Next week, I celebrate 10 years of ownership of my 2002 S2000. Weather was warm here in South Carolina, and I ran the air conditioner for a while. It worked perfectly, and the system has never required a re-charge of refrigerant fluid. Am I:
a. Experiencing routine events?
b. Lucky?
c. Very lucky?

 

a

 

I would say it's average, my 02 is still blowing cold too. Run your compressor at least 10 minutes every 2 weeks whether you need to use it or not and you will likely get another 10 years out of it, it keeps your seals lubed and if the seals don't dry out you won't get any leakage of the charge.

 

Mine too... original owner since 2000, 83000km, air-con needed no attention at all.

 

12 years, 110k miles, AC blows frickin' cold with no maint ever done.

 

You do realise that you dont actually "Use up" refrigerent? Its just cycled through the system. In a perfect world you really should never need to recharge and a/c system. In other words as long as there is no leaks.

 

^ this guy knows what he is talking about. I recharge systems all the time and usually a leak is when you have an issue. Usually leaks are so small that it's worth putting in a can of R134a every year or a couple years. Anything more than that you should put a dye in there and UV test it for leaks.

 

I often wondered if we could use those over-the-counter refrigerant canisters on our cars if we should ever need a top up ?.

 

My experience shows that any AC system for vehicles uses R134a.
The old R12, environmentally damaging coolant(Freon), is for older vehicles.

 

My experience shows that any AC system for vehicles uses R134a.
The old R12, environmentally damaging coolant(Freon), is for older vehicles.
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I was just wondering about the lubricant that accompanies the R134a, Honda recommends using refrigerants with a particular manufacturer lubricant, just wondering if they are all compatible despite the manufacturer.