I know some of you are in Washington State, does anyone know a place I the Seattle -Tacoma area that will handle an R12 system. I called a couple of places on the Kitsap Peninsula and they don't have the ability to even evacuate the system for me.

 

You can usually find the 12 oz cans on eBay if you just need R12. I would check around, there should be someone on the industrial side of the business that can charge tour car, I have no issues getting it done in my area n northern California... Tedd

 

Buy the equip, I bought both stations for 300$. And a 25 lb tank of R-12

 

I imagine the powers that be can get pissy over refrigerant recovery in the PNW. Otherwise I'd tell you to vent the system to atmosphere, repair the system, vacuum it down (a vacuum pump doesn't care what refrigerant a system uses) and recharge it using virgin R12 instead of whatever contaminated mess might be in a refrigerant evacuation/recovery unit.

Take it this is on the Ninety Eight? The system in the Custom Cruiser is easily converted to 134a. 1970 can be done using 134a-calibrated valving but still might not cool as efficiently.

I still and will always believe R12 was phased out because DuPont's patents (ergo royalties) on it were about to expire and they used the ozone hole as an excuse to force use of their new 134a refrigerant- which no carmaker was interested in because it didn't work as well as 12. I've often heard R12 described as the perfect refrigerant- its temperature and pressure curves were almost perfectly linear.

 

I learned long ago from an old timer that you can make a refrigerant recovery system using an AC gauge set, empty 30 pound jug, a 5 gallon bucket, and a bag of ice. The cold jug condenses the refrigerant to evacuate the system, then set the jug in the sun to heat it and put the extracted refrigerant back into the evacuated, vacuumed system after the repairs are completed. It’s simple thermodynamics.

 

rocketrader, it is not for the 98. The 98 hasn't worked in forty years. I wish I could restore it, I can't even get it blow out anything but the defog and heat. It's for the 90 CC, it still works but isn't very cool. It is the only of the 3, '91 CC included, that even has a possibility of straight recharging without a lot of work.

 

Blowing out defog and heat is a classic symptom of a vacuum leak in the system. Make sure the vacuum hoses are connected from the intake manifold to the ball on the firewall and from the ball through the firewall to the controls.

 

I should tell you the 70 98 has Comfortron! It's actually the '90 CC wagon I need to recharge right now

 

If you are recharging the 90 CC make sure you get R12 to recharge it. I had a 90 Buick Estate wagon that I converted to R134a. It never cooled as well as it did with R12.

 

Preach. I need to convert my Monte Carlo back. The AC is adequate. My H/O will freeze your *** out.

 

..this reminds me I need to get my A/C system back together and charged. Haha.

 

...

 

I think you replied to the wrong thread.

 

Yes, you are correct... deleted the post above.

 

Just so you guys know, I did convert the 1990 Custom Cruiser to R134A and it blows plenty cold. The tech actually was amazed at how cold it was blowing compared to most conversions they've done. Still blowing cold after 2 years.
The 1970 98's Comfortron, on other hand, still no worky worky. I've kinda given up and just open the window.

 

Those cycling clutch systems actually take to 134a pretty well, even trying to cool a wagon. I converted a 1981 Pontiac Safari and the wagon your ventshades came from, and on the road they would both blow 40° air at the vents. Stuck in traffic wasn't great, I just never bothered to put electric fans on either.

With a 134a-calibrated expansion valve and POA valve the 1970 system would probably work with it, since the refrigeration system is the same as a non-Comfortron car. It's all the extra gadgets that make Comfortron maintain temperature automatically that cause all the problems.

The Olds Charlotte Zone Service office once told me from 1966-1973 the majority of their Zone-level service work involved trying to get Comfortrons to work reliably. Don't know if the other Divisions had as much trouble with it.

One of GM automatic temperature control's shortcomings was that no two Divisions used the same components to make it work. Maybe Buick and Chevrolet as they always had more in common than anyone would think, but Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Cadillac all had their own individual parts. Figure in they changed parts yearly trying to get them to work better and you see why Comfortron gained the reputation it has.