How are people mixing refrigerants?

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I have been getting calls from people that have put R134a into their newer car that calls for R1234yf. How are they doing this as the fittings are different? One lady put a whole AC pro can into her 1234 car. How??
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
I have been getting calls from people that have put R134a into their newer car that calls for R1234yf. How are they doing this as the fittings are different? One lady put a whole AC pro can into her 1234 car. How??



Redneck ingenuity
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Chris142... Do you think vehicle ac systems need to be recharged every so often?? Like every 8-10 years for example..
 
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Swap out the 1234yf charge hose fitting for a R134a one. I do this on retrofit R12 systems all the time because retrofit fittings leak. Just a guess as I haven't messed with 1234yf yet.
 
Originally Posted by bbhero
Originally Posted by Chris142
I have been getting calls from people that have put R134a into their newer car that calls for R1234yf. How are they doing this as the fittings are different? One lady put a whole AC pro can into her 1234 car. How??



Redneck ingenuity
lol.gif



Chris142... Do you think vehicle ac systems need to be recharged every so often?? Like every 8-10 years for example..


Not answering for Chris.....But, Yes.....Most vehicles could use a vacuum & recharge every 10 years or so.
 
Originally Posted by bbhero
Originally Posted by Chris142
I have been getting calls from people that have put R134a into their newer car that calls for R1234yf. How are they doing this as the fittings are different? One lady put a whole AC pro can into her 1234 car. How??



Redneck ingenuity
lol.gif



Chris142... Do you think vehicle ac systems need to be recharged every so often?? Like every 8-10 years for example..

More like 5-6 years. All systems leak a little. When they get 5+ years old they may still cool ok but will be low enough to not move the oil. Then the compressor locks up and you spend $1500+ to fix it.
 
I am very familiar with the 1234yf. I was involved with the change-over on our SUV's in the plant. With that there is no reason you cannot go back to r134a in these systems. I just had a 2013 XTS in the shop that needed a new compressor and condensor. I discussed the price of the 1234yf vs the r134a and there was no hesitation of the customer to go back to the older freon. In 2013 XTS could have either freon as they were transitioning. The 1234yf required 1.30lbs of freon and r134a required 1.5lb per the service manual. This is pretty common practice with the high freon price for 1234yf. I have a specific set of gauges for r12, r134a and 1234yf.
 
Interesting! I am curious, as I have a couple of 10 year old vehicles that haven't had their a/c touched--another is 20 but I can't vouch for its first 15 years.

is there value in periodically testing the pressures in the system?
 
Funny enough just this weekend I went to turn the A/C on in the Giulia and noticed no cold air. Couldn't hear the compressor engaging either, popped the hood and took a look. Sure enough the compressor was just sitting there, no engagement at all. Was going to check the charge and discovered it has 1234yf, to the dealer it will go...
 
Originally Posted by supton

is there value in periodically testing the pressures in the system?

No. The only way to check the charge is to remove what os in it,vacuum and recharge with a scale to spec.

I often get cars with normal pressures only to find them extreemly low on charge.
 
Originally Posted by GMBoy
I am very familiar with the 1234yf. I was involved with the change-over on our SUV's in the plant. With that there is no reason you cannot go back to r134a in these systems. I just had a 2013 XTS in the shop that needed a new compressor and condensor. I discussed the price of the 1234yf vs the r134a and there was no hesitation of the customer to go back to the older freon. In 2013 XTS could have either freon as they were transitioning. The 1234yf required 1.30lbs of freon and r134a required 1.5lb per the service manual. This is pretty common practice with the high freon price for 1234yf. I have a specific set of gauges for r12, r134a and 1234yf.
we just got one of the trade magazines. It says that putting r134 into a 1234 car is considered tampering with emissions and carries a hefty fine
 
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Originally Posted by Chris142
More like 5-6 years. All systems leak a little. When they get 5+ years old they may still cool ok but will be low enough to not move the oil. Then the compressor locks up and you spend $1500+ to fix it.

Do you just vacuum, check for leaks and refill or do things like replace all o-rings?
 
Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by Chris142
More like 5-6 years. All systems leak a little. When they get 5+ years old they may still cool ok but will be low enough to not move the oil. Then the compressor locks up and you spend $1500+ to fix it.

Do you just vacuum, check for leaks and refill or do things like replace all o-rings?
if I replace the O-rings on the discharge side,schraders,orifice tube at the minimum on every car.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by supton

is there value in periodically testing the pressures in the system?

No. The only way to check the charge is to remove what os in it,vacuum and recharge with a scale to spec.

I often get cars with normal pressures only to find them extreemly low on charge.

Ah thanks. I'll mull that over, wife's car is getting up there in age but it's a necessity for her car to have working a/c. Is there any risk to messing with a system that isn't showing signs of problems? As in, crack open a non-leaking valve and it'll leak just to spite you?
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by GMBoy
I am very familiar with the 1234yf. I was involved with the change-over on our SUV's in the plant. With that there is no reason you cannot go back to r134a in these systems. I just had a 2013 XTS in the shop that needed a new compressor and condensor. I discussed the price of the 1234yf vs the r134a and there was no hesitation of the customer to go back to the older freon. In 2013 XTS could have either freon as they were transitioning. The 1234yf required 1.30lbs of freon and r134a required 1.5lb per the service manual. This is pretty common practice with the high freon price for 1234yf. I have a specific set of gauges for r12, r134a and 1234yf.
we just got one of the trade magazines. It says that putting r134 into a 1234 car is considered tampering with emissions and carries a hefty fine


That is true. I should have mentioned that as well. I was skating around that because the XTS in 2013 can have either style freon. I am sure the law would say whatever is in the car is what should be used. Swapping 134a for 1234yf is very common just because of the high price.
 
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Funny how this sounds a lot like the discussion that took place when cars went from R-12 to R-134A. In those cases you couldn't really mix, plus, R-12 had much better performance in systems designed for it. I personally would not mix refrigerants. That's because AC is so important to me that I would not want to risk system malfunction. The newer refrigerant has a much lower global warming potential (GWP) than R-134A. But, it does appear that R-134A and 1234yf are interchangeable.
 
They run the same pressures within a couple PSI of each other and adapters exist. Somehow our Versa still has 134a and that's the newest car we have, but if I needed to do an A/C repair and there was either a massive price difference or 1234yf wasn't available, I'd do the same thing.

EDIT: I should clarify that I'd only do that if the system was empty. I wouldn't add 134a to a 1234yf system if it just needed a top-up.

Originally Posted by Chris142
Seems to leak more than r134a. Lots of 17-18 cars needing a recharge already.

Well there's another reason to go back to 134a if there's ever a problem.
 
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Originally Posted by supton
Is there any risk to messing with a system that isn't showing signs of problems? As in, crack open a non-leaking valve and it'll leak just to spite you?


I would assume so.
 
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