The DareDevil

The sticker says 35oz in my car. I put 2lbs in because of the fact that some of the charge will remain in the fill-hose once you disconnect it. So there is probably a little less in the system. Maybe 1.8-1.9lbs which is perfect.

Yabo

well, like i said daredevil, 134A is meant to use 83 percent less or something than r12 in the same system. It is smaller moleculed and i guess it works the best with less. Best way is to use the gauge.

I am not talking out of my ***, i'm talking from some parts retail reading with testing I've had to take

judd944

testarossa, thanks that was what I was looking for. I will check that out tonight. See you guys at the fest!

judd944

alright, I bought a 40 dollar system because I needed the nozzle to convert the fitting from R12 to R134a . the video that came with the kit and you guys said I would need about 28 oz of the stuff. the kit included three 12 oz cans. the pressure gage on the hose from the cans showed "0" pressure before filling but showed full pressure after only 1/4th of the first can!
I was running my car with the AC on full blast. Fan set to 4 and temp full cold.
The strange thing is I was hooked to the low pressure side(on the Drivers strut tower, to the engine side) and I could release the pressure out of the high pressure side(on the drivers strut tower, to the outside) I know the pressure is dissapating through the system but why does it fill so quickly?
My air still blows hot.
FYI the fittings for the AC high and low sides were both on the strut tower in 86. this changed in 87.

Yabo

did you have a shop draw a vacuum first? That will allow you to put more r134a in. Mine took about 1 can as well wihtout having a shop draw a vacuum, but it blew coolish before it leaked out.

judd944

nope, I will have that done tomorrow then try again.

alordofchaos

IIRC, those gauges are only accurate when there is no pressure from the can.

So before you tap the can, it shows accurate pressure. Once you tap it and until it's empty again, the gauge is inaccurate.

The gauge I got with my conversion kit just has colors (an idiot gauge - blue, green, yellow, red for: needs R134a, OK, over, and stop). One of these "trigger" type gauges (about $20, or maybe someone nearby has one you could borrow) would be better - looks kinda like a garden hose nozzle, can taps into the base.

When you squeeze the trigger, the can discharges. When you need to check the actual pressure, you have to let off the trigger - per the instructions, it would otherwise be an inaccurate reading.

Yabo

Yeah you have to let up on the trigger for it to read the pressure correctly. And what he has will work before teh can is done because it does have a valve that shuts off the flow.

Speaking of that garden hose handle.. dont leave it outside even a day in the sun. Mine jjust broke into pieces trying to screw it on my last can

testarossa_td

Alright here is how the cheapy trigger convertor gauge screw can in the bottom thing I bought works.
First it only works with the long cans that came in the kit(until I cut the trigger uber short
Secondly I have to depress the actual connector all the way down to get a pressure reading(with air on full blast etc....) at this point the trigger is not pulled and I have a can hooked up.

Should I want to add a charge, I push the blue adapter down all the way on the R134 adapter fitted to my R12 shrader so as to open it up.
Phase one(I get a reading on my gauge)

Now I pull the trigger this puts a charge of whatever I have in the can into the system.

Third I release the trigger, this gets me back to see what the pressure looks like. If the charge is good I stop pushing down on the blue adapter(gauge reads zero) now I remove the blue adapter from the R134 adapter by pulling up on it. Now I put the cap back on the R134 port.

The can remains attached until I need it next time. If the can is empty I remove it. And can use the same procedure next time if I don't want to hook a can up and want to check pressure.

Hope this helps.

Here is the one I bought from AutoZone



The company that makes it....looks like they improved the design recently with a longer grip handle for other cans...

http://id-usa.com/product.asp?CID=28&PID=217

alordofchaos

Yeah, I have something that looks a lot like what testarossa's pic shows, but with a much longer grip.

D'Oh! Yeah, I forgot - he can just close the tap! I stopped using the other hose I have because the trigger grip thingy is so much more convenient and shows actual PSI, not just colors. Dunno why that's a big thing, I just have a thing about "idiot" gauges.

judd944

Could not get a shop to see me on short notice. (P-car dealer wanted 95 to evac!, Mieneke wanted 38) I did neither. I will be sweating it out over the next few hours. I am leaving now. see you guys there!