Mountain 8205 R-134a Brass Manifold Gauge Set with Couplers

The manifold performed flawlessly-no leaks and no issues during use. The manifold and gages are sturdy enough for a repair shop. The brass manifold is well made and the hoses are heavy duty and 72 inches long.The coupling are quick disconnect type and are made of brass and steel-no plastic. Nothing on the entire set-up is made from plastic except the gage dial covers.The manifold itself has quick disconnects receptacles on the front - this is for connecting the high and low pressure couplers for storage. This ensures no dirt and debris gets into the couplers during storage - this is an excellent feature given the fact that any dirt that gets into the A/C system will cause problems and expensive repairs.You need to purchase a can tap for this item-no big deal since it's the same with all of the other manifolds on Amazon. The Mastercool 85510 can tap from Amazon will solve this.Highly recommend this item.1 year later-The quick couplers gave out. So I purchased the following - Robinair 18192 R-134A Manual Replacement Coupler Set. Now I am back in business. Otherwise, this is a good manifold set and when considered against the higher prices manifold sets out there, this unit is still a bargain.

I was a little skeptical of this set when I took it out of the box. The gauge faces are plastic. The quick connect couplers don't look quite right.. you can see the balls as if the outer sleeve isn't fitting right. It isn't super confidence-inspiring. But when it came time to use the manifold, I had to change my opinion. It worked great. The gauges seem pretty nice and accurate despite their cheapo appearance. The quick connect couplers work great. The hoses are nice and looooong. Nothing leaks. The metal handles are sturdy and nice. The threads and knurling on the fittings are high-quality. There is no provision for purging the yellow service hose, but you can simply loosen the yellow hose end on the manifold a little after tapping the can until refrigerant starts to hiss out of the fitting, then screw it back on tight. Or don't bother, personally I don't think purging the hose is that important. For the shadetree mechanic, I think this manifold is a good value. Major bonus points to the manufacturer for including extra seals and valve-core things (not sure what they are called, they screw into the hoses) with the set. I wish it came with a case.

I have worked on R12 and R22 air conditioning systems for more than 40 years. This is the first set of gauges I have bought for R134a. I have used these gauges only 1 time. They worked fine and, although I cannot verify their accuracy, I have no reason to think they are not accurate. From my experience using A/C gauges, I believe this set is well built and is an excellent gauge set for the price. The hoses are long and the fittings are very good. The dummy fittings for parking the hoses while not in use are nice and are convenient. I would recommend this gauge set to any serious DIYer, and perhaps even to professionals.

This item did what it was supposed to for me, although it's certainly not the quality of the top pro products. But for the price, it's fine.My first (relatively minor) complaint is that the gauges aren't perfectly accurate. At atmospheric pressure the low-side gauge read a sliver negative. There's what appears to be an adjustment screw, but I was afraid to try to adjust it for fear of breaking it, because it didn't turn with even a moderate force. But it wasn't off by too much, so I just figured that the pressure was really about 1psi higher than what the gauge showed - probably well within the error of this gauge.The next complaint (also minor) is that the couplers don't have a convenient way to purge the lines before connecting to the ports on the car. When you're charging the system, you want to be able to purge the yellow and blue lines of air by running some refrigerant through them. If you connect the couplers to the lines, the valves in them don't open until they're connected to the ports. The only way to purge them is to run some refrigerant through the lines before screwing the couplers on. This wastes more refrigerant than if the couplers had a bleed valve, and, if you're not wearing gloves, could chill your fingers pretty quick. Again, not a fatal flaw, and you can buy different couplers (the low side is the one where you need it), but a good coupler costs as much as this entire kit.I've so far used it only once, and I was lucky not to run into the problems that others have reported: leaking couplers, broken gauges, etc. I don't know how well this will hold up, but I don't expect to be using it often, so I didn't want to go for a top-quality unit. For the price, I'm not complaining.One last point: this set doesn't include a can tap which you'll need if you're charging your system from a can of refrigerant (as opposed to a tank). The tap that's made to work with this is Mountain 8401 Top Style Metal Can Tap (it worked well for me), and is an add-on item, so I recommend that if you're going to need it, you order it along with this item.

I bought this, along with tinted refrigerant and UV lighting, to recharge an 8 year old Toyota AC system that was pushing warm air. It worked perfectly for the purpose. Gauges were consistent, moved freely, easily showing small variations in pressures under different engine RPMs. The valving is easy to use, smooth and air tight under pressure. The connectors matched and worked smoothly.FWIW, I used dyed refrigerant and UV light to ensure the system was sealed (it was).If I had any complaint, it'd be that the hose lengths were too short to allow me to view the gauges while sitting in the car. I was able to work around it, but a foot or two more hose would have made that much easier.