A/C help needed.

[TCHRISD]

Hello, I have a '92 Vigor and recently busted a pin sized hole in my a/c condenser and all the freon got released. Well I was able to patch the hole w/ some jb weld and am possibly able to get ahold of some r-12 freon that i am sure what my car uses. Well my question is , is where to install it (where to hook the hose to), and how to use the guage thing. i believe all you need to have is the gauges(w/ hoses) the can tap thing and the freon. i might be wrong. i know this job has to be done by a certified machanic, but it can't be that hard to do yourself.

oh yeah , i called a service station and they said it take 2 and 1/2 lbs of freon, does that sound right? seem to little to me.

[whtteg]

You have to have a machine to do it. You have to evacuate the system and then charge it, you cannot do it at home unless you have the machine. looks like you will be visiting a shop, or a friend who works at a shop.

[Buzz1167]

I dont know about the vigor in particular but for the cars that I've seen, there are inputs on the High and low lines, usually they have plastic caps and look like huge tire stems. If you follow around the bigger of the 2 tubes (low pressure side) you should find one of these somewhere in the line. (You have to put it in while the AC is running, or thats the only way I've ever done it). One of my friends has an old grand prix and a 'big' bottle of R12 and he just guessed how much he needed and stopped for a minutes to see if the AC started putting out cold air (he'd had to do it a few times before). He just hooked the canister to the low side and turned the canister upside down for about 1/3 the time and rightside up for the other 2/3; took about 3 or 4 minutes. Of course I have no idea what the pressure in the canister was so the times will definatly vary. Turning it upsidedown lets some of the fluid/oil into the system and rightside up just lets gas in there, you dont want all fluid or it wont work, the fluid is only to lubricate it.
Its supposed to be done by a professional with some way to get rid of the r12 so that it doesn't screw up the atmosphere and all, but if it already leaked out, theres no reason not to do it yourself as long as your not careless about it. Although obtaining the "big canister" of freon might be a little hard to come by, I think everyone uses r134 and puron or some crap nowadays; seeing as r12 is pretty bad stuff.
Whtteg, Im not sure of what machine your talking about, but im sure there was a more accurate way other than "guess and check" to do it and thats probably by whatever this machine is.

P.S. I got my hose and guage at a local shop for 15$. And I hope that leak wasn't in the high side (smaller line) becuase If I remember right, its 150+ psi in there, I don't know if a jb weld will fix it.

[whtteg]

The machine acts like a vacuum, it sucks all the air out of the lines and then you wait a short period of time to see if the lines leaked any (that the vacuum is still up to the right negative pressure) then you can add the freon. But the air must be removed 1st.