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Oil Charge for '97 Camry?

mclovin69 on Tue November 06, 2012 5:30 AM User is offline

Year: 1997
Make: Toyota
Model: Camry
Engine Size: 2.2l
Refrigerant Type: 134a
Ambient Temp: 50 F
Pressure Low: 30-20
Pressure High: 190-200
Country of Origin: United States

Anyone know the oil charge for a '97 camry? Just swapped the engine, somewhere online it says 4.5oz ND-8 (PAG 46) maximum charge? Every system I've done before was 8oz. Some arsehole was trying to sell a bottle of this "ND-8" for $120 on ebay, before I found out it was PAG-46. Nice try. I used this 'sub zero' a/c synthetic booster stuff, which is PAG with other additives, probably micro sized synthetic oil molecules. I put this in as it worked GREAT in my 96, froze my balls off when it was 106 and muggy here a couple years ago. I poured 2oz PAG 46 and 2oz of this synthetic PAG stuff in the low side port of the compressor when I was swapping the engine, drained all the oil when I had the parts removed (PAG is hygroscopic - it likes to soke up water like a sponge). It's pretty high humidity here so I didn't want any moisture in the system. Evacuated/recharged the system with as close to 850g 134a (maximum charge) as I could get without going over. The vacuum pump I got is GREAT, specs say 29.92 inHg, literally perfect vacuum, needle was pegged at 30 and ran it for 1/2 hr. Just this morning I hit the winshield defroster (which kicks on the compressor for dehumidification), and was greated with a huge squeal and a puff of smoke from the hood (locked rotor compressor - burning my serpentine belt). Luckilly revving it to various RPMs and hitting the A/C switch broke it loose and it came alive again. Some how I don't think 4.5 oz was enough, at least to keep it lubed when it's at a stop and all the oil settles to the bottom. I bought 2 2oz cans of pressurized 46 oil charge and dropped 'em in. Everything runs excellent no squealing, ice cold but worried about what will happen after letting it sit for 12hrs.

HECAT on Tue November 06, 2012 4:34 PM User is offline

97 calls for 8 oz of oil and 28 oz of refrigerant. Hard to tell from your post how much oil has been added on top of what does not drain out; but I would suspect it may be slugging from too much oil.

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doctorbee on Tue November 06, 2012 10:45 PM User is offline

sounds like OP only put in 4.5 out of the required 8 and the compressor locked up. ouch.

mclovin69 on Thu November 08, 2012 2:00 AM User is offline

It came back to life! Put in another 4. Thanks a million.

mclovin69 on Thu November 08, 2012 2:04 AM User is offline

Got 8.5 oz coctail of PAG and synthetic booster oil in there now, minus what comes out when I disconnect my gauges. Ice cold and numbs my hand when I put it in front of the vent. No bad sounds from compressor, and sight glass looks clear, full when compressor on, just barely drops down when it's off cycle. Yay!

mclovin69 on Thu November 08, 2012 4:28 AM User is offline

Runs great now but know down the line I'm prolly gonna have to replace the compressor, as that definately took some wear an tear off of it when it locked up and undercharged on oil. I drained all the oil out of everything except the evaporator when the system was disassembled. Got right about 8 oz of new oil in there now, not sure of what was left in the evap. Probably very little. 0.5-1 ounce of extra oil gonna hurt? Know that you can rebuild compressors, anybody know if you can bore and put oversize bearings in a compressor like an engine? Prolly can't, as it'd change it's displacement and pressure just from common sense. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

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