Texas Classic Chevy Experience: Out with the old 134a and in 1234yf

Your Classic Chevy Tri-Five AC Unit
New Mobile Air Conditioner Refrigerant Standards
Global Warming the Ozone

-Alan Arnell

Classic Air Conditioning is the best thing for cars since the invention of the SBC in my mind's eye. Dallas Texas is hot. Damn hot! Dallas would not be what it is today if it were not for Air Condoning (AC). How people lived here without AC back in the day is beyond me. Many a night in August at 12 AM the temperature is still in the triple digits.

When my 1957 candy apple red-Tri-Five Classic Chevy took up residence in my home garage she had no AC. Well, let me tell you! It only took once to be stuck in Dallas Traffic for me to decide my '57/150 had to have AC. Unlike cars made today, cars of the 50's were made to not have AC. You had a wing vent window that directed air into the passenger compartment for if not a pleasant summer's experience, a tolerable one. That is until the 6/40 cooling unit becomes inoperable.

By 6/40, I mean all six windows open going 40 miles. On a hot Texas summer day setting at a stop light my '57 would quickly heat above 130 degrees Fahrenheit within the passenger compartment. Before I fixed my car to be cooler inside the Classic Car had no insulation, no AC unit and the headers radiated white hot heat up through the floorboards. In Texas driving without AC, is kind 'a like driving the colder climates without a heater. During the hot summer I found I was not driving my non-Bel Air-Classic Chevy due to the beating the heat gave me.

At the Lone Star XXIV held in Dallas the aftermarket/retrofit company, Classic Auto Air Car, was one of the sponsors of the event. ClassicAutoAir.com gave a seminar about their products and a tour of their DFW facilities. I liked the people there and their product, so when I was ready to buy a unit to install, I went to them. I would recommend them and their products.

The O-zone

Back in 1987 the US and 22 other nations called for a gradual phase out of all ozone layer depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) like found in R-12 refrigerant.

Then in 1989 to phase out R-12 the US government tacked on a tax for R12’s sale and storage. Those taxes kept rising over the years. That price hike finally made your normal shade tree mechanic not able to use R12. Finally in 1995 R-12 was no longer manufactured. There were other formulas of refrigerant out there, however generally all systems went to HFC-134a. If you had a R-12 AC unit that needed repair it had to be retrofitted to the new refrigerant mix due to the differences between the hydrofluorocarbon mixture of the two refrigerants.

Then as now, all car enthusiasts grippe that R-134a does not cool as well as R-12. However, I was not able to feel the difference in performance of the two different refrigerants. Maybe, in low speed city traffic or maybe it was just that I was just hot under the collar after being stuck in traffic with my urban assault vehicle.

All spilt milk. Nothing you could do it. We can not have a hole in the ozone, as I have been told over the years, now can we? But now, we have more concerns about global warming and carbon dioxide. R134a is just not good enough anymore.

The US Government, thanks Obama, has approved an alternative refrigerant named HFO-1234yf for the Auto Industry. There is hope the new refrigerant will slow down the effects of manmade climate change. R134a will not be outlawed but automakers can get green house credits for using it and taxes will soon be attached to R134a like was done to R-12.

R134a lives around 13 years when released into the atmosphere before breaking down. What makes 1234yf more desirable is that it will break down in eleven days, not years! Less exposure to the environment, less damage. Simple right?

1234yf, as was R134a, may leak easier and be more corrosive than R-12 was back in the gold old days. Therefore, the new refrigerant will operate with a low-pressure system to help fight this known problem.

Here we go again! Well, R-12 and R134a are both old and crappy. We now have the new and improved 1234yf.

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