Recharging A/C

[supermario25]

I have a 93 si eg that uses R-12. It needs to be recharged but I have been told that R-12 is too expensive and only a few shops still carry the stuff. I was told that an alternative was to purchase a retrofit kit to use R-134a. Another alternative would be to use an R-12 substitute such as Freeze 12 or enviro-safe (ES-12) from http://www.es-refrigerants.com/products/w/id/14/t/refrigerant.
If anyone has had any experience with the R-134a retrofit kit or the R-12 substitutes I would appreciate any input. Thank you.

 

[ceegeeaye]

I tried to use the R-134a to recharge but it was a complete fail. The bottle became empty and yet it wasn't blowing any cold air. >

 

[supermario25]

did you add the PAG oil from the kit and then add the R134a or did you jus add the R134a ....did you evacuate the system beforehand?

 

[lethal6]

Adding too much refrigerant can do more harm that not having enough. Plus those kits only have one gauge and from what I have observed, you need 2 of them to get accurate adjustments. You need a calculation based on both gauges. The guys in the shop at work say that those diy kits are a joke.