how much POG oil to put into AC after condenser replacement
 

Hey all,

I had a hole in my condenser, so i replaced the condenser. How much POG oil do i add? Dealership tried to suck up all the freon but said there wasn't any left because of the hole in the condenser. Haven't used ac during winter, except window defrosting.

Well, since yours had a hole, I would either buy two big bottles of ac recharge. At the local auto parts store. It doesn't take a whole lot but I'm no mechanic. Also they have a cool little filler gauge that tells you if you need more or less

But since you didn't mention any diy or know of said ac refills I would recommend you take it to a pro ac place have them top you off.

Seems credible. Name checks out.

Well, thanks for response, but i already know how much 134a i need. I was asking about the POG oil that needs to be added along with refrigerant.

They should not sell these refill kits because people usually do not use them correctly. If you need to refill your A/C, you have a leak in your system. That means, properly evacuating the system (not venting it into the atmosphere), finding the leak, fixing it then applying a vacuum to the system for at least an hour.

In the case of the OP, it definitely needs vacuum for a while to draw out any moisture and air inside his system and he knows that.

I have done this a few times but have never found a definite answer because no one really knows. Since you probably lost PAG oil through the following:
1. hole in your condenser releasing all of your refrigerant/vaporized oil.
2. oil physically in your old condenser that you will toss.

My guess is that you probably lost half of the oil in your system. I think it would be more harmful to have too little compared to too much. I'd put 50-70% of the factory fill in the system

It is unusual to loose all the oil with a leak, better parts stores sell small cans of oil Freon mix to add some back to the system. The cans say to add one can to a discharged system. The cans come in different colors to match the oil in the system. I am not sure if there is a difference in the oil by color , but I use the same color. If you have a large compressor you can use an air driven vacuum like the one from Harbor freight. You will need a gauge set with three lines to do it properly. A vacuum pump is better but costs a lot more.

i got compressor and gauges loaned from autozone.
Got a bottle of r134a and POG 46 (7oz). I'm just gonna go ahead and put half of the bottle.

You should put the system under vacuum for at least 30 min. The humidity and air in the system right now will cause problems/corrosion later on.

Also any air in the system will overwork the AC pump. Paying ~$100-150 for a A/C recharge is well worth it in my opinion because the machine does a much better job.

Yes, i will pull vacuum for 30min or so. I'll just DIY this time, if ac compressor dies in the next year, i'll take it to a shop. I have trust issues after valve spring recall, blew my engine.

I agree, about 4oz should keep you safe.

I have never put more than 2oz in an AC system. 0.5oz is now the way we go. 4oz is a lot of dye, 2 of the single use bottles.

Remember the small cans are a mix of Freon and oil, not all oil. Usually delivered to the system slowly and inverted.

i put in oil not dye.

got a bottle of pog 46 oil only. not a mix of freon and oil.

Charged up the system yesterday, with 3~ oz of pog 46 and 12 oz of freon.
Had some trouble, because the ac compressor wasn't kicking on, but i opened the valve on low pressure side some more and it kicked on.
When i disconnected high pressure valve on from the car, some freon sprayed from the gauge hose.

If my ac blows up, i'll update yall.

Oil with dye. The little BG bottles are 2oz and come premixed. Our new machine has a .75oz injector, .5oz is working well for us.

The majority of the oil is in the compressor and stuck as a film to everything else. You can lose 2 pounds of r134 and have just enough dye escape to find the leak.

It won’t blow up, under pressure you will have decreased performance, icing up, or no function at all. Over pressure it will vent, and still be well over the specified fill.

There’s a reason AC machines cost thousands of dollars. Put some of this and some of this, see what happens, maybe it blows up? Not really an option when you’re at a shop.