Hi everyone. I recently acquired a very nice 1990 300D. I purchased the car from a friends mother and understood that the A/C probably had a leak. The system was charged last year and isnt cooling anymore. I purchased a complete oring kit and receiver/ dryer. I was planning on replacing the hoses as well and assumed the hoses were probably original with the car. I was going to connect my gauges to recover any refrigerant still in the system and noticed the connections were 134a style. These were not the adapters that you add to the old style gauge ports but were actual 134 fittings as part of the steel portion of the suction and liquid lines. I was under the impression that this car had R12 as the original refrigerant type. What am I missing? I thought perhaps someone already replaced the hoses and the replacements now come with 134a connections. Any ideas?

I also noticed that the TXV (expansion valve) is in an ungodly location. How do you get it out? I thought about removing the rain tray that funnels water from the windsheild but don't know it that would help any.

Thanks

the txv is indeed a ROYAL pain to get to, I feel your pain.
if your 90 has the 134 fittings, the hoses are new, or pulled from a newer vehicle. I'm pretty sure, 12 was in place until 93.

I'm parting out a 93, and will take pics of how to remove it when I get that far. I've pulled it out of a 90 E, 2.6 but I don't recall how I got to it. (I totally stripped down that car...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

It's odd that someone would have ordered hoses from a later year unless the hoses for this car were no longer available. I junk yard pull would be another guess although I personally would'nt go that route on A/C hoses. Visually the hoses don't look that bad so I'm on the fence about changing them out. The old R12 hoses used to seep over time where as the new hoses are lined and non-permeable so thats an advantage. I wsnt planning on changing the TXV but considering what it's going to take to change the orings on it I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to change it. I work on chillers for a living... this reminds me why I hate doing automotive A/C.