What Do Most List Members do when their Old R12 Air Conditioning Dies?

[mboucher70 hotmail.com]

Today was on a nice long run Toronto to Montreal, and the outdoor temperature was peaking at 34C (93F).  The AC was doing its job under difficult circumstances.  An hour from my destination it stopped cooling.  Looking briefly at the AC, it appears that something at the very front is spinning intermittently, and making a grinding noise when it does.  If I had to guess, the compressor, or compressor bearings are gone.  Its parked at the local Audi/VW independent garage and we’ll talk tomorrow.

However, previously I’d had a chat with the mechanic years ago, and he’d mentioned that if I had a problem with the AC, legally he’s not allowed to “touch” it unless he first does an R12 to R134A conversion.  He outlined what the costs of that is, how many parts need to be swapped out at significant expense, and that its not a very good option because the result has less cooling than the original R12 system which didn’t have great cooling capacity to begin with.

This list is filled with members who have managed to keep their Audi’s in near showroom condition, or at least running condition for far longer than the average Audi.  Mine is a 1990, which is old, but we’ve had many list members with cars from the 90’s or 80’s.  Thus I’m guessing many must have already faced this issue.  I know some have done the R134A conversion, to mixed results.  What about the rest?  Are there any good options for getting an R12 system running again?

Thanks for any thoughts

MC