Hello everyone,

It's A/C time - The high pressure hose on my 87 Vanagon GL
just blew.. spectacular sound and white vapor.. scare my
kids in the back seat .. the California earthquake "duck &
cover" drills came in handy.

But anyway, since this old thing had R12 and being a
Berserkelan, I am very much guilt ridden for having released
all my R12 into the atmosphere and accelerated the
depletion of O3 and the on set of global warming by a few
month, I think that when I repair the system I should replace
it with R134a.

I search the archived here on all info concerning changing
from R12 to R134a and found a lot of very useful resources.  I
asked our VW dealer here and they have no info.. have not
heard that it can be done!  Anyway, I am still looking.  I found
a very informative web site for those interested:
http://www.delanet.com/~pparish/
It has all the technical info on the differences in behavior of
the refrigerants and the oil in the old and new system.. very
very informative. There is a whole chapter on Automotive A/C
service RetroFit.

Anyway, I am studying up on this subject and will attempted
to do this.  Any suggestions will be welcome.  I will keep you
all posted on my progress..

Yau-Man Chan
A very hot 87 Vanagon GL