i bought the can of ac pro that comes with the gauge and all but i dont know where the low side port is? i need to retrofit it, i have the retrofit adapters but dont know where the low side port is.

i see a blue cap on the line next to the radiator and a weird looking plug on the compressor.

also i turned on the ac and blower fan on high and popped the hood and the inside of the compressor pulley isn't spinning at all and i just got the compressor replaced.

 

That would be where it would go, but are you sure you have r134 or do you have an r12 system? I thought a/c pro was for r134. iI figured soon or later someone would come on here with that. Lol If the center isn't spinning that usually means the clucth has burned out. Wait! Did you plug the small plug from the harness back up to the compressor? Thats for the iaacv and to tell the compressor when to come on.

 

The compressor should say on top what type of system btw.

 

The low pressure port is the one on the compressor with the weird looking cap.

Check if the electrical connector for the compressor clutch is supplying voltage when you have the AC switch on. If you have the manual climate control, have you checked the clutch on all 4 fan speeds? I had this trouble where the clutch would not engage when I had it set on 4 and I had to wiggle the fan speed lever on it to get the AC to work.

 

ac pro is 134a, im going to retrofit it from r12 cuz no one around here charges it anymore.

even if the system is empty and no refrigerant in it, itll still spin?

 

i have the digital ac control

 

Yeah but u don't want that. It will burn up your compressor.

 

how?

 

if the system is empty it wont spin (engage the clutch).

if you short it to spin (engage the clutch) it will burn it out since the refrigerant also carries the oil to lubricate the compressor.

 

I don't wanna short it but how do you short it? so i don't short it lol.
Also what's the steps? stop leak, oil then refrigerant right after?

 

you short it by throwing 12V+ (i think it's +) to the clutch and manually activate the clutch. if you didn't mess with the wiring then you're ok.

- are you on R134a or are you still looking to stay with R12
- if you're converting you need to start changing out components and flushing the system to get it ready for the PAG oil for R134a. you can't just dump R134a in and expect it to work for any lengths of time.
- once the system is cleaned up and hoses and o-rings are changed then charge up the system with R134a.
- once there is pressure in the system the clutch will activate and start spinning the compressor.

 

no i havent done anything but plug it in.
i want to stay r12 but i have no choice but to convert cuz no one around here does r12 anymore. i never had ac in the car since i got it. when i replaced the compressor nothing came out like no pressure was it so it was bone dry.
auto zone made it seem like i could just convert and plug n play and be good to go, smh, lying bastards.

 

autozone guys SELLS parts. most don't work on cars...don't take advice from guys that are in the business of selling you parts.

to do it "right" you should change out the drier, condenser, compressor, all rubber lines, all o-rings with HBNR (the green ones).

you can probably flush out the evaporator but since you cleaned up most of the system you should be ok with a trace of mineral oil left.

vac the system and check for leaks. if it all passes then recharge with R134a and correct PAG oil with dye and you should be good to go. the car will be cold...not as cold as R12 but it should be good enough.

the problem is NO ONE wants to do it right. everyone likes to take the short cut. sure you can just dump R134a and it'll get cold for a little while until your compressor grenades due to improper oil. no they won't warranty it either. the goal is to get rid as much of the mineral oil in the system. more you get rid of...the longer the system will last. the rubber hoses will eventually go and so will the seals. at the min swap the rubber hoses and o rings and drier and clean out the other components via flush.

 

Thats cuz you took advice from autozone. You might as well got advice from the techs at walmart on the issue. I here you have to change out the evap core, dryer, I think lines and of course o-rings.

 

so how would i know if the compressor i got from the pull a part had r12 or 134a? and im better off searching for a place that charges r12.

so even if the system hasnt been recharged in years, r12 would still be in the system.

and yea the guy in auto zone tried feeding me a crap solution.

 

yea thats what danny just said seems like a lot of work just to switch to r134a.
might as well keep searching for r12 techs.

 

An easy visual will be that the R-12 compressor will have a gray electrical connector while R-134a connector will be red and you cannot plug in the different colored connectors. Plus, the low and high pressure hoses have been designed such that you cannot mix them with a different compressor.

But then again it will not be easy to tell if the previous owner filled the R-12 AC sytem with R-134a refridgerant.

When my AC system didn't want to work anymore and since there's practically no shop that supplies R-12, I swapped the entire AC system from an R-134a Maxima from a pick-a-part.

 

Its a bit of work but the real question lay with, "How much do you want A/C?" I wouldn't care about how much work was involved if I knew there was cold a/c waiting for me at the end.

 

the valve on the R12 looks like the air valve for your tires.
for R134a there's no actual thread on the outside of the valve...it's just a snap on coupler/adapter.

if it's not cold then there's either very little or 0 R12 in there BUT the oil is still in there. that's what you need to get rid of.

oh and since it's low/empty that usually means you have a leak. recharging R12 will eventually leak out in a short period of time...so you'll need to fix the leak. who knows where that is.

if you can't stand driving w/o AC and you MUST have it...then retrofit all the stuff for R134a. good idea is to find a car that came with R134a from the u-pick and pull off all the parts like the other poster mentioned.

money wise it's just no longer a good idea to charge R12 unless you know what you're doing. that stuff is like gold now and will keep going up in price.

there are R12 alternatives out there...refrigerant that will mix with the mineral oil and work. mixed reviews on that stuff. google is your friend.

 

thanks for the input guys im going to search for other alternatives and test out the best one and come back with an update.