93 Camry A/C repair questions

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The compressor on my Camry went out and I am trying to find parts and R-12 Freon to make the needed repairs. At this point I would prefer to not convert the system as I am happy with the performance.

I was planning on purchasing a new Denso compressor. The last one gave me 22 years and 193,000 miles of service. Looks like they run about $200 plus shipping and tax. I am also planning to replace the condenser with a Denso as well due signs of a small leak. Looks like they run about $70 plus tax and shipping.

The item I am not sure about is how to purchase the 3 pounds of R-12 freon I need. I see it listed on Ebay however it comes with several warnings. What are my options if any?

Most likely I will need to pay a shop to evac and recharge the system so would that qualify as it being resold to a licensed technician?

Thanks in advance for the input and guidance.
 
If they sell it to you buy it. Don’t worry about it, the system is empty if it has a leak so you are not evacuating any R12 into the air.
Do the repair, vac it down for 30 min and leave it for a few hours. If it holds a vacuum your good to go with refilling.

Make sure you use the correct oil for R12 and drain the old compressor and measure the amount of oil that comes out, fill the new one with that amount even if the new one comes pre filled, add for the condenser, new dryer, etc.
Be sure to change the receiver/dryer, orifice tube or expansion valve.
 
Trav,

Thanks for quick response and guidance. The oil leaked out of my old compressor which is how I knew something was wrong when I saw the puddle on the floor. Can you tell me where I could find out how much oil I need to add to the compressor? One of my non Toyota shop manuals says refill with the correct amount of oil which is not super helpful. I know this is a critical step so I want to be sure I know how much oil I need in the system.
 
Thanks again Trav for your help.

The car in a 2.2 4 Cylinder. The current compressor on the car is a Denso 1472004655. The other number on the compressor is 10PA17C

The new compressor is a Denso 471-1156 according to Rock Auto. Amazon also displays the same item with the same part number as well as several other websites.
 
The compressor takes 3.5oz of mineral or ester oil (not PAG). 1.4-1.7 oz for the condenser and 0.7 oz for the receiver dryer.
The mineral oil residual left in the lines and the evaporator pose no issues with the POE oil so you can use it.

When dealing with older R12 systems always drain and fill the new compressor oil, it might be filled PAG for R134 systems especially when dealing with early 90's vehicles which were the R134 change over years.
Check the amount that came out if its between 3-4 oz replace it with the same amount.
Add 2.2 oz in the charge of the same oil for the new condenser and receiver dryer.
Refrigerant charge is 33.5 oz +- a couple of oz so 3 12 oz cans will be fine, the extra 1/2oz will be lost in the hose and during disconnect anyway.
If the under hood sticker is different use that spec instead.

I researched this info as best i can and am reasonably sure they are correct but double check it if possible especially if there is a major discrepancy like the new compressor has significantly more oil than 3 or 4 oz in it.
I hope this helps.
 
Trav - thanks again for all your help and for spending the time looking up all the info. I am hoping to find info from a FSM to verify the info. Hopefully I will have more free time to look this weekend. One of the other shop manuals I had access to indicated 5 oz of oil was needed for the system but did not provide a breakdown for each part.
 
Yes 3.5 and 1.5 for the condenser is 5oz, 1oz over wont cause any significant reduction in cooling performance. Sorry i don't have a FSM for this car just the generic Mitchell and alldata stuff, not optimal but close enough not to damage anything.
 
You would need an A/C shop with R-12 handling equipment, and it is extremely rare to find such a shop.

Where I live, nobody bothers to fix R-12 systems. If something needs to be repaired, it gets retrofitted with R-134a.
 
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