Well the title says it all. I had it two years ago and never really used it. Now with temps in the 98-102F it sure would be nice. Took it to a shop and they said my compressor is no good because I have a leak and all the gas ran out. Would that kill my compressor? I found a seal kit at napa an was going to seal it up and test it with propane as a refrigerant.

 

My brotherinlaw the mechanic said a seal self installed never holds. I wound up buying a complete kit from Buyautoparts.com(never again, but thats a different story) Anyway my has been working good for 3 years w/134A Good luck

 

I never met a seal that cared who installed it.

 

Thats funny = Put a seal in, and see who is right then report back

 

Yea,

what's a new compressor run? You've got the cost of drier, seals, freon.. I'd spend the $200-300and have a system that's new.

 

I rarely have any problems with seals. but I spent 20 years as a prototype machinist. Built lots of hydraulic clamps, linear and rotary actuators. In fact I was the one that made the seal installation tools. man that was a blast. the good old days.

ask me about the Japanese machine repair guy that wanded a part reworked with a .0001 tolerance on an old engine lathe(By hand).

 

The recipe for C-12 is 79% propane, 21% isobutane. (not butane)

You can buy it pre-mixed in several brands.

One 8 0z can of mountain stove fuel (ISO-heat) and 12 OZ of ColeMan propane is just about right.
For most cars you can dump in a can of stove fuel, then 12 OZ of propane and it'll be just about right.

I pre-mix it into a used 30 pounder. You can't bleed off gas if you overcharge because propane will leave and the isobutane remains.

The oil for R12 works with it just fine.

 

I find this very interesting.

 

Some googling shows that it only requires 35% HC-12A of the R-12 amount. It's supposed to be compatible with the oils used in both R-12 and R134a systems.

BUT, it's flamable.

I've not been very happy with my conversion because it doesn't cool very well with R-134a so I'm thinking about converting.

Edwin

 

I know nothing of ACs but have "heard" that if you don't use them regularly the seals dry out?

I'm like you Bannerd, I seldom use mine. Only when the wife is riding or I have a dress shirt on and need to not be sweaty (very seldom occurance in the truck). Last time I used it (with the wife riding) on a road trip and it would blow cold then not then cold then not...

 

Almighty then, I'll have to save some money and buy a kit. Tough these days when the wife isn't working because baby sitters want $250 a week per kid(we have two).

I found a few kits between 200-300 dollars which isn't too bad. The mechanic wanted to remove the R134a (The fittings tell him my system was converted at some point from R12). That's $40 for removal and disposal. The rest was $700 for parts and labour.. which it can't be that hard.

Harbour freight sells a manifold gauge set for A/C for $50 and I found a kit for on ebay for $198. I tested my compressor last night and the clutch engages.. Should I just get seals and hope for the best? Napa has seals for $5 and they're tabbed. The guy I talked to said just mark the seals to the blocks that way you can get the seal right by moving the tab in between marks. Another option is I could take the hoses to my machine shop and grout a place for o-ring if this thing leaks or is known too.

So what is the deal, I assume I need lubricating oil in this system? Or do I need to get the old oil out?