refrigerants to charge air conditioning in autos, are they all the same?

Answer 1

No! ~
The type was changed in the early 90s. The old stuff (freon) now costs in excess of $100./lb. ~
The new stuff (which takes a different type of compressor) costs much less and is more readily available.

Answer 2

it is good to see you use the term "REFRIGERANT" as FREON is a brand name regestered to DuPONT and is also known as R-12 .Around 1992-1994 the government "persuaded" automakers to start using a new refrigerant known as R-134a . As the demand for R-12 rose and the legal supply shrank R-12 became the second most smuggled substance behind drugs as it was super cheap in Mexico as they were still using it .Also some real "ROCKET SCIENTISTS" were using PROPANE (I kid you not ,propane has all of the same properties as R-12 ,it just BLOWS UP BETTER!-LOL) in their systems to save a few bucks.No you can't use R134a in an R-12 system with out substatial changes and vice versa .to tell which one you have first see what year car you are dealing with 91 and before are all R-12 ,1994 and later are all R-134a ,this leaves 92-94 to deal with ,next raise the hood and look for a sticker saying "this vehicle uses R-134a or R-12 if you can't find a sticker look for what looks like a metal valve stem to add air to a tire ,if it is small like the one on your tire it is R-12 if it is the size of a dime you have R-134a

Answer 3

no, r-12 was used in autos until 1992 then they switched to r- 134
check with your nearest auto shop they should be able to help you out.

Answer 4

there is two different ones that i can think of off the top of my head. i can't rember there names but your ac unit in your car should tell you which one to use