Quote:
Originally Posted by ah-kay
You are only stating the FACT. A car designed for R12 obviously is NOT designed for R134a. Am I missing something as an engineer or as a layman? As for myself, I would not hestitate to convert my MBZ to R134a. I have done all mine for under $50 each if no new h/w ( i.e. compressor, condensor etc ) need to be replaced. The breakdown is below for retail, not wholesale prices:
1) Ester Oil 8oz $10
2) New receiver drier, it varies. $12-25
3) 3 cans of R134a $21
4) O-rings $4
5) Bingo - you have cold air. I find it good enough in San Diego. I don't know what they were like with R12 as the MBZs had non functional A/C when I bought them. If it is good in San Diego then it probably is good enough in Boston.
my $50.02.  |
Using your lowest total, which would be $47 if I didn't miss anything, I could fix the car for less STAYING WITH R12! 3 cans of R12 with some shopping and patience on Ebay can be had for $45 on a good day. Recharging with R12 negates the need for the other items on your list.
In addition, your recipe has a statistical average life before further attention be paid to the system of 2 years. This is backed up by lots of data recorded on hundreds of 12 to 134 conversions by a very reputable shop in Florida.
You did not define to the OP what your "bingo" consists of, if doing the conversion correctly. The "bingo" means dismantling all components of the system and flushing them thoroughly (oh, you forgot to mention the cost of the flushing agent) blowing everything out thoroughly, reassembling everything without messing up any connections, THOROUGH evacuation and charging.
I have converted quite a number of systems myself and have almost always had good INITIAL success. R134a is really bad about combining with any moisture left in the system to make an acid that will corrode holes in components from the inside out. On the 124 Mercedes, one of these potentially corroded components is the evaporator. The 124 evaporator replacement is a fifteen hour job for someone who has done it before. Sounds pretty risky to me.