# 92 Sentra A/C - R12 or R134a?



## tsi200sx (Nov 8, 2002)

I'm not sure what year they switched over, does anyone know? My wife's 92 XE needs the AC recharged and I'm trying to figure out how much it's going to cost.


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## Wagon Wagon (Sep 20, 2002)

Far as I know they switched in '93. There should be an ID tag under the hood that says what it takes. R12 is super expensive... you can get an entire R134 retrofit kit for less than what it would cost to buy R12 to fill your system. And that just is materials, that doesn't count paying for an authorized shop to refill it, since they're the only ones that can. 

Converting to R134 is really easy to do, took me about 5 minutes to do each of my Subarus. You just have to make sure there is NO R12 left in the system. You can either vent it off into the atmosphere by unhooking the low pressure line on the compressor, which is SUPER illegal, or pay a shop to purge the system for you. Just tell them you plan on removing the AC system, so that way they won't try to scam you into a $200 refill.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I've owned two '93's and both were R12, I don't think they switched until late '94 at the soonest.


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## Wagon Wagon (Sep 20, 2002)

My 93 has a factory R134A system. Want me to take a pic of the labels? It says R134a all over it, and has all the R134a fittings.


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## lovemyser (Mar 14, 2003)

I have a 93' Se-r And its a R12 . Wanta see the labels?


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## BORNGEARHEAD (Apr 30, 2002)

My 94 has 134a.


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## Centurion (Sep 5, 2002)

I have R12 in my '93. WagonWagon has R134 in his '93? WTF? My build date is 10/92 (but it's a '93 model) so maybe they changed it mid year or late year to R134 in 1993.


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## Wagon Wagon (Sep 20, 2002)

Centurion said:


> *I have R12 in my '93. WagonWagon has R134 in his '93? WTF? My build date is 10/92 (but it's a '93 model) so maybe they changed it mid year or late year to R134 in 1993. *


Could have, mine is from 5/93.


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## HATEnFATE (Dec 24, 2002)

Maybe They changed it for Cali models since they have the most restrictive laws and then followed suite later in the year for others?


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## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

R134a came on cars that were either 93-94, depending on the time the legislation to convert all vehicles to the R134a from R12 was passed. The last cars came out of the factory with R12 in 1993 and the first ones with R134a came in the later half of 1993. Your car being a 92 has R12 in it.


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## Guest (May 6, 2003)

The '92 Sentra is definitely R12. I just got my Sentra a couple months ago as a commuter car and the previous owner had it upgraded to the R134a system in 2001. There are stickers all over the inside of the hood that SCREAM that it's been upgraded.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

1995 was the last year that R12 systems were placed in U.S. made vehicles, but most manufacturers stopped sooner. I would have said that Nissan changed during the 93.5 production run, however my XE had the same build date as Wagon Wagon's car, June '93, so they must have used up remaining R12 units and then started putting 134a ones in during that run.


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## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

Yea, with some companies the changeover was immediate, with some it was quite slow. My information was based on a research I did when I was trying to solve my A/C woes.


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## sunnysentra (Jul 24, 2002)

if you need a spare compressor for a 1992 1.6 I have one ready to ship out, very low miles. You will need 134-A seals in the lines for it to convert, evacuation kit is needed. 
Chris 92 classic


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## BADASSE-R (Jan 28, 2003)

I live in NY. A franchise store here (strauss auto) has the conversion kit on sale this week for $40, It comes with fittings,compressor oil,2 cans r134,installation hose w/gauge, for that price I will try it. Local repair shop wanted $200 for the conversion


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## Derell johnson (Jun 30, 2020)

BORNGEARHEAD said:


> My 94 has 134a.


I have a 1992 nissan sentra, I filled it up with freon but it's still not getting cold


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

tsi200sx said:


> I'm not sure what year they switched over, does anyone know? My wife's 92 XE needs the AC recharged and I'm trying to figure out how much it's going to cost.


The manufacturers should all have switched over to R134a in 1994; but to be certain, there should be a sticker under the hood, somewhere right up front, that tells you which *refrigerant* was used in the factory fill, and it also tells you how much. That sticker is part of SAE Standard J639, which provides safety and design standards for automotive air conditioning refrigerant systems.Aug 27, 2013

Also the high/low gauge set connectors for testing/fill are different between R12 and R134a systems.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

1993 is when Nissan started making the switch over to R-134a. If the compressor clutch is engaging when the A/C is on and it's still not getting cold (and assuming the blower fan is working and you don't have a door mode issue), you'll need to have a set of low and high pressure A/C gauges installed to see what the pressures look like and compare them to the specs in the factory service manual. You could have a bad compressor or expansion valve. If the compressor clutch is not engaging, that can be caused by too little or too much refrigerant, a bad pressure switch, a bad clutch coil, a bad relay or circuit issue to the clutch or a bad thermistor ("thermal amp").


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