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I had a question about where I can fill the A/C system oil because this gauge set doesn’t have service line access to pour. It’s has a schrader valve. I’ve watched Eric’s A/C charge video on YouTube and his gauge hose has an open end. I know Autozone carry’s an A/C refrig w/oil for the low pressure line but is out of stock and I need to get it up and gong as soon as possible. I’ve read that when you change out the drier you can fill it thru there after you vacuum the system. Is this O.K. to do ? Don’t know any other way but order some refrig w/oil online and wait for it which I really can’t do because the pump and gauges don’t belong to me or find an alternative way to add it. And is going to get hot again soon and I’m strapped for time. Sorry for the finger fiddle here. lol. Thanks for any advice.
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Two things.
1) are you SURE you need to add oil? Too much oil in the system takes up room for the refrigerant and therefore affects cooling ability.
2) You can get what is called an ‘oil charge’ which looks like a refrigerant can, but smaller. It is oil only, and you add it the same way as the refrigerant. It is available in various sizes (# ounces). Make sure to get the correct weight and type (i.e. PAG 100) for your A/C system (some are ‘universal’ and work with most R134a systems). Connect it to the suction line and let the compressor pull it into the system.
Yes, oil can be added to the receiver/drier BEFORE vacuum is pulled. You do not ever open the system up AFTER the vacuum is pulled. But, only add oil to the drier if you are installing a NEW one, and you need to know how much oil is already in the system before adding more (the compressor also holds quite a bit of the oil). There is a maximum amount of oil spec’d for your system. To find out how much oil is in the compressor, you have to remove it, drain the oil into a container where you can measure the volume of it, pour it back into the compressor and reinstall it, then subtract the amount you measured from the specification max. The difference is how much oil you add to a NEW drier.
This is really hard for a former Ford driver of 32 years and have switched to a Saturn L200 with a 2.2L from 2001. I removed the lines from the same vehicle from the yard that were bad on mine and the system on that one was holding some pressure so I went ahead and pulled those lines. It was dated Feb. as the processed in date. Anyway, my system is completely empty, as of refrig. that is. Some oil as run out changing the lines tho. There is some still in it. I was just going by what I saw of Eric’s video that he also added oil to it after changing a bad line. As of the A/C oil via the can type, there isn’t any at our local parts stores. I called and checked the shelves today. I need to take the quickest way to get rolling I guess I’m saying. Tho Ford is no different. I just have only had an A/C that didn’t work on older cars back in school, but I didn’t care then. Not much else to explain. Sorry but it’s confusing to me what I need to do to make this work. I’ve never done any A/C repair. Thanks for your help either way.
I did get a new drier. I just don’t want the system to fail because I didn’t follow Eric’s advise to change the drier when you make any changes. I’ve also read this via a Saturn forum.
[quote=”Chaz9496″ post=139422]As of the A/C oil via the can type, there isn’t any at our local parts stores. I called and checked the shelves today.[/quote]
There are places to look for this besides parts stores also. Walmart, for example. Since time is the concern, you may want to just visit a local shop and have them take care of it for you.I work at Wal-hell and have checked. Nope. Just Dye W/Sealer. As of the shop issue, you can guess that one. That’s also why I had to settle for used lines. Just a little TRUE humor there.
I was incorrect. By watching the A/C video again on recharging the system the service line DOES have a schrader valve. I’ll need to do further review on how the oil was added.
I had to replace two lines that had cracks in them. Vacuumed out the system went to add oil via the low side can of oil shown above and come to find the system won’t take hardly any oil OR refrig. The manifold gauge on the low side is 3/4 of the way up and the high side low. The compressor won’t kick on at all. We can’t figure out how to jump the compressor to make it come on to test the clutch to see if it’s working. Nothing works to jump it momentarily and we followed the directions as stated on some YouTube videos on how to do this with no success. On another note, how can you feed refrig into the system with no compressor ? My friend that’s helping me with this says you can’t. That’s why the gauges are almost maxing out. Well, come to find out his does the same thing on his car that’s empty as well, except his compressor does come on but the gauge still almost maxes out as well and hardly drawing in any refrig. You can see the site glass still holding refrig when you disconnect the lines and still holding pressure in the lines as well. What in the jumpin’ Hell could be going on here ? I’ve also replaced the pressure switch. So I don’t believe it’s there. Possibly a bad gauge line or fitting is our next step. Something not letting any regrif in. I don’t know if this is a safety feature for the compressor or what it could be. We went thru the shop manual and are pretty much confused. Boy, Eric said they can be complicated. I guess so. I can’t afford to have this checked and hate to think how long it would be to even get it in a shop to check it with 90+ degree temps coming up. We’re talking about a 2001 Saturn 2.2L automatic if I didn’t state that already Thanks for any suggestions.
I also found that I didn’t tighten one of the line fittings up and was leaking from that at first. I did get that fixed. Could it have drawn air into the system when this happened ? Will it need re-vacuumed if so ? I can do that. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the refrig issue or not. Thanks again.
I would pull a new vacuum and start again.
Provided that all the A/C control systems are working, when you draw a vacuum on the system, there is ‘negative’ pressure there. The refrigerant can is pressurized at approximately 50 or 60 or so psi. Even with a completely empty system, you should be able to MOMENTARILY jumper the A/C compressor relay and it should kick on. If it does not, there is either a fuse/wiring issue or the clutch is bad. You should not have to jumper anything to charge if the proper vacuum was pulled and there is no air in the system. Do not run the compressor longer than a few seconds while empty!
You connect the low side (blue) manifold hose to the suction line, the high side (red) manifold hose to the discharge line, and the service hose (yellow) to the refrigerant can and make sure the can tap is closed (off). Make sure the valve for the blue and red hoses are completely closed. Open the can tap and purge the air from the yellow line by loosening it slightly at the manifold (not the can) just until you hear hissing. Turn the refrigerant can upside down and when it starts fogging where you loosened it, turn the can right side up and tighten up the yellow line. Now open the blue valve just until you hear the pressure relieve and the vacuum will cause the can pressure to pressurize the low side enough to trip the pressure switch and start the compressor and it will suck the refrigerant in. When that can is empty, close the blue valve, close the can tap, swap cans, open the can tap, then open the blue valve. You don’t have to re-purge the yellow line if you don’t remove either end of the yellow hose from the can tap or manifold, or open the can tap valve without a can attached. Do not open the red valve at any time during the charging process. In fact, it is rare to have to ever open the red valve at all.
Charge by weight, not pressure. Why? Pressure changes with temperature, mass doesn’t. For example, if your system calls for 24 oz of refrigerant, that would equal two 12 oz cans or one and 1/2 18 oz cans, or approximately 2 and 1/2 10 oz cans. You can use a kitchen scale that measures in ounces to get an accurate weight (by subtraction) while charging. A couple of years ago I picked up a small digital platform kitchen scale at Walmart for around $20, I think it was. It measures in ounces (and grams) with an accuracy of 0.05 oz; more than plenty for DIY A/C work. You can either tare the scale with an empty can, or just put the full can on the zeroed scale, and count backwards. So, if your system takes, say, 22 ounces of refrigerant, you can safely put an entire 12oz can in, swap cans, and charge with the can on the scale until it reads the full can weight minus 10 ounces. It’s important to place a block of wood or something under the scale so that it sits flat and level for the most accurate measurement.
EDIT: Side note… depending on the manifold gauge set you have, you may need to remove the schrader valve from the yellow hose if your can tap is not able to press it in. That could be why your refrigerant was not charging.
Why is ac oil so important? And can it cause that chirpimg noise i was talking about? Im asking because i had mine recharged. I had the system pressured up for a few hours then vacummed and charhed with r134a. But ii don’t remeber adding ac oil in it. And it was retrofitted from r12 to r134a before i bought the truck.
Vacuuming doesn’t remove the oil. Adding oil is only important if any system components (such as receiver drier) were replaced, as oil is lost during those procedures. If the noise is coming from your compressor due to oil, it wouldn’t make the noise with the A/C off. If the compressor pulley is making the noise, though, that is a different situation.
I plan to start over and wanted to add that we tried jumping the compressor clutch via the relay in the fuse box via the 4 relay prongs but kept blowing clutch fuses. So my question is, can you use the relay itself via a jumper wire on the numbered prongs to jump the compressor clutch on the bottom of the relay still plugged in the fuse box or does it have to be via a paper clip or jumper wire direct to the battery ? The issue is I need a diagram of the jumper method for that model Saturn if that won’t work. Youtube is really not useful for my model or I need to find a GM product that’s the same set-up as my Saturn to properly jump the clutch relay. Either way, I’m trying to save from having to install another compressor or clutch which is about the same price for a reman and having it be a wiring problem or bad relay instead of going thru all the trouble of changing one out, which isn’t really that bad on this vehicle. Hope I’m not being too confusing here.
If you’re blowing fuses, you’re jumping the control side (shorting to ground). You need to jump the load side.
You want to jump the terminals in the relay socket that correspond to pins 87 and 30. Here is a diagram of the relay:Did that the first time when it popped it. I would tend to believe that means the clutch is bad. As stated above, I assume that is correct how I jumped it, 30 to 87. I saw on a video that you can also do this with a jumper wire to the battery but don’t know what relay slot to use on the fuse block panel. We assumed the 87 prong slot to battery positive. Sorry, I’m not too good at the newer vehicles today. I repaired older ones in my teen days that were much simpler. Sorry to go on and on about the same issue but that’s how I learn about these things. Thanks for putting up with me which tend to Ware Out others on sites I’m a member of and give up. lol.
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