I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, and i'm finally getting around to it when the weather is starting to cool down

Does anyone know how to "recharge" the A/C on a 1991 4Runner? My A/C hasn't really "worked" since I bought it last year, after a few hours of solid driving I turn on the A/C the air that comes out isn't hot and it isn't cold, it's a little warm (it's hard to describe ) I don't exactly want to take it into a shop and have to spend a few hundred dollars to get it working, and my friend says that it more than likely just needs to be recharged.

My question is how do I go about recharging it? I went to Pep Boys the other day to see what they had, and what I needed to do (didn't bother asking them because they never are able to help me) they had a few different kits for recharging it, and they also have a conversion kit from one type of A/C to another. I remember reading that you can't get Freon any more (the non-converted ones use freon right?) My main problem is, I have no idea what kind I have in my truck. Does anyone know a way of telling what kind will work for my truck? I don't want to end up spending like $50 for the conversion kit, only to find out that it's already converted I'm pretty sure that it hasn't been changed, but I'd like to know for sure.

Any help would be very appreciated

-Braden

 

I can't remember what year they switched over from R12 to R134a, but if you do have R12 (which I think you do), then it will most likely be pretty expensive no matter how you do it. R12 costs a lot of money. If you do have R12, your best bet is to install a conversion kit so that R134a can be used in your system. If you do indeed have R134a, it won't cost all that much to have a shop recharge your system...it definitely shouldn't cost a couple hundred bucks.

 

You can look at the sticker under your hood that will tell you what kind of refrigerant you have in your rig.

 

Oh okay cool, thanks for the help I've been scared to take it to a shop because I don't want to spend a few hundred dollars to get my a/c working, i've been just rolling down the windows, but that gets kind of annoying when I head out to the desert.

It's good to know that it won't cost me an arm and a leg to get it fixed

Thanks for the help

-Braden

 

You have the old style (if it hasnt' been converted yet). You can switch over, but it won't be nearly as cold. Don't get me wrong, it'll still be cold and will be fine. It just won't be ice cold like it was.

You can have somebody refill it with the old style and it will probably last for another 10 years, but I have no idea how much it costs. Probably an arm and a leg.

Good luck,
Steve

 

Thanks for the advice Steve, I actually just went out and checked the sticker near my radiator, and it says R-12, so I'm probably going to go back to Pep Boys or autozone or someplace, and get the conversion kit, because I don't really want to spend a lot of money on just the a/c And I don't need it ice cold, I just need it so that it will keep the inside of my truck nice a cool when my friends and I go out to the desert and when I will occasionally use it during the summer.

Thanks for the help

-Braden