gabezC4

My A/C doesn't blow cold. I need to refill the unit with refridgerant. Can I take the Vette to a shop that specializes in A/C's and have them just refill the unit or do they have to swap the unit to comform to any type of refridgerant?

Any help would be appreciated. I just want someone to fill'er up, not have to deal with any haggles or swaping of parts.

87Vetteowner

When I took my 87 in for a recharge a few years ago. The shop had to do a retrofit. From R-12 to the R 134 styff. Mostly consisted of o-rings and a few hoses. So usually no big deal.
But it doesnt cool quite as well as it did under R-12 though. But adequate enough to keep the car cool when it really got hot here.

If you find a shop with R-12 , be advised it may be cheaper to go the retrofit route. R-12 is very very pricey. As it is fairly scarce and not ever shop wants to deal with it any more.

dukeallen

Not to hijack the thread, but mine is blowing hot this year. Roughly how much would either a retrofit or a refill be?
I had my Mustang retrofitted over ten years ago, but I forget how much it cost. It was a PIA that took 4 tries and a change of mechanics to get working, and I agree on it not working as well.

VetteMed

R12 costs about $30 a pound or so at this time (C4 system should take 2.25 lbs). R134 isn't a whole lot cheaper, really, but it's much easier to find a shop that can do a retrofit, rather than a shop which still has:

1- supplies of R12, and
2- Equipment in good condition to service an R12 system.

dukeallen

I guess the OP and I have some calls to make to find a place with R12

SunCr

Best to let a shop leak check it so that you can keep whatever you put in it from leaking back out. Do look on the hood above the compressor and if there's compressor oil on it, the compressor shaft seal is leaking and needs to be replaced. They are serviceable unless it's leaked so long that the compressor shaft has a groove worn in it and you won't know that until you take the nose off the compressor and remove the old seal. Assuming it's no longer serviceable, you'll need a new compressor - $500 and up for the Nippodenso unit used from '88 up.

You can get a license and buy all the R12 you want at this site: www.epatest.com - it's usually available on Ebay or just google R12. You need 2.25 lbs for a complete fill or 3 12 oz cans. It will be the cheapest part of any rebuild which if you do it right, can run $800 or more and that's doing it yourself.

R134, with it's smaller molecule, makes more pressure as the ambient temperature rises. For any refrigerant, heat is proportionate to pressure; ie, as the pressure rises so does the temp of the refrigerant. The cooling fan is used to keep it under control. Unfortunately, these earlier, R12 years, use a pressure sensitive switch to turn on the fan at around 220 psi which is a little too high for R134. And there isn't a switch available with any different parameter built into it, so when it's really hot - say 90 or better, the R134 charge spirals upward and the liquid being metered into the Evaporator produces 60 degree air out of the vents. Not exactly what you're looking for - especially if you just coughed up the big bucks for new parts.