It being the first hot day here in the Twin Cities, I discovered that the AC in my '89 244 works, but weakly. Having acquired the brick in October and having little history, I wonder if it works because it was converted, or it has an amazing, original AC system that still works after 15 years.

Is there an easy way to tell which coolant it uses ? Diameter of fill valve ?
--
Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 188K mi, '89 244 137K, '87 245 RIP

Hi, i too have an 88 240( R12) and a 93 240(R134), and i'm gong to take an educated guess on this and say your 89 has the r-12. the only way i can think of checking is to see if the valve/fill point has a new looking fitting ( smaller ).
of course you could take it into "the shop" and ask them... they could tell!!
sorry i could'nt be of more help.

It should have service port adaptors and maybe red and blue caps on them if it has been converted. Conversion is easy. Remove compressor and drain mineral oil - if it is a York type reciprocating compressor, you will have to remove the crankcase back plate. If it's a rotary type, turn it upside down and rotate the shaft back and forth. Refill with correct quantity of Ester or PAG oil. Put balance of required oil in the new filter/dryer. Install service port adaptors, reinstall components with 134-compatible o-rings, evac and recharge with R-134. Easy and cheap - you can probably do it all for $100, especially since your system is still working somewhat, indicating that it's not contaminated so won't need flushing.

You can buy R-12 on Ebay. You do need an EPA license to buy it
legally, although some sellers don't observe the law. All you need
to do to get a license is to pay $20 and pass a short multiple-
choice test online. I've heard that it's easy, if you read some
material online, but I haven't done it (yet).


-b.

Hey if you got any of that R12 left that you were going to just 'toss', i'll take some.

Oh and the air in my '84 245 still worked with over 200K on it, barely, but it still worked, I think it just needed a recharge.

later,
the chuckinator
--
'88 244 174K, '87 BMW 325e 177K (used to feed a '84 245, '84 244, '85 744)

It's not all that amazing. My 87 245 had well over 250k miles on it 2 years ago, and the a/c worked strong. R12 isn't quite extinct, shops and creative individuals can still pick it up fairly easily. Chances are your a/c system has been serviced a few times over the years.

As far as which refrigerant your system uses, first look for a conversion sticker under the hood. If it doesn't have one, look at the charge fittings. R134 fittings use quick-connects, not external threads for connections.
--
1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.