Great. But it's too hot these days without A/C so I'll just tow it behind my vette.

It's a 1998. I know it's R134 because the Blazers changed in 97. Plus, I know what an R12 valve looks like.

When you say the connector won't fit on the high side, do you mean it can't possibly even be forced on? Is it that much larger than the low side?

 

what a waste of an hour, i just drove out all the way to the Canadian Tire only to find out they don't sell this stuff anymore. It's only sold to licensed technicians in ontario. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT!
The service guy asked me what year my car was I said 98, he said I need R12,
-no it takes 134a
oh, phht, that's not freon
-well it's the refrigerant
phht, no no, that's just..just.... pause...that's not freon.
-well, do you carry it?
no you can't just buy it anymore, they have it in the shop (garage part of Cnd Tire)
-wonder if they would refill it for me
well....I guess they COULD refill it for you, not sure how good that is for the environment, you need to seal the leak, I mean I guess it depends how you are morally about letting it leak into the envirnment

thanks, cya.

So i drove all the way out to crappy tire for nothing AND i got a lecture from this crusader.

Meanwhile it's available to 300 million americans just like that. I'm sure denying me a bottle makes all the difference.

 

Nope, not even forced on. Uh, wait a second, just how big an ol' boy are you, and how hard you been pushing that thing?

 

Well, I got it on about halfway, like I said, but it wouldn't slide all the way down. Then, I made a fist around it so the base of my palm was right at the connector, and I squeezed really hard until I was afraid it might break. And it still didn't slide any further. There was no impediment or dirt. So. I haven't gone and tried the other one until I'm certain which one is correct.
Thanks again.

 

Again, your '98 takes 134A. Do not let anyone mix R12 with it. The hose with gauge that you can buy for 134A has the proper fitting on it to fit the LOW side Schrader valve. So does the 134A can with the fill hose attached. You should not have to force it on. Using your fingers, hold back the slide fitting on the hose, press the hose firmly on the LOW side valve and release the slide ring to hold it in place. Do not try to force the hose fitting on the HIGH side valve, which has a larger OD than the LOW side valve. Hooking to the high side could cause the can to blow up. The valve you want is the one closest to the firewall, just to the side of the battery den. The HIGH side fitting is the one by the side of the radiator.

Pretty much follow what sneakleman says, in post 10. The only thing I would add, buy a meat thermometer (they are cheap), insert it in the center air vent, start car turn a/c on max, turn control to 60 deg, close windows. As you are charging system, periodically check thermometer. As system charges, air coming out of the vent should cool to 40-44 deg. That's what you want. Quit charging at that point.

I have a '98 coupe. Both fittings have black caps. I just finished rechaging mine. If your system was empty, you may want to add about 1 and 1/2 oz of refrigerant oil before you put in the 134A. It comes in two oz cans. After I completed charging the system and disconnected the hose, I noticed a very slight bubbling around the Schrader valve (looks like the little valve inside a tire stem) and snugged it up. Check yours and if necessary you can buy the tool for it or use a needlenose pliers. Just don't exert any great pressure on it. I kinda think that's where my slooow leak was coming from.

Cheers and good luck.

 

 

See, there's a perfect example of what you get on the forum here..... good sound advice/information from more than one person. This is great because there are things I missed that he picked up on, the thermometer, the schader valve bubble, all things I usually do and look for that I forgot to post. Said it before, I'll say it again.....Gotta love this place!

 

Don't want to sound too negative but I would not recommend adding freon without a set of guages. There is more to charging the A/C than just adding a can of freon. You need to be able to monitor the system while doing so. The high side can climb really fast if there is a restriction in the system and I HAVE seen lines blown out due to this. I realize there are times when you know the history of the system and it may leak a pound or so over the winter and always needs a touch in the spring. But if you have a system where it doesn't cool at all anymore then I would want the guages on it. Be careful !

 

I wish I had known about the 'jumper' while I had my C4, I converted from R-12 to 134a but was never able to get it to fill.

 

I agree with steves65korvette, you should have a low side and high side gage, if you have air in the system your high side will go really high and shut down the compresser. If there is air in the system you need to pull a high vacumnn the sysgtem and get it all out then recharge, added a few oz of oil also.
Have someone that knows HVAC to help you, if you have a leak you need to repair it or you will be recharging all the time and lossing a little oil with the leak and damage the compresser.

R-12 will not go bad, make sure you don't mix refrigents.

 

I've been doing a lot of research on this and it appears redtek, the company that manufactures most of these gases, has come out with a drop in replacement for 134a called r12a, (not r12) everywhere I called asking for the 134 cans were recommending i do the switch, apparently it's just a matter of switching the caps and you just do a refill, it doesn't require you vaccuum the system in fact it's better not too. It's supposedly a better gas, needs less pressurization to cool, leaks less and cools better. Apparently 134a is a difficult gas to use as a refrigerant, needs extremely high compression and leaks due to small molecule size, the hydrocarbon gases (r12) were much better, and this is a better version of that, which is ozone friendly. Talking out my azz here, just summarizing what I've been reading, but it's a drop in replacement and it's supposedly better. Maybe this is a discussion for another day/thread, but thought I'd throw this in here in case anyone knows anything about this.

 

Don't worry about adding oil unless you replace the accumulator (mini radiator in your ac duct work) There is typically 4 to 5 ounces sitting in the bottom of it.

 

The R-12 fittings are SCREW ON with a piece of metal that opens a schrader valve just like when you put an air chuck on a tire to fill it.
My Old guages were FINE but lacked the NEW Push on (and make sure they engage) fittings on the R134a systems. Would have cost me MORE to try and find conversion parts for my old hoses so I went to Harbor Freight and bought a NEW guage set with the new fittings and even a plastic carrying case for either $39 or $49. The R134a is EXHORBANTLY PRICED at the local auto stores so I bought a CASE OF 12 at SAMs. If you need more than a can this is probably the way to go. If you have more than one car with A/C this is the way to go. FREON DOESN'T GO BAD. I have several cans of R-12 that belongs in the Smithsonian. Also if you have a freon LEAK adding more freon won't fix that and it will leak out again. Most leaks are at the connection points where there are usually SPECIAL o-rings as sealents.
Ordinary o-rings will deteriorate from the freon and refrigerant oil going thru the lines. Air in the system is not GOOD for two reasons:
1. It takes up SPACE and therefore is not compressed as well as the freon giving you LESS COOLING.
2. If lines are LEFT OPEN for a good length of time MOISTURE can get into the system and this can cause corrosion.

You CAN make a VACUUM pump out of an OLD REFRIGERATOR COMPRESSOR, some rubber hose and a brass fitting that will connect to the female connector on a guage and hose set.
I made one about 20 years ago from an old compressor and it works great today even though I haven't run any freon thru it since I made the VACUUM drawdown system. When using it you run the pump continuously for about 1/2 hour and then shut it off. You should see about 28 inches of vacuum on the guage. IT SHOULD KEEP THIS VACUUM for at least 15 minutes or so with the refrigerator compressor OFF and if it DOESN'T it means you have a LEAK in the system. Fix this before you charge the system or you are just wasting freon and it will leak out and get you back to no A/C
BIGHANK

 

Hey Winterlude I live in Canada also and was able to acquire some R134a off of this guy on ebay for a reasonable price and refill the car A/C myself. follow this link to his auction
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/R134a...QQcmdZViewItem hope this helps.

 

If a system is low, the compressor win NOT come on on its' own. When you jump it the compressor comes on and allows the system to suck in the freon. Once the system reaches a certain level the cystem will cycle on and off as the correct temps are reached. One thing to remember is that there is a reason the system is low. If the system is "tight" if won't leak at all. There are some cars running 25 year old refrigerent.

 

You rock

 

Thanks guys for all the info.

 

well I ordered the r134a from that ebay vendor and it arrived as promised Only thing is there is no gauge on it to tell the pressure, so this will be interesting, I guess I need to figure something out with some gauges.

But before I do any of that I'm taking my car into the shop monday to have a test done, just to make sure it's not the compressor.(I thought I had this done but I never did, I only had a pressure test done, no follow up) If it's a cheaper fix like a hose or somthing I'll do that first.

 

I just sent you an email...