AC recharge R12 to R134?

[David.Ullrich at ferguson.com]

Well, I just went through a NIGHTMARE conversion on my Coupe GT. Audi officially doesn't recommend conversion of cars with the York or Delco-Air type compressors. I'm not sure what kind you car has, I think it has a Nippondenso which is OK to convert but you should check out the TSB on conversion. It can be found at http://www.ibiblio.org/tkan/audi/HC134A.pdf Make sure your car has one of the compressors that can take R134a. Also, you NEED to replace the expansion valve and receiver/dryer as well as ALL o-rings (must use the "green o-rings). Make sure he properly flushes ALL parts/lines (many parts must be removed to properly flush such as the compressor). If the old oil for R12 remains and you put the proper oil for R134a in, it will turn to sludge quickly causing your compressor to freeze up. This is NOT a cheap thing to do properly, but it can be done. I've discovered that it CAN be done even on cars with York compressors, but since there was no documentation on what all had to be done, it was a trial and (lots of) error process. BDTD.

Dave

Too Many Toys:
1987.5 Audi Coupe GT "Special Build" 2.3 - Anthracite Black
1985 Chevy Impala SS
2002 VW Jetta GLS 1.8T Tiptronic
1993 RX-7 R1

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Sinclair [mailto:dsinclair at icare.snalf.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 10:56 AM
To: 'quattro at audifans.com'
Subject: AC recharge R12 to R134?


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Here we go...  A reputable Audi mechanic has informed me that with the
addition of a specific oil/lubrication additive and a new fitting, he can
put R-134 freeon into our older Audi R-12 systems and claims that he has
been doing so on his customer cars for 7 years or so.  He further claims
that this is a reliable option and his customers have had little or no
problems with leaks as a result.  He noted that the 10-20% loss of
efficiency will occur with R-134, but otherwise, no problems.  Since I'm
holding out little or no hope that I'm going to find someone with R-12
available here locally in Portland, OR, I'm considering this R-134 swap.
Anyone care to comment?

Dan
1990 CQ