Originally Posted by Hogweed

so i decided to run the gauntlet of fear and give it a shot (of freon).....i gingerly added about 1.5 14 oz cans of r12 (which took a looooong time) and it is about 50% colder which should last the rest of the ac 'season'....in the process i broke the vacuum nipple for the shut-off valve so that wasn't too good, but thank you all for the help. now i'm again