ToddLS400 Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 I noticed a recharge kit today in a store for 135A I believe? Does the '90 LS400 use the old school freon? I know the older systems can be converted to the newer A/C systems. I know a shop across the state in my girlfriend's old college (WSU) town that would do the conversion for $100 with recharge. It's 300 miles away though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 i think its 134a or the one you saw was different. the first gen LS was filled with r12 but newer gens came with the 134a because it is believed to be environmentaly friendly. if the conversion is a real conversion than thats cheap! but is your a/c busted :( the reason auto makers used r12 was that it was an efficient gas to work with but efficient isnt always friendly to our good old planet. so if you want to convert and want to have your a/c as cold as it was with r12 you need some upgraded parts to make your a/c ice cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG LEX Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 Hey TODD... I have the same car that you do, and yes both our cars do use the old school systems. What a coincidence though, I just went today to change my AC to the newer environmentally friendly one... they charged me $78 bucks (CANADIAN) to retrofit it.. but thats not all.. they said I have a leak somewhere and so on... basically im looking at a hefty price tag to get cold air blowing again.. By the way, I saw your car and I love the exterior! its looks greatt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 once your a/c is retrofitted you can try and use those sealers to stop the leak if your a/c is already blowing hot air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Sweitzer Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 I've heard that the R134a conversion kits sold in auto parts stores are a bad idea. The compressor oil used in the Lexus R12 systems is plain old mineral oil. R134a requires either Ester or PAG (synthetic?). Mineral oil and R134a don't get along together very well. A very thorough flushing of the system is needed for a proper job. Also, higher temperature "O" rings are a good idea (although I don't believe that Lexus requires they be changed in a conversion). If you're in Canada you might want to look into a product that is a direct "drop in" for R12 called R12a from a company called Duracool. It's available in the US as well. As to the leak, you might want to check the manifold gasket on the compressor. Mine developed a leak there. I replaced the gasket (and the receiver/dryer), pulled a vacuum on the system, recharged it, and all is good as new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 yea its true that you need to use a PAG oil when you change over and try to always use a new bottle because PAG oil sucks water and water is not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddLS400 Posted July 6, 2003 Author Share Posted July 6, 2003 Hey TODD... I have the same car that you do, and yes both our cars do use the old school systems. What a coincidence though, I just went today to change my AC to the newer environmentally friendly one... they charged me $78 bucks (CANADIAN) to retrofit it.. but thats not all.. they said I have a leak somewhere and so on... basically im looking at a hefty price tag to get cold air blowing again.. By the way, I saw your car and I love the exterior! its looks greatt! Thanks BG Lex. :D Did you put pics of your ride in the gallery too? Oh yeah, it was 134A I saw. FYI to everbody with the 134A system. A liquidation store called "Big Lots" up here in the Seattle area is selling bottles of the 134A for about $4 and the recharge tool (hookup with brass looking hose) for $5.95. It looks pretty easy to do and that's cheap as heck. You can recharge your A/C as much as you want at that price... Stop paying the garage $50 - $100 for a simple recharge. So nobody can sell R12 to recharge our older A/C systems? Is R12 basically refrigerant freon? Or was that the next chemical coolant after freon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 the reason those bottles only cost 4 bucks is that you need a lot of them to fill up the system. the purpouse of those bottles is to fill up a system that still blows cold air but not as cold as before. plus a garage knows how much to put in and you can blame them if it blows up. r12 is not made anymore in the US. places like china still do but you can not bring it in to the US or other affiliated countries. originaly DuPont made the gas called freon and named it other companies can make freon and sell it but just not under the name of freon unless i guess they pay up some dough you can still get r12 because alot of it does still exist but only what is still left. and because of that their is a big price gap between say 134a and r12 most of the time the difference is about 100 bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 the reason those bottles only cost 4 bucks is that you need a lot of them to fill up the system. the purpouse of those bottles is to fill up a system that still blows cold air but not as cold as before. plus a garage knows how much to put in and you can blame them if it blows up. r12 is not made anymore in the US. places like china still do but you can not bring it in to the US or other affiliated countries. originaly DuPont made the gas called freon and named it other companies can make freon and sell it but just not under the name of freon unless i guess they pay up some dough you can still get r12 because alot of it does still exist but only what is still left. and because of that their is a big price gap between say 134a and r12 most of the time the difference is about 100 bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990LS400 Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 The A/C in my 90 LS400 was recently converted to R134a by a non-dealer Lexus repair shop for about $200 (US) including charging and seems to be providing plenty of cold air in current 100+ Kansas temperatures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 wow its 100+ man you must die if your car doesnt have a/c :o well i guess newer cars can cool alot better even with 134. i did a conversion to my 86 toy cressida and it was ok. no problem at night but during the day it took a while to cool down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewzdoc Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 Mine was converted about 4 years ago to 134a. It blew ice cold until a rock hit the radiator and blew out the condenser coil about a year ago. $1000 later it’s blowing ice cold again. One thing though the compressor makes a high pitch sound that gets worse after the system has be run for a while. Any ideas. Oil maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzz30 Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 i think your high pitched noise is coming from the compressor clutch. i changed mine and $200 later it sounds like new...silent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG LEX Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 RE: ToddLS400 Thanks BG Lex. Did you put pics of your ride in the gallery too? : HEY TODD> I JUST UPLOADED @ PICTURES OF MY LS.. they are on page 5! Lemme know what you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddLS400 Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 Your LS looks really clean. The pics need more color though...They look kind of blueish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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