VARY LARGE REFRIGERANT LEAK STOPPED AFTER FILLING. It will start leaking again.

Some leaks start and stop because either they’re pressure sensitive or temperature sensitive.
Some leaks may only start when the pressure is rising, but stop when the pressure is falling
Leaks will not leak when the pressure is rising .
Only after you turn off the vehicle, AC is no longer running as the pressure goes down and the temperature goes down then leak opens up like a water faucet, releasing all the refrigerant. 

[@electric_thumbs]

My oil has dye in it to begin with. By the way I found out that even though it says "Universal PAG" on the label per the manufacturer of this oil it's really PAG 46 viscosity in the end. I'm not sure why it says "Universal" on the outside. Luckily the book says use 46 viscosity so that should be good. I just worry that for some reason the oil level might be low somehow despite my additional 2oz I added. Maybe I lost some filling and removing nitrogen to leak test it but I never released more than 45 PSI maximum positive pressure. For one thing I had a red piece of tape covering what I first hoped and later found out to be the only leak. Holding pressure even temporarily with that spot sealed up in the short run proved no other parts where porous anywhere. But I'm not sure how much oil is lost removing nitrogen from the system and then pulling a deep vacuum. I know this. I vented out the gas sometimes with no hose attached to my gauges other than the red and blue hose and felt the nitrogen blowing out the yellow hose port but I never remember feeling any oil spitting out with the nitrogen gas.

[@petar443]

Backyard mechanic here. First time i hear for moisture in the co2. Great tip. How much to run vacuum using this backyard technique with co2?

[@coldfinger459sub0]

Until your micron gauge tells you the system is dry.
And all of those pins on the source of CO2
That kid they just hired from Walmart to be the CO2 filling guy who got trained by another guy who is only there for two months months, who got trained by another guy who never really read the manual 🤣
You know that situation .
Or maybe the tanks were left open and not sealed and not properly vacuumed and dried out they were exposed to the atmosphere for the last three months .
Order return deposit CO2 tanks were left open. They were getting that ride back from the warehouse to be refilled with the valves wide open when it was raining.. and there tablespoons of water sitting in the bottom of the tank.
When the high school kid was told to go fill them up.
So it all depends on the due diligence and procedures of the manufacturer who is producing and boggling and refilling the tanks, depending on how clean and dry, and your CO2 will be .
Do you companies have your best interest to be their first priority is their first priority and they can do it .
Everything looks good on paper 📄
Everything sounds good spewing from a manager or a salesman or a marketing person’s mouth on their procedures that don’t actually always get carried out

[@wejaith3]

Can I ask, how do you determine that a vehicle has been over filled with oil? What symptoms would you see in pressure readings or anything else? Many times I get vehicles in that I question what the last shop did when performing work. I always appreciate your advice. Thanks.

[@coldfinger459sub0]

It’s difficult to tell on some vehicles
Some vehicles went extremely over oil or have like a humming or rumbling, some sort of harmonics or residence coming from the high side discharge when you place your fingers on it
If they already lost their front shield, some compressors are sensitive to too much oil and after several months or a year or a year and a half they lose the front shaft seal starts leaking
If you have those refrigerant devices by Master cool I’ve done some videos on it. Where are you? Open up high side liquid refrigerant into the clear container fill it up
And then through a very, very slow process, stand up on the end and slowly recover the refrigerant out of the cylinder and it will leave behind the
When you see a lot of oil that’s extreme case
If you recover the refrigerant and weigh it on a very sensitive scale that could measure less than 1 g .
Weigh the refrigerant for example you have 100 g
You recover off the refrigerant leaving only the oil and you measure the oil and you have 7 g then you know you have roughly 7% oil mix
But if the refrigerant had 20g 20% oil mix, you know you have way too much
In some of my videos, you may have seen where I took off the hose and my hose is just filled with oil take off the fitting and oil pours out of the end of my hose .
When you press the low side fittings on a few vehicles, oil comes bubbling out .
This happens a lot when people top off their refrigerant with those cans of AC pro every year they add 1 ounce of oil for every can .
Eventually, they have many more ounces of oil inside their system .

[@wejaith3]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. This definitely helps. I’m in Southern California so I may not be able to extract it in a clear container like that but I get the idea. Would a higher than normal oil content also cause compressor slugging during startup.?
Again, I appreciate the advice. You’re very knowledgeable.

[@coldfinger459sub0]

@@wejaith3 yes severely over oil can cause compressor slugging
The old general, Motors radio four which was the flat pancake was very susceptible to that .

[@w0lvez1]

The compressor is primarily cooled by oil. Refrigerant is just secondary but it also cools the oil. What happens to pressure when you overcool the compressor? The pressure on both low & high side will be lower than normal. Compressor discharge & condenser temp will be lower assuming the system is correctly charge and fans are working properly. Too much oil reduce the pressure which means it can absorbs less heat. If the car is electric or hybrid it's super screwed when equipment used with convetional PAG oil was connected to the system.

[@wejaith3]

@@coldfinger459sub0got it. Thank you