[Atomic Ed]

TrekGTO - Do you have your Gen 6 Camaro kit ready to go yet?

[TrekGTO]

Originally Posted by Atomic Ed

TrekGTO - Do you have your Gen 6 Camaro kit ready to go yet?

No the Camaro6 volunteer disappeared never made an appointment.

[DWR]

Originally Posted by jrs580

Pressures are good, I just checked them today. It was a little low so I added about a half a can.

You might want to take a look at this screenshot from their 2016 camaro install instructions.


If you filled the system from a can it sounds like that would cause two issues.
1) vacuum wasn't pulled and therefore it wasn't filled to the right amount.
2) it wasn't industrial strength

[avalonandl]

My factory a/c works great, why would you replace it?

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by DWR

If you filled the system from a can it sounds like that would cause two issues.
1) vacuum wasn't pulled and therefore it wasn't filled to the right amount.
2) it wasn't industrial strength

Well, if the OP recharged without evacuation the system he probably should not have attempted to install anything. I think the other instructions also recommended adding a little PAG oil, which is fine. You need to evacuate to get the air and water out before a recharge or your system will go to crap in short order.
I suspect the OP did pull a vacuum, and something else is causing loss of A/C performance.
If you substitute R12a for R134a, it says to use 40% of the R134a charging weight.
http://www.redtek.com/win_12a_refintro.html
It also sounds like it might be tricky to get the charge amount accurate because of how this zeotropic blend behaves. We have a TXV metered system, and if the superheat is off that won't work as intended.
My read is that R12a is less idiot-proof than R134a.

[TrekGTO]

That is correct if Superheat is off on Chiller it makes the entire system off. The Chiller manufacture should give you a measured charge, there is a formula to calculate refrigerant. You can not charge these cars by pressure and a little more or a little less. With a Chiller system you have a + or – of half an oz. I’m not going to speak to another brand but I can say all of our kits are +2oz too +3oz. Most of the additional refrigerant is in the liquid line the low side is a gas so not much volume.

[Daves1SS]

Sorry guys, just now seeing this thread. So when I ran the industrial 12a, which is also just called industrial r134a replacement, well it’s essentially like propane and a real pain to get the charge right on. Last year I ran this refrigerant, and 2 cans seemed to be the magic number to get the pressures right. But even still, I did have some warm air at idle speed. I don’t know why since I’m not an expert on AC systems. I can tell you that each and every time I would charge the system, I would always pull a full vacuum for quite some time, and it would hold -25-28 hg just fine for as long as I wanted to leave it like that. So didn’t seem I had any leaks. But over say 900 rpms, the air was plenty cold. It was just a little warmer at idle speed. Joe at Killer Chiller couldn’t explain why either.

Late last summer I think as pure coincidence, my factory fans crapped out on me and I didn’t know it right off. As a result, the fans didn’t come on to cool the condenser, and as a result the AC pressures shot through the roof and my compressor failed. GM replaced the fans under warranty despite me having the killer chiller and supercharger, and they felt the KC had nothing to do with the failure. So that part was good. I wasn’t about to ask them to replace my AC compressor under warranty though. That would have been an obvious denial since I had monkeyed with the system.

It was cooling off outside so it was good timing with the compressor failing. Just a few weeks back I had my trusted shop blow out all the lines and install a brand new AC compressor (factory stock) and condenser. They pulled vac, added normal pag oil plus an extra 2 oz for the KC capacity, and charged it up with REGULAR r134a. They got the high pressure just right, 2.8 over ambient, and it has performed wonderfully ever since.

Better yet, fully cold at idle speed. The IAT’s aren’t QUITE as low as they were with the industrial, but I’m going to run the regular r134a for quite some time and I may even just leave it in there. I want to see if, when it’s really hot out, it will still be ice cold at idle speed.
For all I know our cars and systems may not like the gas type for some reason. Joe at Killer Chiller says 70%+ of his customers run the industrial 12a (r134a Industrial) and have no issues and see cooler temps than regular r134a. Cooler temps and IAT’s I agree with, but I want to see if I still have ice cold air at idle with the regular stuff with its 95 degrees out. I can say at 83 degrees it’s ice cold at idle.

Dang. That’s was a lot to type on an iPhone!

[Daves1SS]

Originally Posted by TrekGTO

That is correct if Superheat is off on Chiller it makes the entire system off. The Chiller manufacture should give you a measured charge, there is a formula to calculate refrigerant. You can not charge these cars by pressure and a little more or a little less. With a Chiller system you have a + or – of half an oz. I’m not going to speak to another brand but I can say all of our kits are +2oz too +3oz. Most of the additional refrigerant is in the liquid line the low side is a gas so not much volume.

All Joe at KC gives you is a high pressure psi to hit, 2.8 over ambient.
It’s definitely easier to know how much refrigerant you’re putting in with the regular r134a than it is with the industrial. Heck a full can of Industrial nearly weighs the same as an empty can. And yes 2-3 oz over factory specs is right at where I am with the standard r134a.

[Daves1SS]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

My read is that R12a is less idiot-proof than R134a.

Bingo. **idiot typing raises hand**
Lol.

I say you’ve REALLY got to know what you’re doing to be able to get a proper charge with the industrial 12a.

[jrs580]

Originally Posted by rjacobs

I wasnt aware that the new refrigerant was even available outside of the pro environment yet... i.e. you cant buy it at autozone, oreilly, napa, etc...

So what did you add "1/2 a can of"? R134a? Because thats the wrong freon.

No I added what the system was recharged with, which is industrial r134.

[jrs580]

I overcharged it the first time and when I went to bleed it down it would seem like it shot out Freon with bursts of air like it was not evacuated properly. By the time i bleed it back down to the" 2.8 times the outside temp" it was blowing all Freon. It hasn't been hot enough outside to test it but for now it's blowing 48 degrees at an idle and 39 while revved.

[SnakeEyeSS]

Originally Posted by jrs580

No I added what the system was recharged with, which is industrial r134.

So these cars are good with replacing the factory stuff with R-134a, or are changes from the Killer Chiller made so it will run on it? If the former, good to know. May be a much cheaper alternative for years to come. And generally, newer freon doesn't work as well as older freon as history has shown

[Daves1SS]

I've got to update this post now that the weather has gotten hot down here in Alabama.
Even with the regular r134a refrigerant in my system, it hardly blows cool at all at idle speed now with 90+ degree temps outside, and the fan is nearly always on medium speed. If you're over idle speed it's fine, but not at idle speed.

With me having to deal with horrible going home traffic in the afternoons, I'm nearly at the point of just ripping this killer chiller system off my car and taking the AC setup back to full stock. This is frustrating. I only get mad when I get stopped in bumper to bumper traffic, which happens daily. ***sigh***

Anyone know why it's doing this? I went through this with Joe at Killer Chiller last year, and he didn't know why it was doing it.

[Atomic Ed]

Wow Dave, you've been our long term tester here on the KC system. Sorry to hear it isn't working out completely for you. Hopefully you can get it sorted out.

Meanwhile, it would great if someone from the Southeast would get with TrekGTO and let him prototype a kit for our Gen6s.