Or you can be illegally resourceful.
I bought a vacuum pump and recovery tank from a pawn shop for $45.
Gauges were another 30.
A friend gave me a old rusted out refrigerator that had a good charge of
R-12 in it.
A piercing tap on the copper line and the recovery tank hooked up drained it
nicely.
This went directly into my Audi, which blows cold air once again...

Note: this has been a hypothetical story to entertain the list and I in no
way did or took part in any of the above actions.
Ah Hmm.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of Mark Mages
> Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 11:36 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: AC Freon
>
>
> hehehe - surely you aren't serious.
>
> If you can even get freon (very illegal unless you are
> a certified mechanic) you need a recovery tank, and a
> bunch of other $$$ equipment to do it correctly.
>
> Since 1991, you only option is pretty much to go to a
> mechanic, and pay exorbitantly high fees to have your
> AC system recharged.  I have never had work done on
> the AC system where it cost less than $500.  They
> always find a 'problem' with the drier, evaporator,
> clamps, hoses....
>
> Unless you live where it is very hot, I wouldn't even
> bother.  a totally rebuilt Westy AC system barely kept
> my vanagon bareable in the Houston summers, and it
> sucked so much power from the engine I got in the
> habit of driving around in my boxers and drinking a
> lot of AquaFina.
>
> Just my .02
> Mark
> --- timnew <timnew@PACBELL.NET> wrote:
> > I want to put some AC freon in my 86 GL.  I've never
> > done this before.  What
> > kind of freon do I need? what other equipment might
> > I need? where do I
> > install the freon?
> >
> > Tim
> > 86 GL
>
>
> =====
> Mark
> Music is the soundtrack to the Low Budget B-movie that is my life.
>
> 87 Westfalia Gl
> 84 Scirocco 8v
> http://student.fortlewis.edu/~mwmages/
>
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