Alpha

I bought one of those kits that comes with refridgerant and a gauge... But the hose that is included doesn't fit my low pressure port. Do newer cars use a different port? Mine looks exactly like a tire valve with male threads.

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Pierced

sounds like you probably have an R-12 system and the can you have is R-34. If it is an older car its most likely going to be R-12, and you will have to take it to a certified shop to get it recharged. There should be a sticker on the condenser that says what type it is.

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Alpha

I have no idea where the condenser is... I know what one looks like and what it should be connected to...

I'm not bringing it to a pro. Its a 1990 Mercury Topaz that I'll probably only have for another month or so.

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Pierced

Being that old I am almost willing to bet money its an R-12 system, and you can only get that type of freon with a license. Just stick it out till you sell it.

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Alpha

I thought you could use R34 in an R12 system. The only thing you'd have to compensate for is the pressure

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Pierced

You will have to purge all of the R-12 out of the system before you can fill it with R-34. You also have to have an adapter on the fill line to accept the R-34 freon tanks. Something I have heard quite a bit is that when you run R-34 in a R-12 system that the compressor tends to fail after a couple months. Because the R-34 does not contain as much oil as R-12, if I am remembering right.

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Alpha

The system is already completely drained... The car sat in a gravel parking lot for a couple of years and before that it sat in a driveway for another year (I bought it from a guy who had his legs amputated)

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Pierced

Well pick up an adapter and filler up oreilly's/advanced auto/auto zone may have them but I am not sure. But once you fill it I would be ready for the compressor to fail fairly soon.

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Alpha

We'll see. I'm having my mechanic put a new serpentine belt on for me, I'll have to ask him what kind of shape he thinks the compressor is in.

As far as everything else, the stainless steel hose that runs from the condenser to the compressor is really rusted. I wouldn't be surprised if theres a leak in the line somewhere, or on any of the other rusted hoses... When I tried to push down on the valve with the kit I had, it hissed, so I know it holds some pressure. I've worked with pneumatics a lot and I'd say it sounded like <5PSI. Should be 25-30 I think.

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Jinjiro

As said, your car has R-12. I believe the new system is R-134, not R-34. I could be wrong though.

You can't simply release the R-12 and put in the R-134. You need to have the air completely purged from the system first, which unless you have a special pump you can't do. As stated, you also need a different connector for the threads (not a big deal). Most R-12 to R-134 conversion kits also include extra oil in them to compensate for the difference, meaning you won't have to worry about the failing compressor.

On a funny side note, it turns out that R-134 is no better for the environment than R-12. So basically the government outlawed the use of R-12 for no reason. R-12 works a lot better than R-134, too.

-Jin

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Pierced

lol, I knew that looked weird when I was typing R-34. Your right it is R-134a.

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Jinjiro

Yeah, R-134a. That's it.

-Jin

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