I recently gave my '91 Protege to my dad after buying an '02 Miata SE. Unfortunately, the A/C needs work and he lives in Sacramento. He's been quoted some pretty steep prices for retrofitting the A/C. But I was under the impression that he should still be able to get the original setup fixed and charged with Freon. What are his realistic and cost-effective options? Thanks, Steve

 

R12 is now illegal almost everywhere.
After a certain date3 cars are no longer allowed to be filled with it. The onlny option is to retro fit.
Even if it was still legal, the last few years it was still in use, the stuff was ridiculously expensive.

 

go to mexico

 

Well...sounds like retrofit it is and Mexico is strictly a vacation destination in my book! Here's another thought. I'm wondering what year the Protege switched over to the updated A/C and if it could be installed on a '91. Yes...sounds like a stretch, but I had to ask. Oh...an what replaced R12? Thanks, Steve

 

R144 replaced r12.
I think they started to convert in the early 90's 92 or 93 comes to mind, but I'm not 100% sure

 

95 was more or less the mandated cut-off point for r-12. All 90-94 Proteges had r-12.

HOWEVER, the Escort GT of 1995, which is very similiar to the 1990-94 Proteges, have r124 compressors, which can therefore be used.

 

I was just looking into this myself...today, actually Anyway, I was told that there is a replacement for R12, Freeze 12, that is supposed to run in the R12 systems and will get you out of the retrofit. I didn't have time to look into it today, but if I find anything else out, I'll let you know!

 

If the compressor is original it is probably dead or ready to die. The labor involved makes putting in a used part infeasible unless you do it yourself.

If the compressor and evaporator are good then it will run you $150 for a retrofit to R134 or you can do it yourself with a $50 kit. Otherwise, if you need a new compressor and evaporator it will run $1200. That's what it cost me.

 

Well, I made the conversion to R134 and it was pretty simple. My compressor wasn't kicking in because it was out of R12. I went to a local servicer for A/C and they didn't even need to evacuate the system because it was completely out. After that it was a matter of installing the two, screw on, parts from the conversion kit and adding the new R134 to my system. In total it cost me $35 plus tax for the kit, which came with 3 cans of R134! I'm blowing nice and cool now

 

I did the exact same thing...

Go to wal-mart or K-mart and pick yourself up a conversion kit, and do what he said above.. THey don't make do it yourself conversion kits for nothing..

I think I only spent maybe $25..

Mine works great and take R134 now...