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Subject: I did my own R134a conversion this weekend. Author: DavidC (moderator) : member since December, 2003 : 12116 posts Posted on: 2005-05-31 20:45:51

While travelling to the 2005 5erFest in Spartanburg, SC, my air conditioning died. It was blowing moderately cool air when we started but was just putting out hot air by the time we reached Hotlanta.

So, after calling a few friends who had tried it with good results, I went to Wal-mart and bought their $30 R134a conversion kit. Before using it, however, I discovered that the valve stem on the low-pressure A/C port was the source of the leak, so it was replaced. With the leak fixed, it was time to use the kit, which includes three cans of R134a refrigerant with oil already mixed in.

The kit includes a plastic pressure gauge and new fittings that are designed to screw on top of the R12 valves. The low-pressure fitting worked nicely, but neither of the high-pressure fittings were the proper size for the high-pressure port on my '92 750iL. No problem, though, as you only need to use the low-pressure port to refill the system.

The process is easy, if a bit slow. It takes a long time to fill the refrigerant. The basic procedure is to drain the old R12 (you should have it vacuumed out by a professional shop but in my case it was already empty), turn the A/C on high, screw the can of R134a onto the gauge, attach the gauge hose to the low-pressure port and, finally, squeeze the trigger to fill the system. When the can is empty, disconnect the hose from the low-pressure port and attach a new can, then repeat the process. I put in three cans of refrigerant and I once again had cold air.





David Cecil, KI4GZR
'97 740iL, 129k miles
'92 750iL, 78k miles
'86 735i, 98k miles

www.e38.org has links for everything about your BMW 7-series automobile

• I did my own R134a conversion this weekend. (pic) (url) - DavidC 2005-05-31 20:45:51 (13412 views)
  • Re: I did my own R134a conversion this weekend. - johan750 2005-06-07 14:37:43 (2399 views)
    • Hopefully, I'll have better luck. I did this in my e23 and it's been nearly two - DavidC 2005-06-07 17:56:38 (1481 views)
  • Neato, you did it right in the middle of the parking lot. (nt) - kingdom7 2005-06-01 03:17:37 (1205 views)
    • Is that kit available with conversion parts R12 to R134a? - shogun 2005-06-01 08:10:03 (1489 views)
      • Yes, the kit contains screw-on fittings that adapt the R12 connections to R134a - DavidC 2005-06-01 09:45:28 (1150 views)
        • found some more info on this page (url) - shogun 2005-06-03 01:39:30 (1649 views)
          • another link, all hardware and cans maybe cheaper? (url) - shogun 2005-06-05 22:23:29 (1214 views)