for the lucky few who still can score some R12 refrigerant here my little how to for recharging r12 at home.

Step 1: inspection
A/C is not running cool anymore? think it's the refrigerant running low? well, check it out.

1)turn the car on and let it idle for a few minute while blasting your a/c at MAX setting.

2)look under your hood(location can be found in your owner's manual also) for the sight glass. if you see abunch of foam and white bubbles through the glass, it's indicating the system is undercharge(need refrigerant)
if you see nothing and your a/c is not blowing cool air, it could be a indication of bad compressor. Check the pulley and belt, etc.

Step 2: Decision making
The a/c system is CLOSED, if you running low on Ref. most of the time on some older cars it's a leak some where. so if you think it's a leak, use some dye you can buy from autozone/kragen to spot the leak.

Now you have to make up your mind what you going to do, you can bring it to the shop and have it filled again with R12(downside=cost) or you can have the shop retrofit it with R134 fitting and run R134 from now on or your can do it yourself and recharge some R12(downside, good luck finding them)

Step 3: the tool
If you plan to do it yourself, go look for a Recharge kit(hose, fitting in one package) for R12, do not get the kit for R134, they simply wont fit.
it's good to have the guage to keep an eye on the pressure.
a regular kit without guage cost around 10 buck(can locking cramp, valve, hose).

Step 4: instruction
1)lock the "can locking clamp" onto the can, make sure it tightly fit
2)check the valve, make sure the needle is all the way up. Screw in the valve in the Clamp.
3)screw in the hose to the valve and screw in the other end to the low pressure side service port. The hose marked with D is the high pressure.
4)start the car, turn a/c to max.
5)turn the valve so the needle will punch a hole in the can and then turn it to open. a can of 12oz should be drain in 6-8 minute. hold the can in upright position. do not overcharge your system, keep close watch of the ref. level.
6)once the can is empty, unhook the hose from the car's a/c hardline.

Sidenote from the can: before using R12, recover all residual R12 in the AC system. Replace any ref. oil lost during the process.(aka, bring to the shop and have them drain out the R12 and not killing mother earth)


Modified by iam7head at 2:34 PM 7/23/2004

 

great writeup..........what if we hate mother earth???........i never liked that damned brainwashing liberal captain planet.....

R12 is older ("outdated") than R134, correct?

 

R12 could be found in most early 90's honda/acura as well as most of the import.

they are ban for sale in US without liscence. as you might think R12 is bad for the ozone, R134 is even more damageing compare to R12.

I am happy now, found couple can of those R12 dirt cheap, finally recharged my ac system on my 89legend.

 

^that's me

R134 is very easy to do, VERY VERY cheap comparing to R12's price but i just dont have the money to retro fit and fit it with R134 on my pos beater.

 

Dupont owns the patent to R134a so to make a ton of money, they fed the public with "R12 kills Mother Earth". As usual, follow the money trail to the truth.