Toyota MR2 Message Board - View Single Post - 85 MR2 A/C

tq_mr2 · 05-15-2009, 01:10 AM

Hi Fellow Mk1 owners,

I am the original owner of a 85 MR2 with 245,000 miles. The air conditioning started leaking about 3 years ago such that I had to refill with R12 each summer. (BTW this is NOT illegal, if you are EPA certified and can get old cans of freon. It is illegal to make new freon, but not to use up the remaining stocks of it.)

I believe the leak is coming from the Shrader valves. These aren't expensive, but you need to drain the system to replace them. My dilemma is, suppose I fix the valves and find out the compressor seals are bad. I may be throwing good money after bad. On the other hand, the A/C system in the MR2 is extremely high quality IMHO, since it lasted 20 years with only 1 refill before it started having chronic leaks.

My question is: How many of you Mark 1 owners have working A/Cs?

Did anyone try converting to the freon replacement, R134? How much did it cost and are you satisfied with it? How long did it last?

--Tom

05-15-2009, 01:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
tq_mr2 MR2_85_original_owner Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 20 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	85 MR2 A/C - Worth fixing? Hi Fellow Mk1 owners, I am the original owner of a 85 MR2 with 245,000 miles. The air conditioning started leaking about 3 years ago such that I had to refill with R12 each summer. (BTW this is NOT illegal, if you are EPA certified and can get old cans of freon. It is illegal to make new freon, but not to use up the remaining stocks of it.) I believe the leak is coming from the Shrader valves. These aren't expensive, but you need to drain the system to replace them. My dilemma is, suppose I fix the valves and find out the compressor seals are bad. I may be throwing good money after bad. On the other hand, the A/C system in the MR2 is extremely high quality IMHO, since it lasted 20 years with only 1 refill before it started having chronic leaks. My question is: How many of you Mark 1 owners have working A/Cs? Did anyone try converting to the freon replacement, R134? How much did it cost and are you satisfied with it? How long did it last? --Tom