R12 to R134 air conditioner conversion

[Greasemonkey]

I have a 1992 ford explorer for which the air conditioner has stopped working. The same thing happened in 2003 and I just got it recharged with R12 and it ran for about three or four years until the freon gradually leaked out again. I am guessing it just needs to be recharged.
My question, should I just recharge it with R12 (quotes range from $60 to $100 a pound, and it takes around 1.75 pounds, plus around $40 labor), or should I convert to R134 (quotes range from $130 to $330, depending on whether they change the accumulator or not and how much they are ripping me off)? I guess the cheapest conversion kit which is just new adapter fittings and maybe a few O-rings runs around $30, plus maybe $25 a pound for R134.
Has anyone converted, and were you satisfied with the results, or would you have left it R12 if you had it to do over again? And how much did it cost you, and what did they do for the money?

 

[Joes4x4Ranger]

Take a look at this thread. It should be very helpful to ya.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221442

 

[Greasemonkey]

Decided to recharge system with R12 instead of converting to R134A

Thanks for the link to the air conditioning threads. After calling about half a dozen repair shops and getting their opinions and quotes I decided to go with one that gave me a quote of $45 labor and $50 a pound for R12 (takes 1.75 pounds). They couldn't find any leak using a snifer and dye so the leak must be very slow. They did say the compressor was weak and noisy but wanted $800 to replace it which was more than I wanted to spend on a 16 year old SUV. I am hoping it takes at least a year or two to leak out again. The last time I had it recharged it ran about three years. They told me to come back in a week to see if any dye was visible.