william_b_noble

I have R134, a stock nippondesso compressor and stock everything else - when the system is properly charged it will make the car uncomfortably cold in 120 degree weather. It is not quite as strong as R12 but it meets my needs. Let's not propagate that nonsense about how bad it is, it's just not true.

alordofchaos

Good advice. I've seen R134a on sale for as low as $3.77 a can lately, which makes it attractive.

I haven't looked in a while so take this with a grain of salt, but the R134a conversion kits may come with POE oil rather than PAG, so you don't have to flush out the old R12 oil out.

If it were me, my first charge of R134a would include a UV dye, and get a UV/blacklight so you can spot the dye leakage. Or find a friend with a sniffer Some web search will get you the right UV wavelength for the UV light.

My helpful tip for the day, use Google to search rennlist, since the forum search is inadequte. I put in this search string:

"how to" repair ac 944 site:rennlist.com

And found 11,300 hits on rennlist

The string "site:" limits the search to the URL /website you enter after the colon.

I was using HFC-12 for a while instead of R12, but I think it has been banned. When I get back to working on my 944, I'll most likely convert to R134a.

Congrats on hella deal on the car! You'll have to tell your long story and add pics sometime.

Arominus

I've been in a 134 converted 944 and if your stuck in a traffic jam on a hot day it doesn't hold up. You need a bigger condenser to get r-12 like performance out of the stock system. That condenser is 300 to 500 bucks, R-12 is better for our application unless you modify the system. You can't beat physics on this one. Yes 134 works, but its still not as good as r-12. It's what the A/C system in the 944 was designed to use and as such it performs better.

We throw thousands of dollars at these cars and yet when it comes to $10 vs $100 for Freon we get cheap? makes zero sense to me.