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Unless you pulled the entire refrigerant charge out and weighed the proper amount back in, you don't know what the refrigerant charge in the system is. You can't tell the refrigerant charge by a pressure reading. The little gauge on the recharge hose you can buy at the parts store is useless...

You should keep in mind that inherently high VI lubricant bases have very low pressure-viscosity indexes. That means that under high mechanical loads they are more easily pushed out from between the two surfaces. This comes into play when you get into boundary layer lubrication situations. The...

The copper may be from a brass floating bushing in the turbocharger bearings. The smoke on cold startup with Saabs comes from leaking oil through the oil seal in the turbocharger bearings. If the turbo was spun up with the solvent flush in the bearing instead of oil, you could have wiped out...

Here are numbers for comparison of M1 5W30 for a 5000 mi OCI at 130K miles on a Saab 9-5 2.3lpt MT. My numbers are in the last column. Al 1 2 3 3 4 Cr 1 1 1 1 1 Fe 11 11 20 19 18 Cu 4 8 8 5 1 Pb 1 2 5 6 2 Sn 2 2 0 1 0 Ni 1 0 0 0 0 Mn 0 0 0 1 0 K 2 1 0 1 2 Si 8 8 6 8 9 Na 5 3 4 10 7

Smoke on startup = blown oil seal in the turbo. Time for a new turbo. What effect this would have on the metals numbers is a good question.

I think this information needs to go in this thread as well as the preventive maintenance thread. There is a real benefit to having the correct amount of refrigerant in the system. Undercharged systems will not carry the oil through the system as well as a properly charged system. If the oil...

You need to know that the system is functioning correctly prior to using the pressures and temperatures to determine the refrigerant charge. If the compressor is not pumping well because of a failing valve plate, then having only the low side pressure gives you bad information. Even if the...

Another piece of information: The average bill for replacement of the compressor is $600 - $1000. Spending $100 - $200 to save $500 - $900 may make sense to some people. Spending $25 to make a $600 - $1000 repair bill may not be the best investment you can make. If the car is 12 to 15 years...

Yes, your reasoning is off. Undercharged systems will not carry the oil through the system as well as a properly charged system. If the oil hangs up in the evaporator because there isn't enough refrigerant velocity to push it out, you will probably have reduced compressor life. If you...

The ortho isomer of TCP is the problem with toxicity. All commercial TCP these days is ortho isomer free. I understand almost all jet turbine POE lubricants use TCP, as without it the POE will be chewed up quickly by the iron at high temperatures.

Formulated PAOs will have ant-wear additives that go to the metal surface for start-up protection. Esters actually compete with the anti-wear additives and can make the formulation of an ester lubricant more of a challenge. I work with refrigeration lubricants that use POE bases. We use TCP to...

Schmoe, use common sense - formulated mineral oils work just fine in automotive engines as proven by years of sucessful use. That makes PAOs overkill for normal people, and esters are double overkill. Only if you are doing something at or beyond the limits of the operating envelope, will you...

toocrazy makes a few good points - the charge gauge on the recharge kits is good for absolutely nothing. The good news is the burst pressure of the hose is higher than the high side system pressure - also the can itself has a blow-out relief on the bottom that lets go at 250 psig. You may take a...

Moisture in a R-134a / PAG lubricant system is not a significant problem like it was in R-12 mineral oil. The R-134a does not hydrolyze to make strong acid like R-12 used to do. In the old days the moisture would attack the R-12 and make hydrochloric acid, which caused all sorts of bad things to...