[s-cars] Re: A/C Compressor Fest

[CyberPoet]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
There is a device  available to test whether your A/C is R12 or R134A
(as well as the purity level of your refrigerant), but you're likely
only to find it in a shop that specializes in A/C work.
Example: http://www.lucastestequipment.com/aircon/aircon_3.htm

Legally, different fittings and color codings are to be used on the A/C
system to denote it's contents. You can find the cross-reference chart
for those specifications here:
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/refrigerants/fittlist.html

This doesn't mean that if a person did a conversion at home or on the
sly, your fittings would have been updated (some smaller shops also
don't, and most R-134A conversion kits don't have the altered fittings
either, but it's an easy way to identify what shipped with you car
originally).

For legal requirements on conversion, recovery and recycling (includes
what stickers should be present, etc), you can visit:
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/refrigerants/macssubs.html

Then there's the easy way, depending on whether you've owned the car
all it's life. If you have, ask the dealer. If you haven't, then ask
the dealer anyway, but don't necessarily accept that the answer he
gives you is correct. Note that no-one does R134A to R12 conversions in
the USA, so if the dealer says your car shipped with R134A, then it
will be R134A now. If your car shipped with R12, you must assume it is
still R12 unless you have some reasonable basis to believe that it has
been converted (such as a conversion sticker present on the compressor
or dryer, or a bill for conversion from an authorized shop). Note that
R12 and R134 are not mixable (by law and by common wisdom -- they don't
work together). Additionally, other refrigerants were used in the
market at various points by some manufacturers (such as HCFC-22), so
you car may be neither R-12 nor R-134A.

Best Wishes,
=-= Marc Glasgow

On Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 11:48 PM, Douglas Landaeta wrote:

> How do you know if you're 134A or R12? My build month is 12/93.
>
> Doug
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