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Can you use R134 instead of R134a refrigerant in a Gen 2 Prius?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by John Mueller, Aug 29, 2021.

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  1. John Mueller

    John Mueller New Member

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    I was on a trip and the AC could not keep up so I took it into an independent shop and they evacuated and charged the system with (I believe) R134 refrigerant instead of R134a. I'm waiting to get back more information from the shop (which is closed today) but I wanted to ask about whether a Prius could run on R134. No oil was added to the system.
     
    #1 John Mueller, Aug 29, 2021
  2. John Mueller

    John Mueller New Member

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    I learned it was actually R134a that they put in the system and now I'm waiting to hear back whether they put dye in the system as I've heard that can be bad for these compressors.
     
    #2 John Mueller, Aug 30, 2021
  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I'm not sure where you heard that but I know our resident professional auto A/C Technician @lech auto air conditionin uses dye In Prii A/C systems as required.
     
    #3 dolj, Aug 31, 2021
  4. T1 Terry

    T1 Terry Active Member

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    Switching to any of the hydrocarbon based refrigerants requires a bit of a work around, but 134a in a system that originally ran 134a with or without the dye added has no known problems.
    The value of moving to a hydrocarbon based refrigerant is reduced energy to power the pump and a much better heat transfer because the hydrocarbon mixes are far more efficient as a refrigerant gas. The only reason we ended up with R134a in the first place was the refrigerant manufactures needed a product they could sell to replace R12 and they weren't going to make big $$ mixing hydrocarbon gasses that anyone could do and destroy their market dominance ......

    T1 Terry
     
    #4 T1 Terry, Aug 31, 2021
  5. lech auto air conditionin

    lech auto air conditionin Senior Member

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    UV dye by tracerline products or by the company called UViEW AC EXTENDYE,
     
    #5 lech auto air conditionin, Aug 31, 2021
  6. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Are you saying these are the products that are bad for Prius or are you saying these are the product you recomend for Prius?
     
    #6 dolj, Sep 1, 2021
  7. lech auto air conditionin

    lech auto air conditionin Senior Member

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    these are the ones I recommend

    if you go onto the Company website for these products you will see they make different dyes for different purposes.
    And you will see they make a specific part number just for hybrids. Or a hybrid dye that can also be used in regular cars. Because you guys are hybrids half she kept moisture free in better packaging in a different base oil
     
    #7 lech auto air conditionin, Sep 2, 2021
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