Its in my 92 protege (nothing but the best) it currently has r12 in it and i was wondering the easiest/cheapest way to get the r12 out so i can put in the r134 refigerent in...keep in mind this car is worth about 500 bucks so anything goes. i just don't want to die of heat stroke in the Daily driver...
it has a valve that works sorta like a valve on a tire. just stick a pen or something on it and let all the fluid out. i'm sure its illegal, but other than paying out the ass i don't know what to tell you. oh and make sure to wear some gloves and goggles or something, cuz its cold and it will spray everywhere. maybe even put a drain pan underneath the car...
i was just going to go to a random empty parking lot and stick a screwdriver in it. i think that is going to be the plan...gloves are a good idea. although the r12 will probably give me cancer or something...
oh dear god. :eek4: how are you planning to recharge with r134a? you need to evacuate all the R12 (for a few reasons, mostly being the oil in the refrigerant AND to keep air from contaminating the system) and pressure test the system. this is a little bit more involved than just buying the cans from autozone and GETTIN IR DONE. a dryer/dessicant changeout may be required as well. the suction setting of the compressor may need to be changed as well, or the expansion valve (the saturation pressure determines temperature) AFAIK. granted, I am not a car refrigeration expert, but I deal with about 8,000 tons of refrigeration every day and the same principles apply. a little google search on the subject yields a lot of info.
eh.... i was planning on just winging it. like i said its my crappy daily driver. if/when it blows up o well ill just leave it on the side of the road and spray paint "free car" on the side of it. (taking the liscence plate of course.) looking into it some more ill probably get a shop to flush the r12 out for me. i just didn't want to spend money on getting the r12 out. then i will "gitterdun"
You may as well put r12 back into it. Although its not as cheap as buying those weaksauce conversion kits from your local parts store it will be better and run much colder, plus it may save you money in the long run. This is because r134 runs at a much higher pressure than r12, if I'm not mistaken, and the r12 system is not meant to handle it especially one thats old. Do what you want, but I did the same thing on my hatch last summer. I was originally gonna go the cheap way out, but I decided to do it all the right way and it's worth it imo.
i am going to talk to a local shop tomorrow and see what they have to say about it. I don't want to spend more than 50 bucks on this since it will double this cars value. i only drive it twice i day which is to school then home. so its not the biggest issue on my list or anything.
Well, that's up to you, but I only drive mine twice a day as well and cold air is well worth my $$$. Even considering that my hatch probably wasn't worth any more than your car at the time either. Additionally, a well functioning AC could possibly increase the resale value of your car. Just a thought.
ya i think it might just be worth the money...as far as resale value goes once you see this car you will see that it has no value lol. its seriously one of the crappiest cars on the road, but it gets 40mpg right now so im ok with it.
My old hatch had a smashed front bumper, dented hood, cracked windshield, sagging doors, three oil leaks, and rusted quarter panels...so I know busted, but like yours it was great on gas...35+mpg.
haha yup i thought you were talking about my car for a second...except my hood isn't dented someone just scratched there name in it with a rock then tried to cross it out by scratching it more. needless to say the guys name must have been Matt.