Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

I have a Freon leak and if I could get enough R12 at a reasonable price this would not be an issue. The problem is that I have heard that If you convert to 134 with out replacing all the o-rings, Hoses and Condenser that the higher pressures and corrosives of 134 will eventually lead to more leaks.

I would be willing to pay up to $40 per lb for R12 but much higher says that 134 makes sense

:fahne: What do you guys know that I have to learn before repairing this leak

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

If you go to the Main registry webpage and click the members only section After signing in and then click newsletter. In issue 38 and 37 I wrote in-depth articles about a R134 conversion and rebuilding your entire air-conditioning system

I hope it helps I can also provide a link with all the photos
David Hetrick

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

I have found that 134A is not as cooler as R12. I have done a few conversions on R12 systems in the past on other vehicles and this has always been true. Newer cars seem to do well with it as they were designed for it. GC

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

Gold it's true a lot of conversions I've witnessed in the past didn't function very well after the conversion was finished. But after completely disassembling and cleaning the old mineral oil and debris out of the system that doesn't mix with the synthetic oil that r134 uses. And the following the procedure that I detailed in article 38 of the heart of the beast publication. I was pleasantly surprised by having a nice cold 36° at the Vents in 102 degrees Texas heat. It's absolutely critical that you don't have any mineral oil contaminants in your system otherwise you will not have a good thermal conductivity of heat through the system.

Here is a link of what i did its is towards the end of the series of pictures

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=8f46fa4533

Hope it helps I look forward to seeing how it all works out

Dave


Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

Thank you to each of the members who replied to my question regarding 134 vs R-12 Freon. The Articles from MGBRV8 were extremely helpful. The articles helped me do decide to purchase R-12 in a 30lb tank to service my system for the rest of it's life and keep it stock for possible certifications later on. Now the hunt for a good Air Conditioning shop in Kansas City.

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

Excellent! Please keep us posted

Dave

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

As has been reported previously, GM had a TSB on converting the systems to the newer Freon and said that you did not have to rebuild the system. Just fully evacuate it and fill. There was no problem with seals; as I recall it just needed a different fill valve. Marc Haibeck has converted many systems without incident. I had my 93 system filled with 134A by him and it worked fine as long as I owned it. I presume it still is working. I would suggest a chat with Marc if you have any concerns. --Bob

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

I would not use it unless you completely rebuild the system to adapt to the new 134A. A lot of folks have used the conversion fittings and the PAG oil kit and called it good until the system fails months later. And its not as cold.

A lot of derbies in the system and it requires a lot of cleaning and replacing of the receiver dryer at an minimum. Just has been my experience on several vehicles out here in AZ. If R12 was available that would be my only recommendation to go UNLESS you are replacing everything as stated above.

GC

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

The issue you may run into is R134a does not cool as well as R12. A suggestion is to change the type of condensor you run on your car. This will help compensate for the differences in the gases. I forgot what each one is, but there are two styles of condnesors.

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

Tube & FIN, found on R12 Cars

Parallel flow found on R134a cars

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

Something I ran into when doing a r134 conversion is that the system I was installing said to not to add any dye to the system, this is because the system used a thermostatic expansion valve rather than a pito tube and the dye will trash the valve. And yes it is true it will. I know from experience.
Now for a straight up ZR-1 conversion this may not be an issue as I have no idea if the ZR1 uses a TEV or a PT.

Re: Air Conditioning Pro's & Con's of Converting to 134
 

mine was converted to 134 in 2008 by the previous owner and needed re charged in 2012 by me. Trip from state of WA in 2014 to Bowling Green and worked perfectly. Kept my black z completely cool. Worked great last summer too. Will see about this year.

Jim