My 300E has a very slow R12 leak requiring about a pound per summer. No big deal - I just spend $35/year and have ice cold A/C. I might have to add a little oil eventually, but otherwise it doesn't seem worthwhile to chase down such a minor leak. My Elantra, on the other hand, has a R134a leak requiring about 2 or 3 pounds every summer. This has got me thinking...

Suppose some of this refrigerant, albeit a very small trace, is leaking into the passenger cabin. Can that be harmful to passenger health? Are these refrigerants toxic or carcinogenous? A technical answer would be greatly appreciated!

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

Do a google search on the refrigerant name with the additional keyword of "MSDS". MSDS is the manufacturer's Data Sheet on all the propertie's of the refrigerant, including toxicology report.

I don't know what the consequences of an R134 leak would be, but someone else on this site recently informed me that every R12 molecule destroyes about 100,000 ozone molecules....

One pound of that stuff is probably like a trillion molecules or more.

__________________
Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...

http://www.airliquide.com/en/business/products/gases/gasdata/index.asp?GasID=141

http://www.scottecatalog.com/msds.nsf/0/72d85a355ffe0cb785256a0a004e32fc?OpenDocument

just keep pouring it in. Far cheaper then entrusting your car to some shop that will charge you big coin. I breathed this crap in when pouring cans of R12 into a old mazda that had a huge leak & man that made us feel queezy. I would think if it was leaking in the cabin you would know it.

As far as the ozone layer? Well does the Ozone layer or the eco-nazi scientists pay your bills? Do whats best for the pocketbook.

I once read the MSDS on r134. I got the impression that it's bad for you only if you purposely inhaled the compound right from the can. It's relatively benign in dilute doses such as leaks.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K

Mineral Oil
http://www.fjcinc.com/msds11mineraloil.htm

PAG oil
http://www.fjcinc.com/msds14pagoil.htm


Refrigerant & related oil MSDS health safety.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=1131723#post1131723

Very cool and helpful info. So it looks like the 1 pound/year leak of R12 in my W124 is truly harmless.

As for R134a, it looks like extremely high concentrations may cause irregular heartbeat, but from what the MSDS describes, those concentrations can't possibly occur under normal conditions in the passenger cabin, unless maybe a hose breaks and pumps straight refrigerant into the cabin. A slow leak of 2 to 3 pounds per season (or maybe even a little more for that matter) should be relatively harmless. It also seems that this stuff is heavier than air and will settle down towards the floor, if I understand correctly.

I will, however, remember to disable my recirculate except on the hottest of days - that will ensure plenty of fresh outside air is added to the mix in order to keep the R134a concentration down. Interesting to note that rats got "non life threatening, benign" testicular tumors when exposed to the highest concentration of 50,000 ppm for 2 years. Life threatening or not, I do NOT want any type of tumor forming there (yikes!).

__________________
08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280