I was at the shop today getting my car AC checked. Another customer came in and mentioned they had already added a can of freon from Auto Zone to their car. The shop manager got excited and said they wouldn’t risk working on the car AC until they saw the can.
He insisted that freon from Auto Zone and other places has a sealer in it to plug leaks. The shop manager kept insisting that sealer could ruin his $6000 recovery machine.
Lots of people add freon to their car AC. Back when it was dirt cheap adding a can of freon was a ritual every May. It would last through the summer and leak out over the winter. Now freon prices force people to get leaks fixed.
How can a shop’s recovery machine be that delicate that a customer’s car could ruin it? Was the shop manager right? I’d guess that one in three cars has freon in it from Auto Zone or other DIY places.
It is not that the machine is so delicate, the problem is that they don’t want to mix freons. R134a is a different compound than some sold at the auto zones store. Legaly they can’t risk mixing them even though they are compatible.
I thought all freon sold in cans for cars at places like Autozone was 134a. I thought no other type of freon could be legally sold to the average consumer.
No so?
He was right, and it’s no myth. The refrigerant isn’t an issue if it is indeed R-134a*, but the leak sealer certainly is. It’s made to plug small holes and gaps, and it has been known to jam up orifices and valves in A/C recovery/recycling equipment. It can’t be cleaned out of the machine, so the fix is replacement, which is damned expensive, especially compared to the profit made on a single vehicle. No A/C service job is worth the risk.
*There are substitute refrigerants available that are not R-134a, and they are known to cause problems as well.
I stand corrected, I have worked a/c for years but never fooled with the auto zone stuff. They used to see something with a name like freeze or something that we were told not to put in our recovery machine. I guess it was the stop leak.
Sounds like “Freeze 12” which is (was?) sold as a drop-in replacement for R12. A quick search indicates it is 80% R-134a and 20% HCFC-142b. Problem is that you can’t recover it to your R-134a tank as it is contaminated with HCFC-142b and you can’t recover it to your R12 tank since it’s not R12.
Lots of people add freon to their car AC. Back when it was dirt cheap adding a can of freon was a ritual every May. It would last through the summer and leak out over the winter. Now freon prices force people to get leaks fixed.