In the process of doing my heads and cam swap and all of that I took out my air condensor. Well I didn't do it the right way. Oops I just let it ALLLLLL out . So when I go to put it back together I need to know how many bottles of the stuff I'm going to need to buy to recharge it. I've looked in my Chiltons Manual but it says "since you can't leaglly carge your air conditioning at home take it to a certified mechanic". It says something like that. But what I don't understand is if it's so illegal then why do they sell the cans at Checkers??

Anyways thanks

 

R 12 is illage to buy.. but R134A is not.. I belive that is what you ahve but check the sticker under teh hood to make sure..


lemme say this.. if you want it done right take it to a shop.. and this is why..


Where ever the system was opened any seals or o rings that were disturbed should be repalced....

also, when teh system is closed again you need to pull it down to a vacuum for about an hour to pull all the moisture out of the system..

ANd then it can ge charged.. if it's at a shop with the rigt tools they can use the gauges to add enough freon untill the right amount is used... normal being between 35-45PSI low side and 200-250 PSI high side depending on the ambiant temp...


you can do it yourself after it have been vacummed down but it's not very accurate..

there will be info on teh charge amount on the underhood sticker.. usualy about 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 pounds ish of freon. now if you know how many pounds it calls for you can figure it out like this.

16 ounces to a pound and usualy 12 ounces per can of freon..

so.. if the charge is 3 pounds you need 4 cans...ect ect ect...


there are a lot of dangers that come with the AC system.. they are under VERY high pressure and the freon can freze and damage your skin on contact...



sorry for teh long post... I should really go to bed

 

if you totally bleed off (opened up the system) the ac. you can not fix it yourself with a recharge kit. it has to be hooked up and vacuumed with a special machine, and then recharged.

i did the same as you with my heads/cam project.
i took mine to a shop a they ended up using 8.5lbs of coolant.
it cost me $80. well worth it to have ac again in 90+ weather.


jesse

 

Capacity for my 94 Z is 2.0 pounds..
Also it should be on the underhood sticker on the radiator support..

 

I thought R-12 was still legal.


Anyway, the gas to use now is AutoFrost. I don't know what the "code" name is.

But it works really well.

 

These cars use R134
R12 while still 'legal', you need an EPA license to buy it..

 

there is NO way that they put THAT much freon in your system. that would be 6and a half pound to much... there is no way that they could even physicly put that much in needless to say have it work.. your compressor would never run cause the pressure woule be way to high and it would shut the compressor off..


you need to go have a talk with them.. if all they did was put freon on it and charged you 80 bucks you got hosed

 

thats what i thought he told me (it looks like im wrong), i do know they hooked my car up to the vaccum machine for a little less than an hour, then recharged the system.

my ac works better than ever.

jesse

 

well. we chrage 40 bucks for a vac recharge plus 6 bucks per can of 134a... so.. either they did more that you don;t know about... or there prices are pretty bad...


but looks like you got taken alittle bit..

but I guess as long as it works

 

i live back a rural area, i had to drive 50 minutes to find a shop to do it. thanks for letting me know.
jesse