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[RageRover]

Originally Posted by TNRRClassic

First, you don't have to have any sort of outlandish equipment to work with R12. You only have to be a licensed technician and recapture any refrigerant from the system. No releasing it into the atmosphere, you know. You may have to call a few places before you find one who will go to the trouble of dealing with R12, but any good shop will. A full recharge may run $150 or thereabout, but you will need to find the leak so that you don't have to do this again soon. Many AC shops do not want to deal with R12, so they will fill you with all manner of bull.

Switching to R134, Freeze 12, or another refrigerant is another possibility, but they generally run a higher pressure, and you should at least aggressively vacuum your system, possibly use a cleaner to remove the old oil, and change your receiver/dryer. Your AC was designed around R12, and it will function more optimally using the original product.

x2. Yeah, any mobile air conditioning system on any car, should last the life time of the vehicle....in the perfect world, or when the vehicle has been taken real great care of. R12 is becoming a rare refirgerent to get ahold of, but can be ordered through MACS certified technicians at any shop that services mobile air conditioning. I am MACS ceritified, so technically I could order R12, but don't have the equipment to evacuate the old system, find the leak, or the tools to repair any thing on mobile A/C. The best solution I was told, and it would cost a very pretty penny, would be to retrofit the whole system to an R-134a system just like he said. Consists of replacing reciever-drier, maybe compressor, restriction device (maybe), and when it is all said and done would be a better, environmetally safe, and longer life span than R-12. It all depends what's in your wallet.