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Evacute & Recharge equivalent. (A/C Question)

Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
edited June 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
So, my car has been sitting around fairly unused for about a year and a half and driven about once a month or so... I'm getting ready to get a new job which may require me to drive to get there initially or permanantly depending on where I go....

1996 Dodge Neon, air conditioner leaked redfrigerant before, and I'm sure it still does not, I took it to a car place to have it looked at (Waste of 20 dollars) as they turned around and said that I needed to have the system evacutated and recharged, driven around a bit, and then rechecked to find the leak...


Is there an alternative to this method?

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Posts

  • fuelishfuelish Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    The way you find an AC leak is with a sniffer. So you need to have freon in the system. It might not need evacuating just to find the leak, unless the system is down to zero psi, then H2O could be in the system and evac would be a good idea. Either way the system needs be charged enough for the compessor to kick on so it can be evaluated.

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  • saltinesssaltiness Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Hijack! I'm also interested in this same sort of thing. I have a 1992 Honda Accord that I believe just needs the recharging. It doesn't have a leak - it just doesn't blow cold air anymore. Anyone have an idea of how much it would cost to get it recharged?

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  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    If all you need is a recharge, just buy a Haynes manual and a can of refridgerant, find the recharge port and follow instructions.... When I used to do it was about 10 or 12 dollars a can....

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  • saltinesssaltiness Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Nakatomi2010 wrote: »
    If all you need is a recharge, just buy a Haynes manual and a can of refridgerant, find the recharge port and follow instructions.... When I used to do it was about 10 or 12 dollars a can....
    Someone told me you couldn't buy the refridgerant anymore.

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  • CrashtardCrashtard Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    saltiness wrote: »
    Nakatomi2010 wrote: »
    If all you need is a recharge, just buy a Haynes manual and a can of refridgerant, find the recharge port and follow instructions.... When I used to do it was about 10 or 12 dollars a can....
    Someone told me you couldn't buy the refridgerant anymore.

    Go to any auto parts store and they'll have it on the shelf. If not, go to walmart (et all) and they should have it. Last time I did mine it cost me about 25$ and I did it myself. Make sure you get that Haynes manual like Nakatomi said, that way you know which port is in right port.

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  • saltinesssaltiness Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Crashtard wrote: »
    saltiness wrote: »
    Nakatomi2010 wrote: »
    If all you need is a recharge, just buy a Haynes manual and a can of refridgerant, find the recharge port and follow instructions.... When I used to do it was about 10 or 12 dollars a can....
    Someone told me you couldn't buy the refridgerant anymore.

    Go to any auto parts store and they'll have it on the shelf. If not, go to walmart (et all) and they should have it. Last time I did mine it cost me about 25$ and I did it myself. Make sure you get that Haynes manual like Nakatomi said, that way you know which port is in right port.
    Awesome. Thanks. For some reason, last time I searched online for that stuff I couldn't find it at all but it looks like the Kragen by my house has it.

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  • saltinesssaltiness Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    Hmm.. now I'm reading that the original system in my car was R-12 which is the one that is no longer available and the new stuff is R-134 and I have to flush the system completely in order to recharge it. I'm thinking I need to just take my car to the shop.

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  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    saltiness wrote: »
    Hmm.. now I'm reading that the original system in my car was R-12 which is the one that is no longer available and the new stuff is R-134 and I have to flush the system completely in order to recharge it. I'm thinking I need to just take my car to the shop.

    Yeah, R-12 (Freon) is not longer available, bad for the Ozone... R-134a is what everyone uses now... Unfortunatly people still refer to it as Freon, despite the proper term basically being refridgerant, or R-134a... Freon typically refers to R-12

    Typically not as easy as just evacuating and recharging though, my dad did a switch from R-12 to R-134a once, there was a kit he had to buy that came with proper hose seals and stuff....

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  • fuelishfuelish Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    The bigger issue (as I remember from back in the day) is that R134 works better with a bigger system. You can often get an evac and refill and have it work, but it might not cool quite as good as with the R12

    fuelish on
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