Hi Guys
Anyone know what a realistic cost to retrofit from R12 to 134 complete job, I had the system checked and it is a little low.

Thanks
Nigel

 

I don't know about a retro fit but I bought some Envirosafe refrigerant off of the internet. It's a direct R-12 replacement.I put it in my 92 and it works great as a mater of fact its colder than my C5's R-134 system.

 

I know there are environmental reasons for wanting to switch to R134, but if your R12 system is working properly and has no leaks you might find that the cost of refilling with R12 is less than the cost of changing the system over to being R134 compatable.

 

I would refill with R12, but it is no longer available.

 

How easy is this to do ??, my system is not completely empty, I have heard stories about various cans of refridgerent that gums up the system.

 

It's very easy all you do is vacuum the R-12 out. If you can pull a vacuum thats great but if you don't have the equipment you don't have to pull a vacuum you just put this envirosafe stuff in. It's compatible with the R-12 oil so there is nothing to worry about.

 

If you are low on freon then you might have a leak. Need to figure out where that is before you convert. You can get dye kits to help find it.

R-12 is like gold, so you may be able to trade yours in exchange for some of the labor.

I just did the conversion as I had a leak in the condensor. I bought a good vacuum pump for about $225, a Smart VOV orifice for about $20, a Interdynamics retro kit at Wally world for about $30.

I replaced the leaky condensor and accumulator, added 4 oz of ester oil to the accumulator before I installed it.

I was going to use Freeze-12, but decided to try the 134 first. Seems to work fine with 134 so I still have four cans of freeze-12.

 

You can buy a r12-a (redtech) refrigerant that you can add to r12 or 134-a , it claims it can be mixed into the system,(about $20)Canadian a Can. I have used this stuff and yes it works. The biggest down fall to the substitue is its a highly refined refigerant which does have a higher flash point.. which means yes to some extent its flammable. Now i have heard horror stories about people using propane which would also work great, but its VERY flammable.(which would be a NO NO) You can retro-fit your system, and depending on the quality of job you want, will be reflective of the amount of money it will cost. bottom line is "You get what you pay for". Now if you want you sloppy retro fit job which basically involves recovering the existing r12, evacing the system, putting some new oil in and r134-a it would be cheap... now of course the system isnt going to perform as good as if you did more of complete proper job. You can get really crazy in doing the retrofit, you can buy a new accumulator,orfice tube,flush the system,new oil,o-rings,heck even replace the condensor and maybe even install an additional fan to draw more air through the condensor. BUT then again you prolly just spend your 2 weeks wages on a retro-fit. Now of course after doing that kinda retro-fit your going to get some cool temperatures coming outa the ducts, but then again that kinda complete job is not allways necessary. I try and let the customer decide what kinda price they are looking at, and then i make my suggestions as what we can do at That kinda price. I guess on average a decent retro-fit job should run you about $300-$500 Canadian. Hope that helps you in your decision makeing. And yes the Redtech stuff works pretty good, I get 35 degrees f coming outa my ducts on my 84 Vette on the highway.

 

Thanks for all the help, I did get a quote of $400 Cdn to do a retrofit, will decide which way to go in the next couple of days.

 

I kept the r12 on my '84. Sooooooooo Koooooooool.
My mechanic takes care of me.

 

Basically, retrofit is changing Hi and Lo pressure fittings, evacuating the system, refilling with 134a. My retro 134a system blows 35 degree air from the center ducts.

Can be done for less that 50 bucks.