wow freon!

my air conditioning hasn't worked since i bought it (in december) and now that it is getting warmer i thought i might as well look into getting it recharged with freon........39.99 for labor and 40 per pound(X2) so i'm going to have to pay $120 for the recharge............... he said i had the older stuff and that was the price for it. so how is it for the rest of these blazers?

do it your self and it is MAXX $50 with the recharge kits

if you have to get a r22 conversion to r134a it will cost more like you said

I going to say something here I probably shouldn't because one I'll get a bunch of flax, two they don't want people to know this. First I hold an EPA Type I & II license for high pressure refrigeration. I also hold an ASE A/C Cert. I have held these for years. I worked commerical refrigeration before I retired, a friend of mine owned a shop when I retired out of the mechanical business I worked with him for a few years until he passed away.
My wife's 93 Lumina needed the A/C fixed. It was an R12 unit, well I took it to a shop that I know the owners. They pulled a vacuum fixed a smal leak & recharged with R134A. It works great. 36 degrees at the air vents. Does anyone notice anything different about this? Let me tell you. The filter/drier & oil are the same as with R12 MINERAL OIL, with R134A. Not suppose to work, The claim is that MINERAL OIL WON'T MIX with R134A the oil won't carry in R134A is the claim made by 99% of the experts. Well, If the oil won't carry then why has the compressor not failed? How long can a compressor run without oil?
This is for what it is worth. I won't discuss this further, meaning I don't care if you believe it or not.

Dont do it yourself unless you know what your doing

R12 is very dangerous if you dont know what your doing...this is not a simple DIY learn as you go process.

Last summer, a guy tried recharging his AC with R12 and didnt know what he was doing, R12 is extremly cold, he messed up and the can sprayed everywhere and all over him. the R12 spray hit his eyes and froze them instantly. As soon as he blinked, his eyes shattered like glass with a brick going through it. 
Spend the extra money and get it done professionally

I've done 3 vehicles that were factory equipped with freon (which is r12/22 I take it?) and dumped in the R134a recharge cans.

Not going against you 4x4blazerguy just adding, as I had no idea about the oil/lube/filter issues with the switch, but I thought the retro-fit was more a deal of replacing the connectors with R134a connectors (different size coupling than the freon systems).  But you can buy an adapter kit at Autozone for 8 or 9 bucks.  Did it on my '87 pontiac, my neighbors '92 civic, and my grandpa's '90 S10.  The GM retrofit adapter kit worked fine on all three (civic was probably just lucky), and all 3 systems ran very cold, with no compressor issues.

Don't pay a shop to do it basically....get yourself a recharge kit, maybe pick up an a/c recharge adapter kit from autozone (you can return it later if not used), and see what happens

u need a license in some states to buy freon so u might wanna look into that if u plan on doing it urself. my dad used to be a mechanic and has his license so he helps me out and i get it done for free cuz my dad has a stash of freon.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zasder


 As soon as he blinked, his eyes shattered like glass with a brick going through it. 

I call BS on that for it to freeze like that it would have to be liquid nitrogen liquid R12 is not cold enough to shatter an eye ball after getting hit with it for a second I would be more worried about getting sprayed in the eye with the oil that comes out with the pressure.
I have personally stuck my finger in a shot glass full of liquid R12 it is cold and kinda bubbles and sizzles but no where near cold enough to freeze something solid to shatter it.

Coulda frozen the cornea, and the blink ripped the cornea off...

And the MSDS for R12 lists the boiling point as -29* C, or -20*F, which is pretty chilly for any human organ, much less fluid covered eyes...

AND on top of that, the sudden decompression would further drop the temperature of the surrounding air, so the eye would have cooled off much faster, flash freezing it, as opposed to your finger in the shot glass which still had body heat to sustain the skin..

So it is quite possible that happened, hush with your bs calls.

quote:

ORIGINAL: WolfPack

I've done 3 vehicles that were factory equipped with freon (which is r12/22 I take it?) and dumped in the R134a recharge cans.

Not going against you 4x4blazerguy just adding, as I had no idea about the oil/lube/filter issues with the switch, but I thought the retro-fit was more a deal of replacing the connectors with R134a connectors (different size coupling than the freon systems).  But you can buy an adapter kit at Autozone for 8 or 9 bucks.  Did it on my '87 pontiac, my neighbors '92 civic, and my grandpa's '90 S10.  The GM retrofit adapter kit worked fine on all three (civic was probably just lucky), and all 3 systems ran very cold, with no compressor issues.

Don't pay a shop to do it basically....get yourself a recharge kit, maybe pick up an a/c recharge adapter kit from autozone (you can return it later if not used), and see what happens

Wolfpack,
You just verified my point exactly. If you have an OLD CAR, like in the 60s-70s then o-rings might need to be changed & hoses etc. But most vehicles in the 80-00 are fine for R134A. Yea just change the fitting on the low side to except R134A and go. Glkad to see someone here knows about it. Because I have caught crap on other forums for saying what I did here.
Craig
Craig

quote:

ORIGINAL: xmradioguy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zasder


As soon as he blinked, his eyes shattered like glass with a brick going through it. 

I call BS on that for it to freeze like that it would have to be liquid nitrogen liquid R12 is not cold enough to shatter an eye ball after getting hit with it for a second I would be more worried about getting sprayed in the eye with the oil that comes out with the pressure.
I have personally stuck my finger in a shot glass full of liquid R12 it is cold and kinda bubbles and sizzles but no where near cold enough to freeze something solid to shatter it.

Where were you that you could stick your finger a cup or bowl of liquid R12? R12 boils at around -30 below zero. Liquid R12 turns to gas at anything above that if not under pressure.
So I find your story a little unbelievable. I worked on Refers that reached -100 below zero. They needed a 2 stage system to get that cold. If liquid R12 or even Propane (which boils at -44 below zero.) hits your hand it boils off, right away, can freeze the spot on your hand in an instant.
I believe if liquid R12 hits you in the eye major damage could be very possible. A shot of -30 below zero spells trouble. When I worked for a Government contractor we had buildings that where for storage that were keep at -30 Below zero couldn't vary anymore than 3 degrees. We had to wear protection so our lungs wouldn't freeze when working in them.

Refrigerant is expensive. R410A is $5500 per skid now and R22 went up from $2000 per skid to $5000 per skid. That translates to something like $18 for 410A and $16 for R22 per pound. I don't keep up with the rates of 134A because we don't stock that in our shop. lol

Freon cools faster.
 
I miss my old Z34...

Huh? Freon is just the Dupont brand name.

Sorry, R12.

oh...

 i need a re-charge but my compressor does not come on so is there a way to get r134a in the system with out the compressor( i think the compressor still works i dont think it is siezed up) . idk. thanks

If you have a 2 wire low pressure switch you can jump it to start the compressor as your charging the system. Some GMs like my wife's 93 Lumina has a ground switch that until the correct pressure is reached it won't come on. On those you need to evacuate then add the freon, the vacuum will suck in enough freon to allow the switch to close to start the compressor. My 97 Blazer 4x4 has a 2 wire low pressure switch on it. Hope this helps.

I love havin' an A/C expert on the forums now 

I stockpiled R12 when it was still legal to purchase.  So I have not had to switch yet.  Is it true that the AC does not get as cold with a 134 conversion?  That is what i have had other people tell me but I do not know if it is true or not. 

I can't run my R-134a system on full blast for more than a few minutes...too chilly.

Now on a hot NC day with the windows down, it might not be as cold...but yea...

134 gets as cold as r12... just not as fast.

quote:

ORIGINAL: 4x4blazerguy

I going to say something here I probably shouldn't because one I'll get a bunch of flax, two they don't want people to know this. First I hold an EPA Type I & II license for high pressure refrigeration. I also hold an ASE A/C Cert. I have held these for years. I worked commerical refrigeration before I retired, a friend of mine owned a shop when I retired out of the mechanical business I worked with him for a few years until he passed away.
My wife's 93 Lumina needed the A/C fixed. It was an R12 unit, well I took it to a shop that I know the owners. They pulled a vacuum fixed a smal leak & recharged with R134A. It works great. 36 degrees at the air vents. Does anyone notice anything different about this? Let me tell you. The filter/drier & oil are the same as with R12 MINERAL OIL, with R134A. Not suppose to work, The claim is that MINERAL OIL WON'T MIX with R134A the oil won't carry in R134A is the claim made by 99% of the experts. Well, If the oil won't carry then why has the compressor not failed? How long can a compressor run without oil?
This is for what it is worth. I won't discuss this further, meaning I don't care if you believe it or not.