What oil to use in the A/C system? (1 Viewer)

[e9999]

Will be adding some oil to my A/C system.

FSM says ND-Oil 8, which I have read in a few places is equivalent to PAG46, the low viscosity stuff.

So I'm planning to use PAG46 from the local O'Reillys (their "Certified A/CPro PC-1" oil charge can comes also with some fancy additive ICE32 whatever that is -probably just more oil) but before I put it in I thought I'd double check with the experts here:


- OK to stick with 46 right? You Mudder ACheads haven't shown that PAG 100 or even 150 is much better for our 80 systems right? (mine is a 97)

- And Ester is not a better oil to use either, right?

- Or some new miracle oil invented since 1997 that would put ND-8 to shame?



[And what is this with the new $10 deposit on the little 134 cans that the PRK is now imposing? The give only 90 days to return the empty can -surely in the hope that you will exceed that so they or the retailers can keep the $10... So much for having a couple spares around like I used to do... How long before they ban the DIY recharge altogether...? And my old filler hose adapters better still work... GRRRRR!!! You guys in saner states better stock up on the old style cans if you can still get them... ]

 

[e9999]

anybody?
I know it's Saturday and -unlike me - you have a life, but if I don't hear otherwise from anybody soon, I'm putting it in this weekend...

 

[mossman40]

Mine is a 1994, did a bunch of research.........I used PAG46 i purchased from Amazon.com. Working fine.

 

[MrHaron]

do you have to retrofit or does the stuff they sell @ autozone/equiv hook right up to an FJZ80?

 

[mkfour]

Isn't there some r134 with oil added?

Never did a recharge before, and I'm going to do it in the next few days, but is the oil recharge process the same as r134 recharge?

 

[Coolstream]

Stick with PAG 46. If if has ICE32 with it, that's ok. Avoid any of the other weights of PAG and esther and don't use the R134a cans that contain oil, sealers and the like. You want to avoid getting too much oil in the system as it will degrade the performance. The factory manual lists amounts of oil to add for each item you are replacing. If you're just doing a routine service, I wouldn't add more than 1 oz.

 

[e9999]

OK Cool, great, I'll do the 46 then.

Strangely they didn't seem to have the cans with both 134 and oil anymore. So I'm going to add a can of 46 (that's really 1oz of 46, 1oz of ICE and 1oz of 134 and then another (up to) 12oz can of 134 only.

Don't get me to start fretting over how much oil to put in. Cuz I have no idea and can't have any, short of taking it all apart, evacuating, and pumping out, a major job which I have no desire to do for now. I'm just compensating for a very tiny leak as in a 12oz can of 134 every 2 or 3 years or so. So for the oil it's a pure guess based on my estimate of how much oil I've lost through the leak. And I haven't added any oil in several years. So I think that the 1+1 this time should be fine. And I suppose a bit too much oil is better than too little as far as the compressor's life goes.


MH and Mk4, they sell a number of inexpensive DIY recharge kits that can handle both pressurized oil and pressurized 134 cans at O-Reilly's and the like. Fits just fine as it's all standardized I'm sure. They also have the oil in non-pressurized containers but then you got to evacuate your system, a more complicated job. Here I'm just adding a tad. Do note that the gauges on these inexpensive refill kits may be questionable -see another thread there that I did on calibrating one.




added: oil recharge went smoothly. Gotta work to get the oil out of that can though. Strong suggestion: weigh the can, filler and both before starting so you can find out how much you put in and/or when it's really empty.
134 recharge: failure... crappy filler gizmo broke when starting... sheesh...

 

[mkfour]

My oil addition went well. I put in a bottle that had 1 oz of pag46 + 1 oz ice32 + 1 oz of r134. Compressor runs smooth now.

Also added 24 oz of r134. Initially at 50 degrees, now I'm blowing 44 degrees. I still have a bottle left and will top it off. My low side is ~25-35.

 

[e9999]

My oil addition went well. I put in a bottle that had 1 oz of pag46 + 1 oz ice32 + 1 oz of r134. Compressor runs smooth now.

Also added 24 oz of r134. Initially at 50 degrees, now I'm blowing 44 degrees. I still have a bottle left and will top it off. My low side is ~25-35.

was the compressor making funny noises before?
24 oz is a lot, the system will take about 30 total -from memory. You were really close to empty.
I put in much less than 12oz cuz the dang thing broke but it got me already on the low side from about 15 to 25 psi at 80F ambience.