Repair-It

You know I'm serious with the exclamation point.

http://www.vehicleservicepros.com/news/ ... -this-year

How did I pick this up? Watching the Leno Hellcat video, I caught the plaque on the upper radiator support and it said "R-1234yf." I thought, man, that sounds like refrigerant but nothing I've heard of. Looked it up and, yup, it's a thing, and not just with the Challenger. 8 other cars.

The flammability discussion in the article is amusing. Less amusing is the implication that we could end up with two MORE new refrigerants, to add to the R-134a (and, in decreasing cases, R-12) we're used to.

Yeah, the R-1234yf has been the plan for a while, but naturally it was fought against by many concerned parties..

Also, didnt you and I discuss the R-1234yf a while ago and you said it was stupid to stockpile R134a? It probably is, but it's also waaaay cheaper in bulk, if you plan to recharge enough cars.

Also, with regards to flammability, I'm pretty sure people have been recharging AC systems with propane in some countries. Not sure they have all had car fires yet though.

Found a link.. Turns out it is sometimes used in R12 systems by DIY'ers, and is probably not legal in the US. But Possumliving.com says it works!!
http://www.possumliving.com/2012/08/pro ... e-air.html

To further thread-jack:

The problem is that EPA expressly forbids the use of any unapproved refrigerant, including propane, as a direct replacement for R12. They do however have a list of refrigerants that are approved as a replacement for R12. Among these are Freeze-12, R406a, Free Zone, Ikon 12, SP34E, Autofrost, and a few others in addition to R134a. To the best of my understanding, once a former R12 system is converted to one of these approved refrigerants, later conversion to propane or other hydrocarbon refrigerant no longer constitutes a conversion from R12.

Freeze-12, eh? Interesting........

One of the things I read was Freeze-12 is made of lighter and heavier compounds. As the system leaks, the lighter compounds escape and the makeup of the remaining refrigerant is really not working correctly anymore. I have Freeze-12 in my Caprice and haven't recharged it for years. So I can't speak to that.