R-12 conversion to R134 ... BTDT? Any regrets? Recommendations?

[Fred Munro]

Do a dye test for leaks, Dave. I had a similar problem with my '91 200q. It
lost it's R12 charge over the winter. The dealer recharged it, did a sniffer
test & found no leaks. The charge was gone in a month. Took it back and had
a dye test done. The compressor was leaking at the manifold gasket, the
condenser had a pinhole leak at one of the mounting bolts, and the
high-pressure pipe was full of pinhole leaks, all of which showed up quite
nicely on the dye test. All were too small to trigger a sniffer.
The dealer even recharged the R12 for free since they said they should have
caught the leaks the first time (after I had replaced the leaky components,
of course).

Fred Munro
'94 S4



----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Conner" <conner at cfm.ohio-state.edu>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2001 12:34 PM
Subject: R-12 conversion to R134 ... BTDT? Any regrets? Recommendations?


> I've got three type 44's still running R-12 and all three need recharged.
> I understand some people are buying a cheap DIY kit ($35) and retrofitting
> to R134.  I'd like to hear from folks who did this and whether they would
> do it again, etc.
>
> Two of my cars have only gradually lost their cooling effectiveness over a
> period of 3-5 years, so I'm willing to consider having them checked out
> and recharged with R-12.  The third car got a new compressor/dryer last
> year and the A/C worked great, but over the winter seems to have lost all
> the R-12.  I guess I blew it by not converting this one to R134 at the
time
> this stuff was replaced.  I installed the parts myself and had a local
shop
> charge it with R12.  They say they pressure (vacuum?) tested the system
> before charging and it showed no sign of leaking.  They suggest that over
> the winter the front seal could dry out due to lack of use and the R12
> wouild leak out.  Everything may be fine if they recharging the sytem
> because the seal would re-seal itself.  (hmmmmm...)  I'm skeptical because
> this car gets the exact same kind of use as the others and they never did
> this, and this one never did this during past winters.
>
> Dave C.