Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 08:33:13 -0400
Reply-To: Jim Henry <jch@VNET.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Henry <jch@VNET.NET>
Organization: JCH GIS
Subject: Re: A/C conversion to R134a?????
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
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
>
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--
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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