Hi Royce, I hope I'm not just being a Chicken Little here, but switching to Freeze-12 from 134a is probably a really bad thing. Your system would have been fed PAG/POE oil during the conversion to R-134a. The problem is, FR-12 is not particularly compatible with those oils, even though the mfr may claim it is. Read this page for more info:
http://www.autofrost.com/hotshot/index.html The R-12 replacements (FR-12, AutoFrost, HotShot, etc) are all great products but only when used in an original, virginal R-12 system that still has mineral oil and has NOT been "contaminated" with PAG/POE oils. At least that's my opinion. For a car that's been converted to R-134a, or otherwise has PAG/POE oil, and you want a cheaper or more effective refrigerant... I'd try to use the GHG-X7 or -X8 products from AutoFrost. I believe these will perform better than DuraCool (which I think is safe for PAG/POE oils, it just doesn't work all that great in hot climates.) :-) Dave M. Boise, ID > ------------------------------ > Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 09:22:14 -0500 > From: "Royce Engler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] R-12 > To: "Mercedes mailing list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I've just been through the saga of dealing with my a/c system, and it ain't > over yet. Here are some of the things I've learned along the way... > > Converted to R134 a few years ago when the evaporator started leaking. That > worked for a couple of years...started having troubles with it this year and > took it to an indie a/c shop for work. They said the compressor seals were > blown, and put in a new compressor. They then determined that the KLIMA > relay was toasted (I'm not sure how good an analysis this was). They put in > an aftermarket KLIMA, and started having problems with them frying. I say > them...I don't know how many of them they went through before they got one > to last. One of the other things they did was to replace the R134 with > Freeze12, which claims to be a replacement for R-12. I did a google on it > and found out that it's certified by EPA and readily available. It seems to > cool well. The indie a/c shop swears by it... > > Continuing on...blew the KLIMA relay (the aftermarket one) again, so I took > it to my regular indie, who said they had been having troubles with the > after market KLIMAs and put an OEM KLIMA on it. That part of the system > seems to be working, but I still think I'm losing FR-12...as I drive I keep > hearing something from time to time that sounds like a relief valve lifting. > Gotta check into that some more today. > > Royce Engler > > 1985 300TD Turbo 265K
