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Vanagon Air Conditioning

I have a 1986 Vanagon. Use it for work. In good shape, but the AC went out some time ago. Since it was a Freon 12 unit, I've been dragging my feet (plus no one wants to work on that vehicle). We had our first hint of summer here in Fresno, CA this week; temps hit the 80s. I went into my local Pep Boys and found a Freon 134 conversion recharging kit for 30 bucks. What the hell! Bought it, and recharged the system. Viola!! Cold air again. The kit had 2 cans of refrigerant-lubricant-sealer and a pressure gauge. Simple to use. Can't say anything about long-term, but, hey. I had our Volvo recharged with Freon 12, and it cost about $100. I don't know AC. I don't know refrigeration. But I do know cool air. So we'll watch the long term.

Reply to
Jim Corey
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Jim

COOL! If your AC is sound with nothing other then normal small leakage then your good to go. I've had very good results switching to r-134. VW fased in components that were compatable with r-134 before they actually started using it. Things like hoses, seals and "o" rings need to be of a different material. I'm not sure when they started on the Vanagon line. I once found a chart that had the years and makes that could be made, could not be made and were compatable with r-134. As I recall those that could not be made compatable would even work but it would leak out faster.

Motor on JoBo

Reply to
Jo Bo

Or you could just get some freeze 12 to put in the system and skip the 134 conversion altogether :-/ the 134 conversions never seem to be as cool as the r-12 was... maybe it's just cause I dont want to go in and do all the extra work to get a lesser result...draining all the oils out and changing the seals doesnt sound like fun... maybe it's best to do so anyways... but if not, why do all the extra work??

Reply to
VWGirl

R12 is very hard to find since production stopped several years ago. Last year if a owner wanted R12 the price was over $50 per pound as compared to when it was still being produced. Dealer price went from about $50 for a

30lb bottle to well over $1000 last year. Guess who's getting wealthily if they had some stockpiled! BTW, I have 4 cans of R12 with price tags of $1.77 from K-mart. An no it's not forsale, that's my retirement fund.

Reply to
Woodchuck

It's expensive stuff.... Last year when out home A/C unit broke down, we were praying it wasn't a freon leak, as it has a lot more of it then our cars (thankfully all the new stuff now...

Turned out the contactor wore out, and I replaced it with a new one, works fine now...

Reply to
Rob Guenther

If your home A/C is a central air unit, then the refrigerant is probably R-22, not R-12. R-22 is much cheaper than R-12. If it's a window unit then it might be R-12.

Bill

Reply to
William Maslin

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