H-134a???

[richardstanley]

Was gonna recharge my ac. Under the hood it says "h-134a" is this the same as R-134a? Do i need a retrofit? or something else?
Which line do i slap it in? Thanks guys.

[greggbzz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-134a


I'd say it's the same. To be sure you could find a AC place and call them perhaps.

[RSVX]

I am pretty sure there are many threads here discussing that... try a search!

[richardstanley]

Lots of threads discussing R-134a, but i already looked and found nothing on "h-134a" what was the cutoff year from r-12??
So wikipedia says i'm good, i'll go with that, even though any of my professors (particulary chem) rave on all the time about how bunk it is
Also, even though i just searched for like 20 mins, i couldn't find anything conclusive... Which side is hi and which is low? Which do i want to stick the 134a in?

[davew833]

What year car do you have? The cutoff was '93 or '94 for R-12. My '92 is R-12 and my '95 is R-134a. The low side is the bigger hose with the fitting on top, not the one near the inside of the fender. Don't worry- if you get one of those R-134a recharge kits with the included hose, it will only fit on the low side fitting. And yes, r-134a and h-134a are the same-- not sure why the names are different.

[lhopp77]

94 was the year Subaru converted to 134, but some earlier ones were converted by owners. If owner converted it would show the conversion info normally handwritten and not factory type labels.

Lee

[SVX_MY_BABY]

Originally Posted by lhopp77

94 was the year Subaru converted to 134, but some earlier ones were converted by owners. If owner converted it would show the conversion info normally handwritten and not factory type labels.

Lee

My 92 was converted and a new label applied over the old one. I believe thats a legal requirement here in the great white north.

[odepaj]

Originally Posted by richardstanley

Was gonna recharge my ac. Under the hood it says "h-134a" is this the same as R-134a? Do i need a retrofit? or something else?
Which line do i slap it in? Thanks guys.

They call it H-134a because those crazy suby engineers love H's.




Dustin

[richardstanley]

K so stuck it in, and started leaking right where the two sides join (into the compressor iirc) so this is where the notorious o-rings are i take it? Do i have to get them from sub? How much?

[davew833]

No, you don't need to get them from Subaru. When my hoses started leaking at the compressor, I got a set of various-sized A/C O-rings from NAPA for $5 or something and matched them up. (Subaru would probably charge you that for just one). Just make sure you get the ones for R-134a. They're usually pale green in color.

[NSTG8R]

Here's an alternative to a retrofit for you R-12 people. When R-12 went sky high ($1200 per 30lb. can), which most of the beer coolers in town use (...a worthy cause keeping the beer cold, and I got a ton of free ones for fixing the coolers ), I opted for a new (at the time) refrigerant called "HotShot" R414b. It's a drop-in replacement for R-12, and is actually more efficient than R-12 at cooling. I did a couple of cars, and it worked like a champ. The only problem I ran into was that the HotShot actually does the same cooling at a lower pressure. This required a slight "overcharge" of the system to keep the low-side pressure switch from short-cycling.

http://www.r-414b.net/