Both of my cars have slowly lost their cooling ability, hopefully it's just a very slow leak. What actually is involved in charging an air conditioning system? I know you need a set of gauges, and source for the refrigerant. Is this a dangerous job? When I've seen it done it usually takes about 5 minuets, naturally I want to do it myself if at all possible.

Any insight and source info is appreciated.

Older Lambos (up to the Countach for sure) use the R 12 freon. Supposedly illegal but readily available here in Italy. A charge costs about $100.00 and first the pump creates a vacuum (about 20 min.) then special oil and 800 grams (for the CT) is shot in. Should be good for 5 years. Mine had a slow leak and determined that it was the compressor - rather than dealing with repairing it I found a brand new CT compressor on EBAY.

I have been looking after my Diablo [91] aircon for the last 3 years.

This came about because it was such a PITA to take the car anywhere to get this done, also the waiting for it to cool down to get the heat shield off etc etc. Then there is always the worry of what would happen to the vehicle whilst I'm not there. Since I started, I have also looked after my range rover [sold] and my wife's Porsche 911.

You don't need much equipment to top up a working system with a slow leak. Basically refrigerant source, guage set, temperature sensor. With just a guage set and a little knowledge, you should be able to figure why your system is not blowing cold as should.

You need to research to have good idea of what the system does, and what things can go wrong. You need to be careful of overfilling any system. In my experience you need to be careful working in lower ambient temperatures, where it is easy to overfill.

In terms of safety, the main one I am aware of is that any splash of liquid refrigerant in the eye will cause blindness, I always wear protective specs.

I have converted my Diablo to run on R134a, it works great. It is much easier to use the clip-on and off R134a connectors, can even hook the system up to guage set without taking the heatshield off. I bought the convertors which bolted onto the existing R12 fittings, once the valves had been removed. I read a lot about the lubricant oils for R12 and incompatibility with R134a, there are some oils that appear to work with both.

If you ever open up the aircon system, or it gets completely empty, then a vacum pump is needed to evacuate all the air [read moisture] before reintroducing refrigerant. [You should also replace the RFD].

At the end of the day, the system is just a heat pump, nothing to be afraid of.

Turns out this job was the easiest service thing I've ever done.

The low pressure side inlet is behind the driver side rear wheel so remove it. I purchased the trigger gun with gauge from pep boys made by interdynamics and it worked great. With the air conditioner on high and set to coldest, you just screw the refrigerant to the gun and squeeze while while rocking the can back and forth. Release the trigger and read the pressure. Your shooting for 40-45 lbs. keep squeezing and checking until there. That's it.

Of course you have to have an otherwise working system.

Attached Images

	diablo air conditioning port.jpg (72.6 KB, 14 views)
	new-1.jpg (79.9 KB, 10 views)

What did you use for refrigerant: R12, R134a, or something else? I can't tell from the picture.

R134a. I believe that's all you can buy now.

I thought it's more, like 1 Kg, I changed the compressor to a new Sanden when mine leaked too, I can now use R134a too, needed only another dryer.
Unfortunately there seems to be another leak somewhere, after about 1 year it lost the pressure, some hoses were already changed but not the one which goes into the cockpit, too much effort, recharging is cheaper...

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RaymondQV
Countach QV Ex-Mimran #GLA12997, Urraco P300 #20530 sold in August 2008, Jalpa #FLA12203 sold in May 2006
www.countach.ch
www.jalpa.ch

When Frank Sinatra got his Miura S in 1970, he said: “If you wanna be someone, buy Ferrari - If you are someone, you own a Lamborghini”.