Ozone-friendly Air conditioning

[JohnMcIntyre]

My truck aircon is based upon the standard #R12 refrigerant and over here in Europe, all the vehicle maufacturers stopped making aircon systems with #R12 and changed over to #R134, which is more ozone-friendly with vastly reduced CFCs.



As I understand it, the two systems #R12 and #R134 are totally incompatible with one another and if I was ever unfortunate enough to get a leak or a failure on my aircon system, it could be extremely hard (read impossible) to find top-up #R12 refrigerant. In fact, I believe it's impossible to get hold of #R12 anywhere in Europe now :{



Apparently #R134 is what is now fitted to all new vehicles in Europe as standard and I was wondering if DC had made the switchover yet, and if so during which model year, or even if it's still on their list of things to do and when?



Given that my own aircon system is just 2 years old, is there any hybrid refrigerent gas which is both #R12/#R134 friendly? Or would I have to consider a complete swapout, if something went really wrong with my #R12 system? :{

 

[Ramboy]

John,

R-134 has been used in the systems here for a good number of years now. R-12, though still available, is extremely expensive here also. I have heard that conversion to R-134 on an R-12 system costs less than $100 here. I'm sure we have some A/C guys on here that could be more specific.

 

[RustyJC]

Are You Sure??

John,



My 1996 Dodge 3500 used R134a, as does my 2002. Are you sure your 2001 uses R12? I didn't think any US manufacturer had built a new vehicle with R12 since the early '90s. The last vehicle I had with R12 was a 1990 Ford Aerostar AWD.



Rusty

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Re: Are You Sure??

Originally posted by RustyJC

John, Are you sure your 2001 uses R12?

Rusty

Well I thought I was, but I could be mistaken... . I was making a comparison with the Aircon plumbing, on modern European spec vehicles and there does appear to be some differences. I will have to recheck both my Workshop Manual and my service manual, (dummy's guide).



Is there some really easy, obvious, physical check which will instantly confirm or deny the #R12/#R134 system/plumbing?



Cheers



JMc

 

[jmeehan]

I haven't looked in a while but I thought there was a sticker under the hood, on the radiator support or AC compressor that stated which refrigerent was used. Maybe that was only used during the cross over period.

 

[Shovelhead]

Check the fill valves on the high and low side.

R-12 usually has standard valve stem sized fill nipples, where 134A has much larger ones and the high and low sides are different sizes with quick disconnects. Also they are color coded red for the high and blue for the low side.



HTH

 

[RustyJC]

Re: Re: Are You Sure??

Originally posted by JohnMcIntyre





Well I thought I was, but I could be mistaken... . I was making a comparison with the Aircon plumbing, on modern European spec vehicles and there does appear to be some differences.

John,



The gauge port fittings are indeed different between R12 and R134a systems, but I don't know how the R134a fittings compare with the Euro spec systems. I would have hoped that all R134a system fittings worldwide would have been standardized, but... .



I guess you've checked out the Owner's manual, the radiator support crossbrace (R134a sticker), etc. and come up dry?



Rusty

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Re: Re: Re: Are You Sure??

Originally posted by RustyJC



I guess you've checked out the Owner's manual, the radiator support crossbrace (R134a sticker), etc. and come up dry?



Rusty

In a word YES, but in order to be 101% sure, I will have to recheck the manuals and underneath the hood again. That won't happen until Friday now as my Truck's in England and I'm working in Switzerland, almost 1,000miles away. Thanks fof all the feedback guys - I will recheck when I get back to England and post the result here at the weekend.



Cheers



JMc