Hi Mike, You state you are reluctant to try the a/c as there is a "good chance" there is no freon left in it. I guess that means you really don't know... and you will need to find out. The procedure I believe you should follow is to take the car to a reputable a/c shop; they will "vacuum out" the system, and at the same time recover whatever Freon R12 is still in the system. They will be able to determine exactly how much Freon was left. They will then let the system sit, under vacuum, for a period of time, and observe whether the vacuum is retained. If the system holds the vacuum, then it can be recharged, as it means there are no leaks; As far as what to recharge the system with, there are many alternatives including R134 ; I have had excellent results with http://www.autofrost.com/ and there are others such as Hot Shot R-414B, http://autocool-refrigerants.com/ and http://store.lenzdist.com/ There is a very comprehensive chart of the various substitutes, and their properties at: http://www.heco.net/TheTruth.htm You can also do some comparison pricing of the substitutes at : http://www.koolit.net/ Finally, all a/c systems need to have a specific quantity of refrigerant oil present. With no oil in the system, the compressor will seize over time. John Hertog To send a message to this group, send an email to: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx For list server instructions, go to http://www.chrysler300club.com/yahoolist/inst.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chrysler300/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Chrysler300-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/