Thursday, August 04, 2005 - 12:49 pm, by: Daniel Riley
During the importation of my car the air conditioning was de-gassed. Now i have it here i would like to re-gas it. Unfortunetly i do not know what gas the soarer air conditioning system takes. Being a 1992 TT i would assume that it is the old gas.
my question if it is the old gas system and i fill it full of the new gas, what implication will this have, and if this is not possable how much approx does it cost to convert the system to use the new gas?
secondly am i doing the system any damage by not having it full of gas? i am not using it but my concern is to do with the seals etc within the compressor.
Thursday, August 04, 2005 - 08:53 pm, by: Anish Varsani
When aircon places evacuate A/C's in old vehicles, they keep the gas and are able to us it in car that take R12.
If you convert to R134a, you'll probably notice that the air con dosn't cool as when as it should.
Normally the reciever/dryer will have to be replaced in it wasn't removed before export. I think AC shops add a bit of new oil to the AC lines before re-gassing with R134a.
Daniel, R12 (The old gas) cools much better than the new gas (R134A) but is ozone depleting. To convert your system from R12 to R134a, you need a new receiver/dryer, new compressor nipples and they usually change the oil in the compressor as well. The rest of the system doesn't make any difference as to wheather you are using R12, or R143a. They change the compressor nipples because it is sort of like the fuel bowsers, so that you can't put leaded in to an unleaded car, they make the nozzle bigger, same thing here.
It is illegal to charge your system with R12, you must change to R134a, or as Lynton said, they have developed a new R12 that is non ozone depleting (As far as I knew it wasn't available yet, but obviously it is now) but you have to find a place that sells it.
Big thing though, in case you haven't read the "Compressor?" thread under the mechanical section, it is extremely important that if you are getting the job done by someone that isn't a professional, make sure that you replace the receiver/dryer, you should ALWAYS replace the receiver/dryer every single time you open up your a/c system. The receiver dryer takes moisture out of the system. The other MUST is to make sure that your guys evacuates your a/c system before charging. This is for two reasons. 1 - it will show any leaks in your system as the pressure will not be stable. 2 - any moisture in the system, even just humidity in the air that got in when you let the gas out, can react with the oil that is used in automotive air conditioners, turning the oil acidic, and will eat away at the a/c systems metal from the inside, which can end up leaving you with a rooted a/c system which would cost well over $2000 to replace the whole thing. Make sure you get it evacuated!
Friday, August 05, 2005 - 11:20 pm, by: Mike Triggs
I've stuffed around with car aircons a bit. Changed a couple of cars from R12 to R134a. R12 is still available, it comes out of old cars and goes back to CIG or whoever and is cleaned up and sold back to aircon people. It hasn't been made for several years, but if CIG were to store it it would eventually leak and still attack ozone (just like all those Halon fire extinguishers did, the ones we had to hand over years back).
The O-rings and sometimes the TX valve have to be changed, as well as the compressor oil. In my experience R134a works just as well as R12. Our 1995 model has it from new and it's icy. Our Tata also had R134a and the aircon was crap. It's the system design that's important.
I have heard that some of the R12 "drop-in" gases are pretty crappy, and aren't good for the system long-term. They are usually mixtures of gases. You can actually use LPG but it's illegal (for obvious reasons) but it works quite well, at least until a leak develops.
Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 05:32 pm, by: Daniel Riley
That would be good daniel, could you please email the detail of that place to me. im making a trip to melbourne in a few weeks so ill orginise some time to get it done.
Previous
