I watched the videos that show how to recharge an AC cooling system. But I cannot buy the R134 to do this. So I am stuck going to a mechanic. Is there a substitute refrigerant that I can buy and recharge myself? The internet is all over the place with this. Dodge Dakota 4.7 V8 quad cab truck. 2004.
And the manual says R134a but the sticker by the radiator says R134. Is there a difference?
Thank you
Where are you located? In the U.S.? Maybe California? I was in a local WalMart not long ago and they had R134a available on the shelf.
I remember when R12a started to be phased out. To become a "technician" authorized to buy the stuff back then you just had to take an open-book test. I still have the certificate. Possibly that's all you would need to do.
The only substitute for R134a that I know of would be something like EnviroSafe refrigerant. There are issues with using it. The stuff is a highly flammable mix of propane and isobutane. Depending where you live there may be legal restrictions on its use. No shop will want to touch your AC system if it has been charged with that or any other "alternative" refrigerant, it would contaminate their equipment.
I watched the videos that show how to recharge an AC cooling system. But I cannot buy the R134 to do this.
If you're in the US, and you're not in California, you can buy R-134a in small quantities. They have small cans of R-134a at AutoZone, Walmart, etc. You only need to be licensed if you're intending to use things like 30-lb canisters of straight R-134a. Venting R-134a, or really any refrigerant, is illegal, and R-134a is a potent greenhouse gas. The Feds want to make sure you're using R-134a properly when you're dealing with those quantities of refrigerant, that's why you need a license.
On a side note, "canned air" is really a refrigerant, not air.
@justin-shepherd "R-134a is a potent greenhouse gas." Allegedly. 😉 (I don't buy the "climate change" nonsense. Everything we do is so puny in the face of the forces of nature it gets lost in the noise.)
Anyhow, the stuff is all going to wind up in the atmosphere anyway over time due to accidents and equipment failure. I had a seal fail on mine this summer and out it went. Since the system self-discharged I took the opportunity to replace all the hoses and seals, flush out the old oil for fresh, replace the drier, and put in the right amount of refrigerant by weight - all 950 grams of it. If at some point the politicians and bureaucrats do restrict sales I have a very large stock of R134a on hand purchased when it was much cheaper than it is now. Though if they do the same thing with an easily-obtained "technician" license to purchase it I'd go do that again like I did back in the day for R12.
It's a greenhouse gas. I think much like you, climate change is just a convenient tag word, but it's still what it is, however small. I guess controlled leaking vs deliberately venting refrigerant into the atmosphere is different, according to the politicians. Haha. There's still way too many cars that operate on 134a based refrigerant right now. R-1234YF just came out a few years ago. Then again, the government also has a massive hand in planned obsolescence because they can willy nilly take 134a into a license-only product at will; the gov't doesn't care.
@justin-shepherd Water vapor is also a "greenhouse gas". Maybe they'll outlaw the deliberate boiling of water next! The politicians are just using the fraudulent idea of human-caused "climate change" to grab more power and money. However this isn't the place to delve deeply into that.