A/C hose material
 

Does the w123 use butyl rubber for the ac hoses? I was planning on recharging my ac system with redtek 12a and it says it is not compatible with butyl rubber hoses.

I have been trying to find out what OE W123 AC hoses were made from also. Per https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyl_rubber#Uses butyl rubber was not mentioned as being used for AC hoses so you may be safe.

No. R134 refrigerant is not compatible with 123 original hoses.

Butane isnt either...

One of our Members bought the collar crimping tool and made his own AC Hoses and used the same hose to make Oil Cooler Hoses.

I only remember that the name of the Hose had Galaxy in it. If you can locate that thread that Member would likely have the info you need.

From one of the threads; "The choice of AC hose was discussed in the linked posts, so please don't flame me. It is rated for the temperatures and pressures, and also for use w/ hot mineral oil, if you read Aeroquip's catalog. Ditto for Goodyear Galaxy barrier hose" The comment was from member BillGrissom.

I found Bill"s thread.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/368512-fixed-ac-hoses-1985-300d.html#post3478193

Anyone know what material the inner tube of the original AC hoses as it came from the factory was made of for W123? That is what the OP wants to know. He is not interested in using R134a nor will he be crimping on new hoses. He wants to use the original hoses with Red Tek 12a refrigerant.

^ This. I wish people would read the thread before posting.

I posted what I did because I figured the guy that replaced his Hoses with new ones might know more about what the hoses were made of then Me. I thought that guy might be a source of Info on that.

I am also going to be slightly rude and say look at the number of responses you received and if the had the answer you wanted on the question.
Sometimes there is extremely few people that would know an answer. Why I thought I could direct you to someone that had a good chance of knowing the answer.

I believe that refrigerant is the same as Freeze 12, and is a blend of 134a and others. Obviously it is touted as an r12 replacement, so any older car that would use r12 may have the same kind of hoses that MB used. That would cause me to assume that that refrigerant is compatible with the hoses in all cars made in that era that used r12. I know that did not answer your original question, but there is a possibility that your question can't be answered here without just speculating.

I will also add that if he is not interested in using 134a, then he should not be using any other refrigerant other than R12, as the refrigerant he is asking about has 134a in it.

Can you provide links that show Red Tek 12a has R134a in it?

http://www.redtek.com/win_12a_prod.html

http://www.redtek.com/win_12a_refintro.html

I stand corrected. Redtek is a hydrocarbon refrigerant. The article I read lumped all the refrigerant blends together, so I assumed redtek and freeze 12 were the same, only sold by a different name. However, doing more research, I would not suggest anyone use anything other than 134a or r12 in their mobile A/C system. The main problem with all blends is that they can't be recycled (illegal to do so), nor can they be vented. Most if not all HC refrigerants are propane and/or butane. Despite what they say on their website, HC refrigerants have no business being used in mobile A/C systems in my opinion. I found this about freeze12, most important is the last part:

Thinking about using Freeze-12 refrigerant?

You may be surprised to learn that it is nothing more than a blend of R134a and HCFC 142.

Most of the "alternative" refrigerants are really nothing more than a slightly different blend with a fancy can. If you are unlucky, you actually get propane, butane, or some other flammable gas.

ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANT BLENDS

Free Zone (RB-276). Supplied by Refrigerant Gases, this blend contains 79% R-134a, 19% HCFC-142b and 2% lubricant.
Freeze 12. Supplied by Technical Chemical, this blend contains 80% R-134a and 20% HCFC-142b.
FRIGC (FR-12). Made by Intermagnetics General and marketed by Pennzoil, this blend contains 59% R-134a, 39% HCFC-124 and 2% butane.
GHG-X4 (Autofrost & McCool Chill-It). This blend is supplied by Peoples Welding Supply and contains 51% R-22, 28.5% HCFC-124, 16.5% HCFC-142b and 4% isobutane (R-600a).
GHG-HP. Also supplied by Peoples Welding Supply, this blend contains 65% R-22, 31% HCFC-142b and 4% isobutane (R-600a).
Hot Shot\Kar Kool. Supplied by ICOR, this blend contains 50% R-22, 39% HCFC-124, 9.5% HCFC-142b and 1.5% isobutane (R-600a).
The suppliers of the alternative blends say their products typically cool better than straight R-134a in systems designed for R-12, and do not require changing the compressor oil or desiccant in some cases. Changing the desiccant to XH-7 is usually recommended if an R-12 system is converted to R-134a. The desiccant should also be replaced if a blend contains R-22 because R-22 is not compatible with XH-5 or XH-7 desiccant. The recommended desiccant in this case would be XH-9.

The suppliers of the alternative blends also insist the fractionation problem is exaggerated and do not foresee any major problems with recovering and recycling their products (recycling blends is currently illegal, but the EPA is reviewing its feasibility).

As it stands right now, recycling and servicing a system filled with an alternative blend is illegal.

Please, the best refrigerant to use is the one it was designed for.

I don't think BillGrissom ever found out what the OE Mercedes AC hoses were made of. He wrote: "The original hose was Aeroquip GH521-12, #12, 5/8" ID, 1-3/32" OD, but I don't see in Aeroquip's catalog." That is understandable since Aeroquip GH521 was discontinued long ago. The hi side hose (the one under the alternator) that I have, after peeling the heat shrink off, markings of Codan-150 is visible. I can't find Codan-150 on Codan's website either probably for the same reason.... discontinued. I will email Codan and ask if they can tell me what material Codan-150 were made from. My guess, the inner core is either Neoprene or Nitrile. Barrier hose has a Nylon inner core.

The most likely material ac hoses from the 80's would use is butyl rubber... Barrier hoses came out in the mid 90's...

Snarky replies generate poor responses.

All the R12 alternatives use R134 or butane in their mix... Both chemicals leak out of non barrier hoses, and should not be used.

I purchased the master cool hydraulic hose crimp set... And barrier hose is easy and cheap to get on eBay... So if ya want barrier hose, send me your ends, or rent my crimper.