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

[Avi Meron]

Do it!
I have a friend who owns an Audi shop and has done over 20 conversions with
no problems, just install "about" 20% less R134A that your R12 specs.
Needless to say that if you have a leak with R12 you will also have a leak
with 134A!  To some degree R134A does have smaller molecules than R12 so it
might leak a tad more.
Take care, and good luck,
Avi

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-admin at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]On
Behalf Of Larry C Leung
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2001 11:22 AM
To: conner at cfm.ohio-state.edu
Cc: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: R-12 conversion to R134 ... BTDT? Any regrets? Recommendations?

If you get any replies, please forward them to me. I'm in exactly the
same position with my '89 200Q. Had it refilled and leak checked (UV dye)
about 3 years ago, and now it blows cool, not cold.

LL - NY

On Sat, 05 May 2001 12:34:06 -0400 Dave Conner
<conner at cfm.ohio-state.edu> writes:
>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.