The Detailed E30 R-134a Conversion Thread/DIY

[jrockbk]

I read through that entire topic before realizing it is on a white pride neo-nazi forum...I need to go take a shower now.

I didn't read anything else in the site, that's funny, but if you google r152a you will see many people who claim to use it successfully, again I ask, neo naziism aside, has anyone with an e30 tried this?

[ParsedOut]

I didn't read anything else in the site, that's funny, but if you google r152a you will see many people who claim to use it successfully, again I ask, neo naziism aside, has anyone with an e30 tried this?

I did a shit ton of research after reading your post. Ended up ordering 6 cans of air duster and a side can tap. I plan to replace the r134 in my e32 first then once I finish the custom hoses in my e30 it'll go in there assuming I'm happy with the e32 performance.

[CorvallisBMW]

I did a shit ton of research after reading your post. Ended up ordering 6 cans of air duster and a side can tap. I plan to replace the r134 in my e32 first then once I finish the custom hoses in my e30 it'll go in there assuming I'm happy with the e32 performance.

I'm very curious to hear your results, I've never heard of r152a before.

[ParsedOut]

I'm very curious to hear your results, I've never heard of r152a before.

I'll post up when I have some results. From what I've read, R152a may end up being the new standard in a few years unless Dupont can continue to work the back pockets of the EPA, etc. and get their own proprietary formula approved (HFO1234yf). The differences between the two are realistically minuscule, should be interesting.

[jd_e30]

So I recently checked my low side pressure, and it was in line with what the cheap ac recharge gauge said (I think 35-45psi based on 70-80*) or something like that. I relieved quite a bit of refrigerant, but the low side pressure did not really drop at all. And I noticed that the low side line was no longer geting very cool. I recharged it a bit (to the max recommended charge) and now it is cool again - back to where I was originally. The A/C blows cool for sure, not not nearly as cool as I would like. I tried spraying the condenser with a hose while the AC was on, and if anything, the air at the interior vents started to warm up a bit?..... possibly because the water was slowing the fan down?

Also, what should I be looking for in the site glass? I see movement and I THINK some bubbles, but it's hard to tell. What does the site glass tell you, exactly?

[CorvallisBMW]

You should be able to see fluid (condensed refrigerant) sort of flowing/bubbling in the site glass.

A bit of background: R12 is more efficient than R134a. It has a higher specific heat, meaning it can carry/move more heat. So R12 systems were designed smaller than R134a systems, because they were more efficient (note that the difference isn't huge, roughly 20%). So when you put R134a in a system that was designed for R12, it won't be as cold because everything is "undersized". R134a also has a higher condensing temperature so the condenser will struggle to do it's job. Only liquid refrigerant will flash in to gas at the expansion valve and create cooling, so if a higher percentage of your refrigerant coming in to the expansion valve is gas, you'll get less cooling.

[jrockbk]

I did a shit ton of research after reading your post. Ended up ordering 6 cans of air duster and a side can tap. I plan to replace the r134 in my e32 first then once I finish the custom hoses in my e30 it'll go in there assuming I'm happy with the e32 performance.

See fucking Google is great!

[glucklich21]

I'm all for saving money, but seriously, you do it once and your done. It's less than $200 to do the conversion and you can pull up to any shop anywhere and they can charge the system.

You won't have that luxury with anything, but R-134A. It's proven and let's be honest, your original stuff is most likely not in tip top shape in the first place. You'll just have to replace it further down the road and do the whole vacuum and recharge again, but that's my .02.

[ParsedOut]

I'm all for saving money, but seriously, you do it once and your done. It's less than $200 to do the conversion and you can pull up to any shop anywhere and they can charge the system.

You won't have that luxury with anything, but R-134A. It's proven and let's be honest, your original stuff is most likely not in tip top shape in the first place. You'll just have to replace it further down the road and do the whole vacuum and recharge again, but that's my .02.

Not sure if this was addressed to me. If so, #1 I'll never take my car to a shop for a/c work, ever. #2 my entire a/c system has been refreshed, brand new compressor, parallel flow condenser, dryer, expansion valves and custom lines. If the 152a doesn't perform, I'll just pull another vacuum and try again.

[rzerob]

Is 152a epa restrictive? Can you vent it into the atmosphere? I am assuming you can. I just finished gathering up all my parts for A/C, I might try this if it works out for you ParsedOut. Please keep us updated.

[jrockbk]

Is 152a epa restrictive? Can you vent it into the atmosphere? I am assuming you can. I just finished gathering up all my parts for A/C, I might try this if it works out for you ParsedOut. Please keep us updated.

Yes it's literally computer duster spray cleaner, it's meant to be discharged into the atmosphere.
I would totally try this on my own car now but I don't have a manifold gauges set or vacuum and that's about $200 plus finding a side can tap as will more $ that I don't want to spend, what I will be doing instead is just go to local shop over here that's doing vacuum and recharge for $85 and just gonna buy the adapter nipples and rock it like that for one summer I know it won't be ideal but it's cheapest solution

I'm all for saving money, but seriously, you do it once and your done. It's less than $200 to do the conversion and you can pull up to any shop anywhere and they can charge the system.

You won't have that luxury with anything, but R-134A. It's proven and let's be honest, your original stuff is most likely not in tip top shape in the first place. You'll just have to replace it further down the road and do the whole vacuum and recharge again, but that's my .02.

Your absolutely right, my problem with doing this is how inefficient r134a is and many mechanics are telling me it's about to all change to (HFO1234yf) or something similar and the r134a will become as costly as r12 with no legal ban but heavily taxed out so why waist the money on doing an expensive conversion with new expensive parts made for r134a that will be obsolete in a year when I can keep my current system working with some new stuff and new oil the same if not better than with r134a, but that's just my opinion

[JinormusJ]

So then... Are we thinking about making a write-up of how to convert to the new R-132a system and such involved in the upgrade?


Was thinking about doing this in the e30 soon after years of not having AC in my iS.. Would love to get the upgraded system in and never deal with r12 ever again

[glucklich21]

Your absolutely right, my problem with doing this is how inefficient r134a is and many mechanics are telling me it's about to all change to (HFO1234yf) or something similar and the r134a will become as costly as r12 with no legal ban but heavily taxed out so why waist the money on doing an expensive conversion with new expensive parts made for r134a that will be obsolete in a year when I can keep my current system working with some new stuff and new oil the same if not better than with r134a, but that's just my opinion

Still not seeing what's expensive about it. The most costly part is the condenser at $75. Everything else is backwards compatible, except maybe the pressure switch. They may try to tax the crap out of R-134a, but currently there's no legislation to do such a thing with an absolute date listed. So you're fretting over something that may happen in a couple of years which is silly, but it's your car do what you please, just do it in another thread.

[jrockbk]

Still not seeing what's expensive about it. The most costly part is the condenser at $75. Everything else is backwards compatible, except maybe the pressure switch. They may try to tax the crap out of R-134a, but currently there's no legislation to do such a thing with an absolute date listed. So you're fretting over something that may happen in a couple of years which is silly, but it's your car do what you please, just do it in another thread.

Your parts list is over $150 plus $ for doing the labor plus $100 for recharge that's too expensive, only reason I'm in this thread is because I had a legitimate inquiry about the topic and new refrigerant wasn't trying to jack your thread or talk shit about your setup, I was simply saying it's too expensive for my needs, and looking for another alternative, these forums are for these discussions and the hashing out of ideas, don't get butt hurt about my opinions on your setup, FWIW if I had a much nicer car that I didn't plan to sell soon I would totally go this route.

[cabriodster87]

Yes it's literally computer duster spray cleaner, it's meant to be discharged into the atmosphere.

Be careful with this stuff, for real use good ventilation. Go ask Allison.