My wagon had been converted to R134a by a Volvo dealer in 2002, but the A/C wasn't working when I bough it last fall. Last week I stopped in at a rad shop I know that does A/C work and was told it would cost me $40 for the guy to just hook up his machine, etc, etc, so I thought I'd have a go myself with a $30 R12a kit from eBay before I start throwing a lot of money at it. I got the Ultra Cool kit like here: http://www.orbityale.com/ultra.html

All I really knew about my A/C was that it didn't work, but the compressor would kick in when I shorted the low pressure switch connector with engine running and the A/C on. Well, I guess my experiment was a failure. I used a can of refrigerant, a can of sealer and then the other can of refrigerant, but at no time did the compressor kick in, nor did it start blowing cool air. What I did notice was that the charging hose chuck fit rather loosely and seemed to be leaking and the piping around there got frosty. This particular kit had no pressure gauge, so I couldn't even tell what pressure I started with or what was happening. I noticed that the Volvo low side port was shaped a little different than the one supplied in the kit for converting from R12, but the one in the kit didn't fit the chuck any tighter when I tried.

So what I'm asking here is, has anyone had a similar experience and what did you do about it? I realize recharging with R12a is not legal in the US in several states (but why not all? Politics?) and professional auto A/C folks are dead against it because they're all invested in R134a, but clearly there are a lot of people using this refrigerant. I'm not looking for a debate, just some useful hints.