Bob,

I think that is a little strong - "No shop will do anything to your
system!" That may well be the case with Franchise shops, and dealer
shops. But there are many independent shops who will do the work, if all
is in order.You can go from Freon 12 to R134a to Freeze 12 (the best
freon replacement) but the proper steps must be observed. For one thing,
to go from Freon to Freeze 12 the Freon must be properly extracted and
disposed of. Then the R134a valves and fittings must be installed, along
with any additives called for, then the system must be purged, and only
then can the  Freeze 12 can be added. But once youve got it, your've got
it. The only real reason for going to Freeze 12 on the stock AC system
on a Vanagon is to save the compressor. If you are going to replace the
compressor, replace it with one compatible with R134a. It makes life so
much easier. If keeping the stock compressor is the goal, the go to
Freeze 12. It operates well on a much lower head pressure than the
R134a. The R134a will kill a stock vanagon compressor in short order

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Bob Stevens wrote:
> I haven't followed each email on this thread, so please excuse if it's a repeat:
>
> If you combine anything with stock R12 or 134, no shop will do anything on your system.
> They check it with their "sniffer" and you'll be left to find a place that will purge/evacuate,
> recharge/rebuild your system, or to do it all yourself by discharging the contaminated
> contents of your system into the atmosphere.
>
> I had done that "combining" thing and my system blew nice 'n cold. Eventually I had a Subie
> conversion done and the shop was kind enough to evacuate my system into their own cannister
> and purge/cleanse it and recharge with 134. I now have cold A/C system. Nothing has been done
> to replace all the hoses so I plan on checking the pressure in the system annually and recharging
> with the simple FLAPS supplied materials.
>
> Bob Stevens
> '87 Syncro Westy 2.2
>
>
>