I have a few more questions....

1) What is the process for finding a leak if there is not enough refrigerant left? This being an R12 system and we can't get R12 in Canada - what material will be used and will it contaminate the system to prevent R12 from being used again?

2) Is there any danger to the A/C components when running with mimimal refrigerant? Am I correct in presuming that the low/high pressure cutout at the receiver/drier protects the system? Because of budget concerns I will probably have to operate the vehicle a couple of months before I'm able to get the repairs done.

3) After reading about "Black Death" - it scared the hell out of me! Some articles suggested the installation of a filter to catch any particles if a compressor happened to fail. Considering the damage that "Black Death" causes and the significant cost of these repairs, adding a filter makes sense. Can a filter be installed? Where should it be located? I think that between the compressor and condensor makes sense. Who makes these? Will it decrease A/C performance? Some articles describe the receiver/drier is a "filter" but I think the context is for filtering moisture not particles. Any thoughts on all this?

Thanks all,
Paul