My ac hasnt been cold for awhile now...nor is it blowing hot air and I think Im low on freon....so Im thinking about getting some r-134a at autozone but what bottle to buy and how many. Ive seen some in just a plain bottle and seen some with a guage...anyone has inputs using these? Do I need to release all the old freon and then refill? or is it better to take it to the shop? I have a 95 integra if it helps..thanks

sorry if its a newb question....and did search but nothing came up.......

 

From my experiance, you have to get a guage to prevent over filling your system. Doesn't matter if you get the ones come with the guage or not, they are the same R-134a. (Autozone jacked up the price since last summer!!!) I think the pressure should be at 26psi.

 

should I release out the old freon?

 

If you can find someone who will discharge the old freon, then go for it. A lot of shops that don't specialize in A/C will not do it, but you should be able to find a place that does A/C installs, recharges, etc to do it for free, because they can use the left over freon.

However, if the car is blowing warm air all the time, odds are that the freon is already gone from the system. All that will be left over are traces of oil in the fittings/hoses. Of course, many shops will tell you that you should have everything retrofitted to get new r134a compatible parts and to get rid of the oils left by the freon (r12). But, most r134a kits are compatible with the old r12 leftover oils, and usually have a stopleak ingredient so that you don't need to retrofit anything and can recharge for only the cost of 2 bottles and a gauge. You are supposed to need the gauge because you are only supposed to fill up to 80% of capacity with r134a because of its different properties (I think it expands easier under temp than r12, so thats why you can't go to 100%).

When I looked into the kit, it cost like $40 for 2 bottles with the gauge included. I think I read that a regular Honda a/c unit might need all of the 2 bottles and maybe a bit of a 3rd bottle to be completely recharged, but you can get away with 2 to start. Then, keep the gauge and just buy extra bottles if you ever need to. There is no guarantee that the leak that let your r12 out will not let out your r134a as well, but the stopleak might help.

I will post up a pic of the kit I was gonna buy in a sec.

Retrofit guide (if you're ****):
http://www.sanden.com/support/RETRO.html

Pic of kit, most of them are made by Interdynamics. I know Pep Boys carries them, basically, each bottle has some oil and some r134a in it, so you are recharging the oils/refrig at the same time.

 

where do you plug that hose into?

 

thanks purplegsr......another stupid question is.....when you said..."find someone who will discharge the old freon"......can I just press that release pressure button ac system next to my radiator fan? and is the discharging the old freon? or is that not the proper way? I looked into my car and has a little decal of my ac stating r134a....I guess i dont need any retrofitting....and I can just buy the r134a bottles....

 

r12 (freon) ***** up the environment (it's an aerosol, so it eats a hole in the ozone layer), so you shouldn't discharge any yourself, the places that do it have to evacuate it and store it in proper containers etc. And yes, if your car already says r134a retrofitted (or it was made after 94 and came from the factory with r134a), then you're good to go. However, keep in mind that stopleak additive in the kit won't work all the time, so you may be filling up every year or so until you can find the leak.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondaevo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">where do you plug that hose into?</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you look straight down near your radiator, you should see 2 big old metal contraptions with hoses running in/out of them, they have rubber caps sometimes. Just follow the directions on the bottle to plug it into the low-pressure port, if you go to the interdynamics website they have pics/diagrams/how-to.
http://www.id-usa.com/how_to_recharging.asp

 

I have a 95 teg also, The ac is cold, but not cold enough, and on hot days it sucks. I added 2 small bottles of 134a, but the pressure still remains about about 22 psi. I'm thinking it might have a small leak.

I would try recharging, and if it doesnt hold the pressure, you might have to bring it into a shop.