have any of the trade chaps come across *quest auto air con conversion kits* mfd by ef products of dallas? (www.efproducts.com)
a friend of mine in the garage trade recently used one of the above to retrofit R12 to 134a on a granada, it involved screwing on a pair of preloaded tubes & injecting in pag oil & addatives to let the mineral oil mix with the new stuff & the 134a (r12 recovered 1st).
their supplier insists that tons of the kits are used in the states, but us agriculural types still think that you can't beat a flush & back flush with a proper flushing kit (my supplier won't give you warranty on new compressors unless you do, which is fair enough)
meantime we wait to see if the granada keeps going! & I'm sticking to me flushing
opinions please.............
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If you go to www.aircondition.com you will see tons of opinion on these kits in the USA, most of it negative. The general assumption being that R134a will cause the desiccant to disintigrate, and all the old mineral oil sludges. Plus there is usually something wrong with the a/c in the first place which is why a recharge is necessary. Some compressors were only lasting a few hours, not helped by the fact that they are at least 8 years old to start with. The other problem they've had has been with overcharging, causing some nasty explosions. As I'm sure you are aware, charge weight is critical, with only a small overcharge causing some big problems.
I've made the decision not to touch R12 systems unless the customer is absolutely clear what is going on. Even then, you can still get some nasty come-backs.
But I guess if you've got an old car, it may be worth a try. If it packs up, nothing lost except a few quid. Mind you, if it's overcharged and blows out in your face, could be more than a few quid.
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thanks for the web site-very interesting!
we carry out all our own + one or two other farms air con repairs so really benifit from the savings to be made, we were the first around here to do recovery because we didn't think much of the service we were getting & paying through the nose.
best thing about a good flush is looking in the recieving bin at all the crap that comes out, we change the rec/dryer or accum every 3 years to catch dessicant breakdown & give the system a good visual at every service(300hrs or 3 mths). we found that the flush & lower charge rate works well & we tend to under gas to respect the hoses on older machines as there can be a long pair of hoses on some of them
biggest problem now that a/c is so popular on cars is some of the owners are so prone to being ripped off by the get rich quick gang
thanks again for the web site, a better result than all these blasted search engs.
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I had read about these 'aerosol R12 to R134a' kits last week. I thought it would be a godsend over here - for example we book a 1995 M Renault Espace into our workshops for a system recharge and guess what? Bloody R12 system on a '95 vehicle? We had to turn this guy away (We only have equipment to deal with the more modern R134a) Anybody know the change point from R12 to R134a? Rover changed over in 1993 'K'.
I thought about these US re-gas kits then - rather than got to the expense of changing hoses, drier etc.
But, seeing your comments Dave, I think we will steer clear.
Rgds
David
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In theory they should have completed the changes by the end of 1993 manufacturing year. But add in a bit more time for all the other bits and pieces like shipping, storage and not to mention being french and not wanting to comply with EU rules, and you can nearly get to 1995. Beware of Jap imports also, as I've seen plenty of 1995's with R12 also.
Same old story about the conversions Dave, you can do it properly, or you can do it cheaply.
Forgot to mention the fact that the kits don't mention vacuuming the system either.
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