R-12 Discharge/Evacuate

[rogueaccord]

so basically my A/C has never worked in the nearly 3 years I've owned the car, and I've finally gotten sick of it enough to actually want to bother to get it to work

the fan works, compressor is spinning, and the freon is basically full (there are like 1 or 2 very tiny little bubbles in the glass viewer)
I've read about the r-12 to r-134a conversions, etc and still haven't decided what to do about that..but my question is:

should I try recharging it? does the freon just "go bad" after a while and not cool as well (er..at all!) and need to be replaced? Do I absolutely need to have a "professional" discharge/evacuate it? or could someone tell me how to do it?

all of the r-12 to r-134 tutorials I've read do not really describe well how to actually get the old stuff out (which would need to be my first step since I don't have a problem with not having any freon in the system itself)

thanks for the help guys

[dosh8er]

damn. All I've got to say is, damn. I feel for you man. I'm fortunate enough to work at a shop where we have an old vacuum evacuator machine for the r-12. Finding a shop with one can be hard. If you can look for AC shops in your area, they will most likely have an evacuator/vacuum machine. If you're not lucky, and live in a fairly rural area (as I do) you might have some difficulty. Just, please, for the sake of everyone, you me, our future generations, and the supply of r-12 in the world today, DO NOT simply release it. That's silly, that stuff brings good money. No, it doesn't really go bad per se. It's more like, you lose oil in the system, or maybe you get moisture in the system reducing the functionality of the refrigerant (12). It's simply a gas, and when under pressure liquid.

[Lester Lugnut]

The A/C compressor pulley may be turning, but are you SURE the clutch is actually engaging?