Dekorum

Ok, my 92 EG has the worst A/C. Its fully and correctly charged, with no leaks, and has the correct conversion to run R134a. At night, its cold and works awesome. But who really wants A/C at night? In the daytime with the sun blazing on the A/C vents, the A/C just cannot keep up and cool down the car and I end up being better off with the windows open...

I've heard it is because the EG condenser is so damn small, and I agree. I've also heard there was a way to fit an Integra condenser or something? I'm not sure exactly, but I would love to know which condenser I could use in place of the EG one.

ca-rs

Can you or someone you know weld aluminum?

skuded

maybe you should just take it to a shop and have them look at it, if your a/c isnt blowing well in the heat of the day you may not be getting great flow through the system or maybe your compressor isnt doing as good of a job as it should be, you also could have a clogged condensor, or evaporator, or a sticking expansion valve, or to much oil in the system, there are to many factors, but the fact is is that if the system isnt blowing cold during the heat of the day its not the fact that the a/c is inadequate its the fact that its not functioning properly, have you had the car evacuated and pulled into a vacuum for at least 30 minutes and then recharged to spec, if i were you i would start with taking it to a reputable shop and letting them look at it, or just take it and have someone do a evac and recharge, and make sure they run a vacuum on it for at least 30 minutes, if not an hour or more would be better

AGENT_47

I know I'll probably get flamed but you should have used r12 , our systems were built to run with r12 , so putting r134a in a r12 stock system just isn't as efficient.

While r134a is perfectly good stuff in a r134a stock system , it's just not as efficient as r12 in a r12 stock system.

My girlfriend had spent $200 getting her old 92 civic converted yesterday and it's just not as cold as the r12 was. She's pissed off she didn't let me put r12 in it now

The Honda dealership did all the proper conversion , I guess? They are a Honda dealership, saying how evil r12 is and it's the end of the world ,blah blah.

R134a is soon to be banned itself so..

If you can somehow go back to r12 I would do it , since your system was built for r12, they sell r12 all day long on EBAY.

Former User

Does the condenser fan run?

Hook up a manifold gauge set to measure the high and low side pressures.

rickkane

My goodness! What have you been reading? R134a is not going to be banned! Are you kidding? It's an HFC refrigerant, it has zero ozone depletion potential! Get your facts sorted before you start telling everyone a bunch of BS.

skuded

actually they are coming out with a new refrigerant soon, r-134a may not go away completely but i think they are coming out with something more efficient

Former User

R12 has significant ozone depletion potential, whereas R134a is now known to have significant global warming potential. New refrigerants without these negative features will soon be used in cars.

B18C5-EH2

I've got a 90 Civic wagon with the full width condenser set-up in front of the radiator, and while going down the road it cools as cold as 38 degrees, but when sitting still it shoots up in the 60's. We have a nice A/C machine at my shop, and we've checked/rechecked and the pressures are good, etc. IT SUCKS.

I feel your pain.

I think my problem resides in the less than ideal condenser fan I'm running due to exhaust manifold clearance (lack thereof) with a stock fan, so I'm running one of those Hayden aftermarket slim fans.

Have you checked to make sure your fan is moving a good amount of air? the fan might "work" but it might not be really moving air across the condenser.

Also checking the pressures with guages is a good idea if you haven't already. You might be applying the correct "charge" of refridgerant, but if the expansion valve isn't working then the high side might be super high pressure while the low side can actually drop into a vacuum.

Former User

With respect to this point, the OP should also check whether the condenser is heavily clogged with bugs and debris.

B18C5-EH2

BTW:

I wanted to point out that I realize I repeated Ron's suggestion of making sure the condenser fan is working.



Yes there IS an echo in here.

AGENT_47

I was told this by the owner of a HONDA dealership, my facts are no only straight they do 5 second 1/4 mile.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/au...ef=automobiles


http://ecomodder.com/blog/eu-will-ba...coolant-by-20/


http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20011487-48.html


Dupont is rumored to stop production of r134a , you better stock up now.. sound familiar??

In wide use for little more than a decade, the shortcoming of R134a is revealed by a standard measurement called the Global Warming Potential, established to compare other gases with the most plentiful greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. The warming potential of R134a refrigerant is 1,410, meaning that the release of one gram of R134a would have the same global warming effect as releasing 1,410 grams of carbon dioxide.

AGENT_47

Here's what's happening, like I said earlier if you can somehow get the system flushed and put r12 in you'll be a happy camper. r134a soon will be just as expensive as r12 , mark my words, Dupont is rumored to stop r134a production and it's already banned in parts of Europe already because of it's "ozone depletion" statistics. Hmm go figure


Instead of changing your condenser size and retrofitting all the crap , just use r12 it's not evil and the science connected to it it's suspect however convincing the results. Your system was built to run with r12 , you wonder why there are so many people with AC problems after converting?

I'm not saying drink the stuff ....

You have a stock r12 system so use r12 and ignore the "conversion" BS. trust me you'll be cool sitting idle in 100 degree weather like me.


R-134a has a
critical temp of 214F vs 234F of R-12. Portions of the condenser
may easily hit 214F, at which point the R-134a will not liquify
at all or very little ... leading to poor performance in
stopped traffic/low air flow periods.

R-134a needs a much larger condenser due to this, and it located
away from the radiator (may not be possible), and beefed up
radiator fans to suck in more cool air than for R-12. Retrofitted
R-12 systems are not likely to have large condensers/more air
flow.. so they will have very poor low speed/stopped performance.

Former User

^Bad advice. Read the first post. The system has already been converted to R134a. Never use R12 in an R134a system. R12 is now incompatible with the system.

AGENT_47

1) Evacuate the 134A.

2) Drain the oil in the system

3) Replace with either mineral ol or POE (POE is compatible with both refrigerants)

3) Replace the filter drier

4) Re-install the R12 service fittings

5) Pull a deep vacuum (-28-29 in/hg) for at least an hour

6) Recharge with R12.

Converting back is much like the conversion to R134a, if it was done right. You'd need to replace the receiver-dryer, flush everything out meticulously to make sure all of the oil is gone, replace that with the correct R12 mineral oil, evacuate and recharge.


The expansion valve may be clogged or the condenser fins might be clogged.you need to remove the R134a fittings screwed on them, and replace the valve cores. Flushing etc.


The gauges are the best way to tell if the system is working right before you go changing it back to R12.


I am a huge proponent of keeping R12 systems R12, but once they have already been converted it might be more efficient to see if you can improve it enough to live with rather than undertake the re-conversion back it's certainly possible to convert a stock r12 system back to it's stock r12 state.

Former User

To save time and money, I personally think this is where the OP should focus his efforts.

numba1stunna201

videos of the 1/4 runs ????

Dekorum

Ok, my condenser fan certainly WORKS. Last year I went to an A/C guy when my condenser fan stopped working and we replaced it with some autozone type OEM-like fan, which I now realize I should have went OEM. He checked all the temps and pressures and it all seemed fine. He was wondering why the vents weren't getting as cold as he would like and he recommended the R12 thing. But, NO. I know theres a way to make this system cool well using R134a.

A few weeks ago I had to replace a broken A/C line, where we vacuumed everything out for 30 mins, then recharged. All the pressures were fine.

I still don't know what I could do. Maybe another better condenser fan. OR, how would I check if the condenser is clogged?

AGENT_47

Or spend $50 on EBAY and get 2 cans of r12

Dekorum

But then I would need to reverse all of this conversion system that I've had on my car since I bought it from the previous owner over 2 years ago. Also, what if later on I had a leak and needed a refill at some A/C place?