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I converted my son's A/C from r134 to Enviro Safe yesterday. I have read all the pro's and con's about it and decided to try it, but I must say that the air is actually COLD now instead of just cool blowing out those vents. This and the Reflectix insulation job in the roof we did last week using gopesh's instructions/photos have made his car MUCH more tolerable. In the Midsouth heat with high humidity this is a wonderful thing.
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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Just like all the other supposed drop in refrigerants, that company is a bunch of hooy and is operating illegally. They don't even supply proper individual identifier fittings to go with their refrigerant, they sell r134a fittings to fool unsuspecting ac shops into contaminating their recovery equipment and winding up with minimum $500 hazmat disposal fees and untold damage to expensive recovery equipment due to their greed. I do hope that company and all like it get sued into oblivian, and soon.
There is no need for that garbage, I can get r12 temps from r134a with very little work, I I can do it with a clean concience knowing that years from now any vehicle that I have serviced can go into anyone elses shop and be serviced without ending up costing some other poor shop owner a few thousand dollars aggravation.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually
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I certainly understand your frustration with this. Sounds like it has caused you quite a bit of problem. I am lucky in that, the work on my 2 bricks is done by a good friend of mine that owns a dad and dad repair shop. He even lets me help him and he teaches me things as we work. I always call him when I do work to the cars and ask advice. I certainly would not let him do anything to my a/c's without telling him about the product inside, especially now that I have read your post.
With this being said, I would certainly encourage anyone that choses to use this product to do so with care and be considerate of any mechanic that may do work on your a/c in the future. Thank you for the information!
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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I appreciate your consideration, but the problems usually don't come from the people who put it in, they usually do their own work, it's after the cars get sold, then the next owners don't fully understand what's in there and what the consequences are, they just bought a car to drive so they bring it into a shop like every car they ever have and dont' remember a thing they were told when they bought it, and the $2000 refrigerant identifiers are only about 60% accurate due to all the crazy blends those companies use, so for a shop owner , no matter how hard they try to protect themselves, it's always a crap shoot till the damage is done.Working on AC systems for the public nowdays is about like having unprotected sex in a mass orgy for your equipment. And people wonder why ac shops have to charge so much.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually
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Robert, what things have you added to your factory R12 set up to get the R134 temps down to those experienced with R12?
Jim
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On 200, using the volvo conversion kit ( it contains an upgrade evaporator), and an electric pusher fan rigged to come on with the ac clutch will get the duct temps down to r12 levels. Making sure to properly evacuate the system and pull the refrigerant in under hard vacuum makes a big difference. Insulating the celing, especially on wagons makes an insane difference as there is no insulation on 240 wagons, you can have ice coming out the vents but your head will burn. a layer or two of Insultek does wonders, poke it in behind the headliner and in the door panels against the metal and it makes a huge difference in cabin temp.On most Volvos when tehy come due for a compressor, I switch them to a sanden 709 style. It cools way better than either a 508 or a diesel kiki style compressor that came on the things and puts much less drag on the engine ( 709 compressors came on some 960s ) On a 240 it requires moving teh AMM bracket about 2" up the fender and on all it requires massaging the refrigerant pipes into position, but they all fit, even on the 16v engines and the diesels.
On 740/940 or other orifice tube systems using a variable orifice valve helps a
bunch. On heavier vehicles there are more extreme measures that can be taken,like going to upgrade parallel flow condensers but I've never found them needed on a volvo.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually
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Do you have to pull a vacuum on an R12 (1990 240) system before you add the ES?
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According to their website you do not, assuming your system has no problems. My system mechanically with the r134 was patent, it just would not get cold. All it was was a drain and refill. http://www.es-refrigerants.com/
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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My '93 940 factory R134a system will blow 37° at the vents on an 85-90° day here in central NY. That's on the road at 40-60 mph. For idling in traffic (which is seldom for me) I rigged a grounding dash switch from the radiator sensor to get High fan speed.
P.S. The only underhood part that's original is the compressor. I had to replace the rest plus a couple of lines and the Orifice Tube. Not cheap, except for the cheap FCP condenser (from Chile ;-) that lasted one season.
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Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.
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I may rig one of those switches on my day off. Is their instructions here to do this job that you know of?
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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On a '93 like mine, the fan is originally designed to only operate if the pressure in the A/C system goes above a certain point -- the fan is controlled by a relay that is solely activated by a pressoswitch in the lines (you can find it located below the coolant return hose from the radiator).
I wrote an article, published in Rolling ("Improving the Auxiliary Radiator Fan", 25(4):25, July/August 2007, pg 25), where I added the function of turning on the fan if the coolant temperature rises, as well as high A/C line pressure.
If you have the Nissen 3-row, heavy-duty radiator, it will already have a thermoswitch in the large hole on top, and Volvo has a cable, p/n 9148986-4, and only $7.03, with which you can jumper between the pressoswitch and the thermoswitch so that the fan works with either high A/C pressure or high coolant temperature. Aside from taking off the splash pan for access, the whole cable installation takes less than 5 minutes, and you can't beat that price!
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"I may rig one of those switches on my day off. Is their instructions here to do this job that you know of?"
There may be something in the 700/900 FAQ, but a quick look in the Bentley Diagrams tells me that the 240 Fan control is not like the 940. If I can figure something out I'll post it in a day or so.
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Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.
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Thanks Bruce, I'll be watching.
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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Could you pass on the steps you took to convert the car to Enviro Safe? Was the car originally 134 from the factory? My daughter's '79 that someone did a halfway job of converting to 134 needs my attention next.
Thanks
Jim
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I took the car to the local mechanic and had him reclaim the r134 from the 240. Then it was simple. I put in one can while the engine was off and then I started up the motor and ran in about 3/4 of the other can (my system is 1.5 lbs and using their conversion for Enviro Safe I guesstimated the amount) till the proper pressure was in there for the outside temperature. Not hard at all. Good luck.
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Just got the ES-12a kit. Gonna experiment this weekend.
Did you pull a vacuum or anything?
You charged with the can upside down? (Seems counter intuitive to me)
What "pressure" did you use? I can't find any charts or anything. I was hoping the kit would have something, but nada.
Thanks!
-Ryan
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Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 324k, Dog-mobile, E-codes
1990 245 DL 137k M47, E-codes, GT Sways/Braces, Dracos, A-cam
1990 744GLE 189K 16-valve project
1991 745 GL 304k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars
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I did not have to pull a vaccum. I charged it based on the temp here in Memphis to about 45.
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Thanks for this. I've been considering ES for some time. Did you use the "regular" or "industrial" ES-12a?
Thanks!
-Ryan
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Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 324k, Dog-mobile, E-codes
1990 245 DL 137k M47, E-codes, GT Sways/Braces, Dracos, A-cam
1990 744GLE 189K 16-valve project
1991 745 GL 304k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars
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es 12a I bought the kit and it worked like a charm.
http://autorefrigerants.com/co00033.htm
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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Hi,
Did you use a Variable Orifice Valve when you re-did the a/c system?
I'm searching for some real data about the better mpg claims that are being made about this valve and thought you might know...
I'm also going to post a general query, so maybe respond there instead.
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I did not have to re-do the 240 it was already r134 filled from the factory since it was a 93'. Sorry!
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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From what I have read, you have done the right thing by not converting.
I'm glad to hear you had excellent results.
I'm still sitting on about 35 lbs of R-12 that I purchased in 1990. I wasn't happy with R-134 enthalpy charts when I read them.
Apparently, enough of the other "right people" didn't either!
Phil
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well, '93 cars came with r134 system installed.
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Sorry, I didn't look up on the title or pick up that his sons car was a 1993.
My mistake. I just don't like R134. I was thinking about Freeze 12. I need to look up the chart for ES and find out more about it, for my own good.
Phil
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Yeah Phil, the r134 just would not get anything more than "cool" in these Memphis summers!
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93' 240 Classic Wagon 220K & 92' 740 Wagon Regina/Rex 90K
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