All the r12 pieces are still available. I don't see the problem. Whatever is broken, fix it and put refrigerant in it.

They told me since my car is a 1991 that you cant get the refrigerant anymore, and that I need to update the whole ac system. Is that true?

You'd have to find a shop that has a license to still use r-12. Replace broken parts and take to said shop. Profit. Good luck.

Haha, no it's not true. The shops that can do R12 require a special license to use it. Firestone is probably to cheap to train and maintain the certification needed to operate R12 machinery and employee.

Call around you can find a place that deals with R12. They need to have special training and certification for it and a separate equipment just for it. Mixing the 2 isn't good.

I've found most shops that have been around for 20+ years that deal with A/C have the equipment and most of time the certs to use it.

Also shops can convert to R134 using the R12 system, they just need the license to extract the R12 and store it for disposal. When they extract it they have to put your system into a vacuum to make sure it's all out before putting in the R134.

I've gotten quotes here in Washington for the conversion to be between 150-300 depending on time of year.

AND, if you can find a shop to just extract the old R12 from your system AND your system is in good operational condition you can do the conversion and fill yourself. They sell the kits at any autoparts store. Even WalMart and Dollar store sell them here.

Pretty sure they dont even make r12 anymore. In fact I think its illegal to even try and use anymore. R12 is extremely bad for the enviroment thats why they switched to 134a. Well in Michigan its illegal anyways. (dont worry i still got 2 cans of r 12 as a back up for other older cars )

They still use R12 here in Washington. They just don't make it in automobiles any more because of yes the environment and it being vented to atmosphere because of accidents and leaky systems. Kinda same basis as why they don't sell Leaded fuel anymore. You can still get it but there are more environmentally safe alternatives.

It's used for certain applications that R134 isn't made for. R134 systems don't get as cold as R12 systems I've found in cars. I love my R12 in my Talon. Gets WAY colder then my R134 in my Chrysler 300m.

And_44 said:

They still use R12 here in Washington. They just don't make it in automobiles any more because of yes the environment and it being vented to atmosphere because of accidents and leaky systems. Kinda same basis as why they don't sell Leaded fuel anymore. You can still get it but there are more environmentally safe alternatives.

It's used for certain applications that R134 isn't made for. R134 systems don't get as cold as R12 systems I've found in cars. I love my R12 in my Talon. Gets WAY colder then my R134 in my Chrysler 300m.

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Ill trade you they make all kinds of leaded fuel out here in the country parts of MI for farm vehicles

haha, I don't want leaded fuel. I'd rather breath my unleaded exhaust leak in car Haha. Nah, car is parked until the rebuild is done. So drive able in hoping December the earliest February the latest.

We have leaded here too, but only at the race tracks. Closest to me about 30 miles out.

Look into EnviroSafe refrigerants. It's compatible with the oil that's already in your AC system unlike R134. This means less work on your part. If everything is already functioning properly and you have no leaks, you'd just need to charge with new refrigerant and be good to go.

Refrigerant, freon, freeze 12, envirosafe, freon replacement, hydrocarbon refrigerants

Search Johnsen Freeze-12. It's a refrigerant that's compatible with the oil used in R-12 compressors. I re-filled my 91 that I purged and the AC works like new, you can buy it online. Great stuff!

It's not that much of a pain to find R-12. It's only expensive because of the experience and certification needed to handle it. If you paid the same people to deal with R-134a it would cost about the same. R-134a is viewed as cheap because anyone can do refills.

They still make R-12 outside of the US. It's a shame...R-12 is more efficient and they figured out after its ban that R-134a is worse for the environment, it's directly harmful to health (testicular cancer), it's flammable, and is less efficient.

Rsawd95dsm said:

Ill trade you they make all kinds of leaded fuel out here in the country parts of MI for farm vehicles

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They use leaded fuel for farming vehicles in Michigan? Remind me never to eat there, or any food from there.

It is way cheaper and easier to buy a retrofit kit. It comes with the low and high side ports that just screw onto your r-12 fittings. I would pull as much oil out of the system as u can and add some ester oil. Ester oil is a universal refrigerant oil and can be used in almost any system. Then u suck it down into a vaccuum and recharge it. All this is assuming you don't have any leaks. That is the cheapest way to do it. Most shops want to change all of your hoses, which is understandable. But you can just run them until they give out, if they ever do. I did the retrofit on my old jeep 2 years ago and the a/c still works great.

Don't forget to replace the accumulator or receiver/dryer at the same time. Always good to replace those

I just recharged the ac in my truck that has a 4g63t and a/c compressor from a 91 Eclipse. It used to be R12, I converted it to r134a, only had to change out the o-rings throughout the sytsem($20, they were bad otherwise I could have used them again), buy r134a adapter fittings($10) and a/c receiver/drier($17 for my truck). Then I had to vacuum out the system(bought vacuum pump and a/c freon gauges from harbor freight- $~80) to get all the old freon and oil out, to make sure there were no leaks and also boil out any moisture in the system. Next refilled the system with proper amount of ester oil and r134a freon($~65) and I have ice cold a/c again.

In short you do not need to replace all of your system to convert, you need; a new reciever/drier, maybe new o-rings if you have a leak, and to have the system vacuumed and recharged along with the proper oil added. A shop should be able to do it for a couple hundred(3-4?) I would expect.