R12 recharge + diagnosis question

[sjwaste]

Hey everyone, new to the Garage forum, usually in Hot Deals and some OT. Thank you for the help in advance.

I have a 91 Supra, 195k miles, and the AC has gradually gotten worse over the past 8 years that I've owned the car. I'm at the point now where on a hot day, I have to roll down the windows, so it might be time to do something about it. So I had a couple of questions:

First, what does R12 go for these days? Is it cost-prohibitive to refill it?

Second, is there something I should be looking for when I take it in for an estimate? Like, should I anticipate having to redo seals and such? Just looking for red flags on the rip-o-meter.

I mostly do my own work on this car, but I know nothing about AC systems and obviously don't have the tools to do it. Just want to cover my bases on what to expect, if anyone knows.

Thanks!

 

[steppinthrax]

You have two options

1. Do what you?re saying and get some more R-12 refilling the system. If you can get a hold of it these days. I also believe you may need some sort of license. But, I?ve seen R-12 cans sold on eBay. The problem you?re going to bump into is the fact that you don?t know the internal state of the A/C unit. Just from the age and mileage there is more/less contaminants in the system now and seals have broken down. You need to check the pressure first to see if it?s indeed low. If so then I would do a re-fill. You need to check the compressor to see if it?s working as well and not worn out. But even then it?s not certain if it?s going to completely correct the situation.

2. Retrofit the entire system to R-134a. You will need to do a lot of stuff to do this. Such as flushing the system, replacing all seals, desiccant, accumulator, orifice tube etc... You can get those retrofit kits from wall-mart but they are not very good unless you do a full flush of the system at least. You need to vacuum the system down as well and put the appropriate oil and refrigerant charge. If done properly and there are no leaks the system will give you many years of work.

 

[ta8689]

r-12 is hard to come by these days, my dad still has like 50 pounds of it from back in the hoarding days. (now worth ALOT of money, can be sold to car restoration outfits) But If I were you, I'd just convert it.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Convert it. What it takes to convert each car is different. Check out a kit for your car and see what it says you need to do.

If you feel capable to of turning the wrenches, then do it...then take it to a shop to be evacuated and charged.

 

[lightpants]

I would have someone look at it to see if:
1. it needs to be recharged - there are other things that can make an AC system stop cooling.
2. How much converting it will cost along with fixing any leaks that are present
3. How much it will cost to fix any leaks and fill it with r12
Then you can decide what to do.

R12 has actually come down in price, we sell it for $40/ lb
You would pay about $150 for a charge, performance and leak test.