20 April 2016

BY PAUL WEISSLER

We’ve been talking about the phase-in of R-1234yf for several years. Most of the dickering has finally ended, and this year the refrigerant of the future becomes the refrigerant of the present.

THEREALLYRIGHTREFRIGERANT FINALLY ARRIVES!

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21April 2016

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This is the year that R-1234yf really takes off in the U.S. market. Although Europe has already made much of the changeover, in our

market, only Fiat Chrysler Automo-biles (FCA) had some real volume in the low-global-warming potential (GWP) refrigerant. Sure, we’d see a Honda Fit EV, a Cadillac XTS or occasionally another specialty model with R-1234yf, but the way the cor-porate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations are phased in, this year—the 2017 model year—is when the action is occurring. And many shops will have to make equipment deci-sions sooner rather than later.

We don’t have to “predict” the end of the R-134a era. The EPA has announced that as of 2021, all cars and light trucks for sale in the U.S. must use a low-GWP refrigerant. So unless carbon dioxide systems (R-744 is CO2 as a refrigerant) come on stream here, it’s R-1234yf. The me-dium- and heavy-duty vehicles will surely follow, with the EPA saying it will promulgate the rules for them sometime this year.

Don’t go running to lay in a big stock of R-134a. There will be no retrofit to R-134a systems, because they were not built to accept the mildly flammable R-1234yf. The EPA has made it clear that R-134a will be available as long as there’s a service industry market for it.

The reason for the 2017 model year rollout of R-1234yf is because of the way the EPA regulations for CAFE credits were developed. Gen-eral Motors will begin an aggressive changeover soon and expects to have virtually all models with R-1234yf by the end of the year. Ford began with the Escape crossover last month, but the pace of the changeover hasn’t yet been disclosed. Interestingly, Eu-ropean carmakers, who have been legally obligated in Europe to use R-1234yf on “new type” models, have

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liquid R-1234yf onto a surface hot enough to ignite it.

Daimler and other members of the German auto manufacturers associ-ation (“VDA”) are participating in a consortium to develop systems using R-744. Daimler has promised to have R-744 systems on a small number of 2017 E-Class and S-Class models sold in Europe. Cars with R-744 are unlikely to come to the U.S. market anytime soon.

Wasn’t there a blend refrigerant under test? Yes, it’s R-445a, a mix-ture of 85% R-1234ze (a low-cost

22 April 2016

The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

held off on models for sale elsewhere.Also set up for R-1234yf is Daim-

ler. This company has raised all man-ner of objections to R-1234yf in the past, posting videos of tests purport-ing to show potential dangers from the mildly fl ammable refrigerant. To bolster its public posture, the maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles will be in-stalling a protective system under the hood, featuring an argon gas jug with tubing to high-temperature areas, such as the turbo housing. So it would function as a sort of fi re extinguisher if a refrigerant line broke and sprayed

chemical cousin to R-1234yf), 9% R-134a and 6% CO2. The test proj-ect demonstrated its potential to per-form, but complexities in application and service led the sponsor, Mex-ichem, to halt developmental work.

The R-1234yf service equipment market is ready, but at this time the selections are slim. By now you should know that R-1234yf machines require a valid refrigerant signal from the vehicle to enable operation of the recover/recycle/recharge machine. The identifi er can be built in or be a hand-held unit that connects to the R/R/R machine with a USB cable.

But the early market for machines is car dealers; the factories require built-in refrigerant ID and printers, so the exact amount of additional re-frigerant—to the ounce—can be at-tached to a request for warranty pay-ment. Wait a while and you’ll get a lot more variety from which to choose, and the “street prices” may be lower.

A new SAE standard—J3030—enables production of two types of R/R/R machines. One can switch from R-134a to R-1234yf and back, and can service any system that comes into your shop. The other is an R-134a machine built to R-1234yf safety requirements, with electron-ics that permit it to be converted on

Service of R-1234yf systems begins with a valid signal from an SAE J2912-compliant iden-tifi er, which can be built into the recover/recycle/recharge machine or from a suitable identifi er, such as this Neutronics Ultima ID 1234yf Refrigerant Analyzer, with a USB cable connection to the machine.

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USB Cable To R/R/R Machine

SamplingHose

Coupling

Hand-held identifi ers, such as the one on the left, generally have much more functionality than those that are built into the machine (right).

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The EPA’s objective is to

have the vehicle fl eet not only equipped with R-1234yf, but

maintained with it as well.

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a one-time basis to R-1234yf. The purchase reason for this second ap-proach is that the buyer can put off the expense of some bolt-on hard-ware and extra hoses, and wait to get a compatible (likely hand-held) iden-tifier. This is a reasonable approach because there are trade-in allowances for old identifiers from the one cur-rent U.S. supplier, Neutronics. Yes, you do lose operational flexibility, for when converted for R-1234yf, it’s a one-time decision using tamper-re-sistant parts. So you’d have to put it off until you see enough volume of vehicles using the newer refriger-ant. And because we’ll never retrofit R-134a systems to R-1234yf, there’ll be R-134a business until long after the useful life of most machines.

Only one equipment manufac-turer has a back & forth machine to sell at this writing—CPS Prod-ucts, which is building the identifi-

er into the housing. However, most manufacturers use the same basic R/R/R equipment structure for both R-1234yf and R-134a, so it’s pos-sible to use some R-134a parts (if they’re lower in cost) and without a few R-1234yf specifics (refrigerant

identifier or full circuitry for a USB connection to a hand-held unit). This would give a manufacturer the flexibility to build both back & forth and one-time changeover machines, depending on market demand.

Ritchie Engineering, maker of

The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

23April 2016

Circle #13

At the recent MACS trade show, Ritchie En-gineering showed this prototype machine designed for a one-time conversion from R-134a to R-1234yf. The label on the jug shows that the machine has already been converted to the new refrigerant.

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sources selling the same device. Ford Rotunda, for example, was selling it for $1800 last we checked, and you might see even better pricing if you shop around. In any case, this will be about $600 more than if the identifier comes as a built-in.

We prefer the hand-held identifier, despite the higher overall price. First, you can buy it now, when it has other value for the shop. For example, you can take it from vehicle to vehicle for R-134a diagnostic purposes, or (when you’re ready for R-1234yf service) even to a jobber to check a supply of “low-cost” R-1234yf, something you can’t do if it’s built in and the

24 April 2016

The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

Yellow Jacket machines, exhibited a prototype of a one-time machine at the recent MACS trade show and RTI/MAHLE said its No. 1150H (hy-brid-compatible) machine is intend-ed for this purpose, too, with a tam-per-resistant conversion kit to come.

The trade-in program by Neutron-ics, currently the only U.S. market supplier for refrigerant identifiers that meet the latest SAE standard (J2912), applies to “any old, work-ing or not” identifier you have. You can compare the trade-in cost (about $1900 to $2200, depending on con-figuration—i.e., with or without a printer) with the price from other

R/R/R machine is servicing one ve-hicle in your shop. We have the gut feeling there will be a lot of counter-feit R-1234yf coming.

A hand-held would be our choice for a J2843 (R-1234yf-only) machine, or even a J3030 machine with back & forth capability.

Retrofit to R-134a?It became pretty obvious that an R-1234yf system that had lost its charge could be retrofitted to R-134a at far lower cost for refrigerant (R-134a is running about $3/lb. and up; R-1234yf retail is in the “up to $164/lb.” range). Daimler gave away

If you have an electronic leak detector certified to SAE J2791 and it’s working well on R-134a systems, as is shown here, it’s worth wait-ing to test it on a leaking R-1234yf system to see if it provides good detection on the new refrigerant as well.

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26 April 2016

The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

the new systems have super-sealing, and should not leak very much. Fur-thermore, they have small charges, so loss of just a few ounces could be enough to reduce performance no-ticeably. If a system is down 3 oz., that’s perhaps $30 at today’s list pric-es. So is it really worth the trouble to

install conversion fi ttings and change the car over to R-134a?

Legality is another issue. As an EPA spokesperson said at the MACS show, if a professional technician knowingly installed an R-134a charge in an R-1234yf system, that would constitute tampering with emissions control—obviously against the law.

Leak DetectionThe high price of R-1234yf (at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles the list is $10.25/oz., or $164/lb.) may be a giant incen-tive to change the system to R-134a, but the professional approach is to fi nd the leak and recover what’s left in the system.

Many shops we’ve encountered do not like electronic leak detectors and use only a trace dye. Something has been happening to change that dynamic.

Most important is that you don’t want to allow a leak of expensive R-1234yf to continue until you fi nd a dye trace. So your fi rst effort, which also could be your last needed, is to use an electronic leak detector that meets the new SAE J2913 standard for R-1234yf detection. A detector that has already met SAE J2791 also may meet the new J2913, and many now are certifi ed to both standards. Both R-134a and R-1234yf refrig-erants contain fl uorine, which is the chemical the electronic sensors de-tect. How can you tell if your J2791

that “secret” when it complained that R-1234yf was unsafe, pulled the R-1234yf out of those cars containing it and recharged them with R-134a.

But the EPA’s objective is to have the vehicle fleet not only equippedwith R-1234yf for environmental rea-sons, but maintained with it. All of

Oil-retention compressors have internal baffl es or a separator valve (as shown here) to minimize oil circulation from the compressor into the refrigerant stream. In the DENSO design, refrigerant (with oil) enters the separator at A. The entry force turns a cylinder, which creates a centrifuge effect to separate the oil, which fl ows from D into a reservoir and from there through the rest of the compressor for lubrication. This has been shown to save enough compressor operating energy to improve fuel economy.

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Oil Reservoir Chamber

InletChamber

Oil SeparatorChamber

Compressor Oil

Refrigerant (To Discharge Port)

DischargeChamber

Oil Separator Chamber

Refrigerant

Compressor Oil (To Oil Reservoir Chamber)

D

B

A

C

Some car-makers in-stall trace dye on the assembly line. As this label indicates, Fiat Chrysler Automo-biles is one that does, and makes the same dye available through its dealers.Ph

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27April 2016

The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

detector fi ts that description? You’ll need an actual test case.

Some J2791 detectors may not be sensitive enough. Many were desen-sitized for J2791, because that stan-dard requires a detector not to alarm on leaks of 2 g/yr. or below, so that you’re not “fi xing” leaks that are too small to repair. However, some de-tectors made also for other markets and for leak detection on commer-cial refrigeration units, including in Europe, may add a “super-sensi-tive” mode for leaks as small as 2 g/yr. If you use that mode to fi nd an R-1234yf leak, confi rm that it’s a re-pairable leak with the detector set only on high sensitivity.

The Trace Dye ProblemThe industry is moving very quickly to compressors with internal baffl es and valves that keep virtually all of

the oil in the compressor, saving the energy used to pump oil droplets through the system with the refrig-erant. Not pumping droplets of oil

saves a measurable amount of ener-gy, and the engineers can quantify the savings, to improve carmakers’ CAFE credits.

YELLOW JACKET REFRIGERANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AUTOMATIC FOR R-134a and R-1234yf WITH PORTABLE TABLET

NOW YOU CAN DO MORE THAN ONE THING AT A TIME.

LEARN MORE ATYELLOWJACKET.COM

Introducing the all-new YELLOW JACKET Refrigerant Management System (RMS) controlled by a portable computer tablet. This new system takes flexibility to a new level by allowing you to handle R-134a now and change over to R-1234yf later, or you can simply purchase the R-1234yf model today! The RMS is controlled with a colorful, easy-to-use interface from multiple locations in your shop. Built tough, and made in America, this durable machine now sets the standard for productivity in auto repair shops everywhere.

YELLOW JACKET REFRIGERANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AUTOMATIC R-134a and R-1234yf

WITH

PORTABLE TABLET

Introducing the all-new YELLOW JACKET Refrigerant Management System

MADE IN THE U.S.A.

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

R-134a and R-1234yf

PORTABLE TABLET

LEARN MORE ATYELLOWJACKET.COM

Introducing the all-new YELLOW JACKET Refrigerant Management System (RMS) controlled by a portable computer tablet. This new system takes flexibility to a new level by allowing you to handle R-134a now and change over to R-1234yf later, or you can simply purchase the R-1234yf model today! The RMS is controlled with a colorful, easy-to-use interface from multiple locations in your shop. Built tough, and made in America, this durable machine now sets the standard for productivity in auto repair shops everywhere.

MADE INTHE U.S.A.

Circle #15

CPS Products displayed the fi rst certifi ed SAE J3030 machine at the MACS trade show. It has the identifi er built in; it can be seen through the opening in the side.

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pretty sure to see a dye trace when the system starts leaking. If not, we make this suggestion: The first time a vehicle is in your shop for service—any service—sell the customer on in-stallation of a dose of trace dye, as a way to prepare for the eventual leak. You don’t want to have to install a full or even substantial partial charge of expensive refrigerant with the trace dye and hope the dye trace shows up before the refrigerant leaks out.

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The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

Trace dyes work by mixing and cir-culating with the oil droplets, which raises the question of finding a leak. There will always be some small amount of oil that gets out of the com-pressor, but how long will it take to reach a leak site? We can’t tell you, because every leak is different. But we can say it will take longer than if the oil were circulating freely with the refrigerant. So if a carmaker installs trace dye on the assembly line, you’re

Only a small percentage of sys-tems trap virtually all of the oil in the compressor, but the trend is clear. This not only affects the trace dyes, but if you’re replacing a com-pressor, you have to drain out and measure the amount of the old oil to be able to balance the system. And those old rules of thumb for adding 1 or 2 oz. of oil to the condenser and heat exchanger are gone for these new systems. The “typical” oil capac-ity, which has been 6 to 9 oz., is out of date. Many new systems with oil-retention compressors are only at 3 to 4 oz. So always check the manu-facturer’s specs.

If the system has been in use for some time, also keep in mind that the customer may have topped up with small cans that contain a couple of ounces of oil. Yes, we’ll have small cans with R-1234yf—there’s no ban because the do-it-yourself market is too strong, particularly in California. Even though the environmentalists also are strong, there’s too much pub-lic pressure against a small-can ban. So the California small cans have self-sealing valves and a deposit sys-tem ($10), and the EPA just said it would give the okay for small cans of R-1234yf, too. A “small can” is de-fined as 2 lbs. and below. With the price of the refrigerant, we wouldn’t be surprised to see professional jugs in that range, although the jugs for R/R/R machines are 10 lbs.

R-1234yf OilsIf you look at some underhood R-1234yf labels, you’ll often see just the acronym “PAG” (polyalkylene glycol). So it wouldn’t be unreason-able to think that if you have a con-tainer of PAG for R-134a, you can use that. Please don’t. The PAG oil formulation for R-1234yf is different, with specific additive content that’s not found in the oil for R-134a, so there’s no forward compatibility. Fiat Chrysler has three new PAG oils re-

The FCA underhood labels say simply “PAG” for the oil, but do not provide specifics, such as quantity and type of PAG. So you’ll have to look beyond the label for the details.

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Label Part No.

Refrigerant Quantity

SAE Standards

Refrigerant Oil Type

Certified Personnel Only

Caution: Moving Components

Refrigerant Type

Flammability Caution

These three R-1234yf oils—from DENSO, Delphi and Hanon—are all for Fiat Chrysler ve-hicles. Which one is used depends on which manufacturer’s compressor is on the vehicle.

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The new J3030 standard

enables the production

of two types of R/R/R

machines—one that can switch

back & forth between R-134a

and R-1234yf, and one that

converts 134a to 1234yf on a

one-time basis.

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leased for R-1234yf—for DENSO compressors (ND-12, replacing ND-8, with which it’s backwards com-patible), for Delphi pumps (PS-D1) and for Hanon units (VC 46, which is also backwards compatible). Ha-non, which may be new to you, is a partnership of Visteon and Korean supplier Halla.

We haven’t got all the R-1234yf oil backwards compatibility situations

sorted out yet, but we can assure you of this: Fiat Chrysler didn’t release three oils for its R-1234yf fleet be-cause the parts department was look-ing to increase the number of cans its dealers have to carry. There are three oils because each of the three com-pressor suppliers found a specifi c oil that worked best.

General Motors has said it expects to approve a single oil for service of

both refrigerant systems, and we log-ically expect Ford to do the same. And don’t assume that the R-1234yf oil is always going to be a PAG; we just saw a Honda Pilot and it’s using a polyol ester (POE) oil with a Del-phi belt-drive compressor. As we’ve

noted, Fiat Chrysler, which also uses Delphi belt-drive compressors, speci-fi es PAG oil. We’ll be looking into the rationales for this obvious puzzle.

The Really Right Refrigerant Finally Arrives!

31April 2016

This article can be found online at www.motormagazine.com.

Circle #17

The new J3030 standard

enables the production

of two types of R/R/R

machines—one that can switch

back & forth between R-134a

and R-1234yf, and one that

converts 134a to 1234yf on a

one-time basis.

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