A/c On 91 Ls

[Steve in San Diego]

My 91 A/C was bowing warm air - local mechanic had some of the "old" freon and put it in. This was about 2 months ago - same problem - mechanic say to upgrade to R-34( or whatever newer, acceptable freon is) will run between $300 - $600. I had my 88 Jaguar converted a few years ago and all they replaced were some fittings total was a little over $100. What's the deal with Lexus? Any help, advice appreciated.

[texxclark]

Hey there-

I also drive a 1991 LS. MY car was bought in AZ and has lived out the rest of its life in Miami, FL obviously two places that require AC.

I just had the problem of retrofitting to the new freon. I first had the freon replaced with a die to show the leaks. I next found myself replacing all parts including the drier, evaporater, condenser, etc to R134A. The entire job cost me 1400 at a local shop i trust. Lexus quoted me 2100 on the same job based on there hourly rate of $140/hr.

Not sure your exact situation, but to change to 134A you are going to need to replace the whole system.

Tex

[sha4000]

he is right b/c there is no way you can evacuate all the r-12 out of the whole system and somewhere down the road you might have problems again. it sounds like you have a leak tough get a a/c shop to find the leak and just keep the old system which gets colder faster anyway. the reason why they switch to 134 is b/c its more enviorment friendly not b/c its better

[larryp]

Not a bad price to do it right. System must be evacuated and then flushed to remove all r12. Must replace receiver/dryer - not necessary to replace condensor. I switched when compressor failed so i had a new compressor. Oil in old compressor must be changed to r134a compatible oil. Would also need to change o-rings. Also must change low and high pressure fittings. No way $100 would cover the cost to do the conversion properly.

[akewlguy]

You have a leak. You need to get it troubleshot. Then from their they can either replace the problem. When most systems get just a bit low on freon they shut down. If the system (compressor were to run) it would destroy compressor. So your fan just blows warm air until recharged.

Most systems change over easily. R134 is a lot cheeper then R-12. Make sure you get a good AC mechanic.

[Steve in San Diego]

Thanks for the input guys. I'd like to keep the old style freon in there because it does seem to work better but it is becoming a rare commodity in California.

Steve

[monarch]

Your AC system merely has a slow refrigerant leak due to a worn 0-ring seal somewhere. Get the leak located and fixed by a shop equipped with an electronic leak detector and then keep using the old genune Freon R12 to maintain system reliability, durability and cooling performance.

Instead of letting shops gouge you on the price of R12, buy it cheaply yourself on ebay. Just use "Freon R12" as your search words. Buy the 12 oz or 14 oz cans. System capacity is about three 12 ounce cans and a can costs only $10-17 on ebay at this time of the year (closer to $10 by Thanksgiving). Despite what their ads say, many ebay sellers will not insist upon seeing evidence of section 609 certification prior to mailing you the R12. If they do, then for only $15 you can quickly get certified by taking a short 25 question test online that's offered at http://www.macsw.org/

Virtually no AC shops or other AC authorities will tell you about any of the above tips because they are getting rich talking customers into converting to refrigerant R134a.

These shops use all the tricks of the trade to convince customers R134a conversions are a good thing; e.g. calling them an "upgrade" "environmentally responsible" etc. plus they lie and say "R12 will be scarce and unavailable any day now". They've been feeding that falsehood to the public for the past 12 consecutive years!

[Steve in San Diego]

Monarch -

Thanks for the tip - I just ordered some on ebay

Is there a thread showing how to install?

Thanks again.