Dear Chris, I just had my 84 westy converted to R134 at a cost of $297.00. I am in Durham, NC. I considered just recharging with R12, like I did 3 years ago, but at $70+ a pound for R12, the new dryer and attention to the whole system that came with the R12 made sense. My local mechanic, (Lonnie at University Tire & Auto, 1309 Christian Ave., Durham, 27705 (919)-309-7898). Lonnie is the mechanic that use to be at Guess Road Amoco that is listed on all the mechanic recommendation lists. This won't help you in Detroit, but I know some folks here in the Raleigh/Durham area have been trying to find him.) did the work. So far, less that a week, it works great. I don't think it is quite as cold as the R12, but it has been very welcome in the hot humid wonders of the current NC summer. Good luck, Jim Christian Knust wrote: > Hi guys - > > our A/C does not what it´s supposed to do. I guess it would be running all > right but is out of Freon, since it has probably not been serviced for a > number of years. I have some difficulties to find someone in the Detroit Meto Area > to recharge it (I mean someone who does know about Vanagons), but I have > found one guy who claims to know. I´d like to convert the system to 134a instead > of using ozone-killing R12 and he would do that after flushing the system, > installing a new dryer, changing to PAG oil and pressure testing the system. > He will be charging me about 300 to 350 $$ and I wonder whether that´s a fair > price. I have checked VW´s technical specs for doing the conversion under > http://gti16v.org/tb879503.htm. What´s your experience with the recharging / > conversion of the A/C? I mean there´s lots of conversion kits out there at the > next auto parts store, so I wonder why I do not just go to the next A/C > garage, have the system drained of R12 (if any is left anyway) and then do the oil > change of the compressor, hook up some of these pressure bottles with R134a > and see what´s happening... I am aware of the new valve system for the A/C > which was introduced in 1987 and wonder whether that can be dealt with by using > the adapters from the standard conversion kits at the auto parts store or > whether I´d need a special gizmo. Furthermore, the tec specs mentioned above > list a separate parts number for the Vanagon PAG oil - is that something > special? Everyone else seems to pump in the PAG stuff as available on the shelf from > the auto parts store. > I checked with VWoA first and they recommended a VW dealer in the area. > Well, these guys called me basically a nutcase to even think about converting the > system. I guess they make more money on selling R12 and they have been > voting against the Kyoto Treaty since they became dealers. > So, again, I´ll be appreciating any idea. > Thanks, cheers > Chris > > -- > GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. > http://www.gmx.net > > -- > GMX Tipp: > > Machen Sie Ihr Hobby zu Geld bei unserem Partner 1&1! > http://profiseller.de/info/index.php3?ac=OM.PS.PS003K00596T0409a -- Jim and Lois Henry Durham, NC www.jchgis.com (Jim) dull work stuff www.foxcarving.com (Lois) really neat stuff 84 GSL-SE 85 GSL-SE (parts car) 84 Vanagon Westfalia camper 95 Oldsmobile Aurora 93 Geo Prism 87 RX7 na jch@jchgis.com lkhenry@vnet.net |
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