I had a whole in the condenser on my 1997 F350. I replaced the condenser and have a friend set up to vacuum out the system, I was trying to figure out how much R134 to buy. He's not sure and I cant find it in any manuals. Also how much oil should i add in? Thanks in advance, Nick

 

There is a label that shows how much the system holds, usually over the radiator, sometimes on the evap case itself. Probably somewhere in the 3lb range. Oil, maybe an ounce or so, not much would have been lost just swapping the condenser. How long was the whole there, for cheap insurance you should replace the accumulator. Think of it like an oil filter, it is ~14 yrs old if it has never been replaced.

 

X2 on that. Actually, I think it is 3 1/2 lbs as we just did Ray1986F150's new-to-him truck and we looked to see how much was needed. However, we were not successful, and I think it was due to oil.

He'd pulled it apart when replacing the engine and left it open. So, he bought a new accumulator and a new expansion valve. After installing them we added 1 oz of oil as instructed and then we pulled a vacuum and left it on for close to an hour. At that point we added a can of 134a and the compressor came in but the pressures were low. And, the compressor didn't sound good. Added another can, so we were up to 24 oz, and the pressures came up to about where they should be. However, it didn't cool well at all.

Given the sound of the compressor we installed a new one, pulled another vacuum, and added a can of 134a. Compressor came in but didn't sound very good either. And, the pressures were wrong, with the low side around 100 when it should have been 50 and the high side almost 300.

Don't know if he's had a pro fix it, but I'm guessing we had too much oil in it. Obviously we didn't get all the original oil out, and we added an ounce the first time, and the new compressor came full of oil. That's probably at least twice what it should have and reduces the room for gas.

So, good luck!