As previously posted was considering on charging my AC but here in Canada R12 is illegal. Bought a cheap retrofit kit through Ebay for approx $49.00 but was told that the kits are suicide to the AC system. Anyways went to an AC shop and asked them to evacuate the remaining R12 but the shop owner quoted me $195 just to evacuate. Outside the shop one of the techs approached me and put a pressure gauge on the low side, which showed very little - he pressed the high side and it hissed for 3 to 5 seconds. He told me that I must have a bad leak and that I would have nothing to lose to try the kit. When I went home I just snuged on the adaptor to the low side started the car with the AC on high and snapped on the charge hose with one canister containing ester oil, sealant, conditioner and R134a and then ditto for a second can. The weather up her in Toronto, Ontario has been hot with temp. 25 to 27 C but in traffic my outside temp gauge reaching 30 +. Have been using my AC constantly for a week and it seems to work great - have just today checked the pressure with the gauge provided and it hasn't gone down.

Well it's done, but the problem you will have in the future, about 1-1.5 years from now, will be a bad compressor. Since you did not remove the mineral oil from the system and then added the ester oil. Neither oil will remain in a suspended state. Therefore the compressor will not be lubricated properly and will fail in the future.

Sorry about that.

Dave

__________________
1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

Please excuse my ignorance and perhaps the following naïve question – but I’m always thinking. Does a shop vac have enough power to vacuum an AC system? I wonder if I could vacuum the AC by airtight attaching one end of a fill hose to my shop vac and the other to the high-pressure side. Could leave the vac run for a hour or more.

You should send this question to the Book of records.

Actually what you needed to do was to flush the system with a AC flush liquid. Prior to adding the Esther oil. that is the only way to remove the mineral oil form the old parts. You can still do this but it does require some work. Disconnect all parts and completely flush them.

Go here for additional info

http://www.ackits.com/

Dave

__________________
1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

I have a better one ..
Guy calls and ask me if he should use Unleaded or High Test gas???????

If this job is not done right you will destroy the evaporator...the COndesor and the Compressor......oh it might work this summer...it might even work next summer....but in a short amount of time it will be rendered junk thats beyond repair and replacement of all parts will be highly expensive.

the oils are not compatible and they are very hdroscopic which means they draw moisture that was in the lines from not being properly evactuated with a proper vacume pump...not a vacume cleaner....they form acids that will eat the system from the inside out.

I highly recomend doing a search on Airconditioning.....freon and a few other terms..there have been some extremely informative threads you need to read by experts in the field...

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Didn't the kit that you bought have instructions or warnings on the proper method of using it?

Its too bad that you didn't do a search on this forum and/or the diesel forum and learn a little bit about AC systems before you undertook the switch.

Before its too late, I would evacuate and purge the system and then service it correctly. You might still save the system components.

Good luck,
Wes

At least he didn't use a leak sealer....then it would have been too late.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I've done several "redneck retros" dating back to 1998 and all of them are still operating. I only had one compressor failure on a 1992 Cutlass that had 195,000 miles on it. The compressor was making a lot of noise before the retro and it only lasted three years. The trick is to use the A/C system stop leak.