Never ever had a car with a working AC

[Kira]

Just to segue into my anecdote, the beaded seats associated with taxi drivers deliver support, not ventilation.
Pay for the heavy wire seating and lower back forms. They breathe.

Maybe find an independent mechanic who is familiar with your car and could fix it at a reasonable price.

Yup.
My AC has begun failing.....breaking a streak of cars with good AC.
It cools well on a nice day but struggles then fails during scorchers.

Just this morning I scoped out and made a Friday appointment with a local shop; new-to-me...neighborhood I love....lots of online praise.
The manager listened to what I 'learned' on car sites.
He appreciated that I had changed the CAF because a CAF change in my car is a huge bother.
Might be low.....

 

[JHZR2]

Even in the 70s (F) the greenhouse effect can be severe. I can’t live without ac in cars. In my house it’s a rarity other than a few of the hottest days….

 

[Egg_Head]

I have genuine sheepskin seats covers in the front seats of my W210. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter. Year round comfort.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I loaded in a 6 oz can of R12A yesterday. The AC was not blowing cold air. The high pressure side was cycling between 50 and 75 psi. I loaded the can into the low side and the high side went to 115 psi. The low side cycled in the correct range between 25 and 50 psi. It’s blowing cold air at 48 F. Hopefully it will get me through the summer. In the photos the low side is not hooked up, just the short loading hose. The outside air temp was 70 F. The high side gage will read much higher once the temp gets into the 90’s. I’ve done lots of checks looking for leaks, so let’s not steer down that path. This post is on how to keep a “ leaky boat” sailing.

 

[Clarkbug]

Maybe find an independent mechanic who is familiar with your car and could fix it at a reasonable price. If he has done a few it will take less time

Always possible the first shop missed something and it's not the evaporator.

I had that issue on a previous vehicle of mine. Took it to the shop to have the system fixed. They put it on their machine, couldn't find a leak, and I paid for a system recharge. Two days later it was dead again. I took it back, and they said it must be the evaporator because the tech saw dye in the condensate drain. They filled it again, and said they didn't want to do the evap replacement because of their other workload.

I happened to have a UV light and checked under the hood. Tons of dye around the low pressure port. I had a bad Schrader valve. That explains why their machine couldn't find a leak, because there wasn't one when it was connected to that port. I guess whenever they connected it a second time, it put the valve in a position to hold the system charge.

AC worked until I sold the car a few years later. And I haven't been back to that shop since...

 

[Chris142]

There is another way of looking at this. Its like owning a boat that is not totally water proof and you carry a pail with you to bail it out once in a while. Once thing common with Canada and France is you can purchase R12A which is a mixture of propane and butane. It does not have environmental issues like other refrigerants. If your system has already bled off, you can get a pro to evacuate your system, and charge it with R12A. After that you purchase a R12A kit and just load in a can every once in a while, just like bailing a leaky boat.

My system stopped cooling this week, and I checked the high pressure. It was 50 psi. That's good enough to load in a can or two of R12A. I got mine to blow at 48F. The high side pressure is 110 psi.

Flame suit on. This is not meant to be good advice for folks who want to maintain a competent system, just for someone who wants to keep a leaky boat going.

I put the real R12 in my 87 f250

 

[Chris142]

I have genuine sheepskin seats covers in the front seats of my W210. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter. Year round comfort.

What about the rest of you?

 

[Donald]

What about the rest of you?

I would pay a trusted Indy shop to repair the A/C.

An A/C is also needed to dehumidify the car in some conditions.

 

[Donald]

Repairing or replacing the evaporator coil on my F250 should be less expensive than some vehicles as I dropped some change down the defrost vents which can be used to offset the cost.

 

[PandaBear]

There was at one point I decided a car still drivable is not worth fixing because the AC broke in California (we do have some days with 30C and almost 37C last week).

As for what to do without fixing your AC: depends on your budget.

1) Rent a car
2) Public transit
3) Carpool with someone with a functional AC and pay more for his trouble
4) Ice vest, some delivery driver wear them because their doors are always open and AC doesn't work that way.
5) Put a bag of ice on your lap when you drive
6) Gas station for truckers that has shower

 

[Donald]

You really should get A/C repaired as opposed to just dumping in refrigerant every year especially R12a. Not good for the environment.

 

[k1xv]

I never had a car with an air conditioner, working or not, until 1985, when I bought an AUDI.

Before then, I had "260 A/C". which was, open 2 windows, drive 60 miles per hour.

 

[Nukeman7]

You really should get A/C repaired as opposed to just dumping in refrigerant every year especially R12a. Not good for the environment.

R-12 is an ozone depleting refrigerant that is environmentally unfriendly. The OP is using Redtek R12a which is an environmentally friendly "drop-in" replacement for R-12. R-12a is unregulated and ozone-safe; however, it is quite flammable.

 

[Kurtatron]

Growing up we didn't have AC in our vehicles or our house. When I went to college the dorm I was in didn't have AC either. It wasn't until my second year of college did I move into a dorm with AC.

I didn't have a vehicle with working AC until 1993 when I bought a new S10 4x4. Every vehicle since has had working AC or I fixed it when it went bad. I can handle not having AC in my vehicle way easier than in a house these days.

I am handle the heat in a car, but I can’t sleep in the heat. My current car has no AC, and I’m in Atlanta. It’s hot and humid, but I find I can handle it ok. But I need low 70s to sleep!

 

[mk378]

"R-12a" is a mixture of butane and propane. Other than being a VOC it is not subject to environmental regulations.

The propane is much more volatile and it will preferentially leak out. This means if you repeatedly "top off" a leaky system, eventually the system will contain the wrong mixture and have poor performance no matter the charge state.

It being a flammable gas, leaks are readily detected with a cheap flammable gas detector, but there will be a lot of false alarms due to other flammable vapors typically under the hood.

 

[Prison_Mike]

Is renting a car in your budget?

Or train? OP is in Western Europe after all.