion kit and three cans tomorrow (along with some oil) at walmart. I work at a dealer (GM dealer, hehe) and I can get a tech there to charge the system for me for nothing...I'll see what they can do about finding the leak.

I originally bought two cans of R12 which was $57, but I returned them.

Twisted

I didn't know you could buy cans of R12. You must have gotten them from your dealership, huh?

VigCS

Yessir... $28.50 a can. Had to get a friend of mine who works there with an ASE AC system cert. to buy it for me though.

Bad Karma

Ok, let me get nasty...

1.)Go ahead and release all that "old" freon into the atmosphere....you asked for it so here it is non-treehugging crowd.
2.)Introduce your can of Stop Leak (or whatever you buy from AutoZone that will "repair" small AC leaks) prior to the Freon being put in.
3.)Put the New can of Freon/R134A/Freeze12 into the system. Again, check the sticker for volume.
4.)Start the car, call for AC by selecting "Recirc" and "AC - MAX."
5.)Walk around to the front of the car and see if the clutch has engaged onto the AC Compressor. If it has, great, you should start seeing an immediate difference in the temp of the air coming out of the ducting inside the car.

** If it does not engage, wait for a couple minutes as it may be taking a few minutes for system pressure to build and activate the Low Pressure switch. If for some reason, after a few (5 or 6) minutes the AC Clutch doesn't engage; turn the car off and attempt to put more Freon in it as the quanity may not be enough to trigger the LP Switch. Two things, 1) make sure that you have checked the sticker on the condensor or rad support to see what the system takes. It should take between 32 - 38 ounces of freon. You can add up how many "cans" or "units" that you will need to make the required amount. 2)If you do end up putting too much freon in the system, don't fret. It will come out (and make a submachine gun noise) but may make a mess around your compressor area. But as long as you don't have like 3 times the systems required amount, you will be ok.

6.)After putting more Freon in the system, repeat steps 4 and 5.

7a.)If you still are having issues, then email or pm me and I can troubleshoot for you.

candiprice@msn.com

7b.)If you are reading this and have a similar issue, my invitation goes out to you as well.

Great luck to you and let me know if this helps or if it's random BS that you already know,
Ivan

Bad Karma

If that is genuine R12, I will buy it from your Buddy right now. I don't care how much he has, that is a STEAL!! He doesn't know what he has or it's a knock off of R12.

I have nationwide vendor access and the best price Nationwide as of 3/1/06 was $999.99 for a 30lb bottle. That's buying 10 bottles at a time (bulk pricing) That's a little over $2/ounce. That's an OUTSTANDING price. I can bet your Mom's house that the price is probably a little higher now that Summer is in full swing.

How big is that "bottle" that you have?? Before I break out the checkbook for you.

-Ivan

YamahaBound

yeah the AC mechanic I took my car to said he could just drain out the remaining r12 and put r134 in there no problem, for about $120.

VigCS

Got it from the parts dept. It was Weitron brand in two 12 oz bottles.

VigCS

okay guys, got the kit, drained the system...my question is...which port is low side? I'm guessing its the one on the compressor...not the one to the left beucase the fitting only fits on the one on the compressor. Can anyone confirm this?

Would like a response ASAP...thanks!

VigCS

Got my AC working

The EZ Chill recharge kit sucks for 5.0's...but I got the fittings on the high and low pressure ports and used an AC charging machine at my work...put in 1.8 lbs of R134A and some oil. Also ran a vacuum test on the system and it doesn't have any leaks in the system (holds a vacuum just fine and dandy). [8D]