Sanden 1102 blew a hole in its side

[Blowout]

Incidently, what are the year, make, model, and engine size of your vehicle? I don't recall your mentioning those.

Does your vehicle have an under-hood decal showing the A/C specs? If so, post them here. If not, I'll see whether I have them.

1995 VW Golf GTI, 2.8L VR6

Sadly, the decal, if any, vanished with the crumpled-up hood when I got hit, a few years back... . I do have the Sanden sticker that was on the compressor...

But I've got the Bentley "Red Book", which has the specs (some of them, at least?) They show the oil distribution and amounts, at least (and the refrigerant *weight*, I think?) - are those what you're thinking of?

[Tim]

(3) Bought a can of R134a and repressurized, but
(4)) when I disconnected the can of R134a, the Schraeder valve had apparently given up entirely, so the can ejected its entire contents right back out the low side valve.port (redolent of Mt. St. Helens blowing its top.)
(3) So, I replaced the Schraeder valve / cap assembly, and after checking to make sure it didn't leak down, like before, and
(4) I repressurized - this time adding a 3 oz. can of FAG oil to replace what I imagined had been blown out the low side port (BAD assumption...).

YMMV

I'm sorry, but this comment makes me think you used a low-side charging kit from the auto parts store after your Jiffy Lube visit. If you had used proper gauges. Then you would have both your low and high-side readings. Those Sanden compressors are tough compressors. Extremely odd to blow a hole in the case. One would really have to be doing a few things wrong to achieve that.

Flush the system: new compressor, condenser, receiver drier, and expansion device. Blow out the evap core and the hoses with nitrogen. Then add back the proper amount of oil, evacuate & recharge.

[JohnHere]

After a couple of cross-checks, both sources to which I have access say the same thing: 28 ounces net weight of R-134a, and 4.0 fluid ounces of PAG-46.

[Blowout]

I'm sorry, but this comment makes me think you used a low-side charging kit from the auto parts store after your Jiffy Lube visit. If you had used proper gauges. Then you would have both your low and high-side readings.

Yeah - that's the basic scenario... But, like I said, I thought the AC system was *empty*, after it evacuated itself through the low-side Schraeder port.

That reminds me... I've never been sure whether or not the "high side" is able to depressurize through the "low side", with the engine not running. I.e., will it "leak down" while the car is left sitting, or does it hold pressure?

Those Sanden compressors are tough compressors. Extremely odd to blow a hole in the case. One would really have to be doing a few things wrong to achieve that.

That's what I thought too - as I mentioned above, "how the **** can THAT happen". It seemed to me it would take some kind of detonation - dieseling, of some sort? to build up *that* much pressure. And how could it produce such a relatively small hole?

Flush the system: new compressor, condenser, receiver drier, and expansion device. Blow out the evap core and the hoses with nitrogen. Then add back the proper amount of oil, evacuate & recharge.

Oh, yes... apparently that's "the only way to be sure"...

After a couple of cross-checks, both sources to which I have access say the same thing: 28 ounces net weight of R-134a, and 4.0 fluid ounces of PAG-46.

That's pretty much what I got from Bentley... 30 oz. R134a, 3.9 oz. of lube...
In fact, now that I remember it, I was worrying about NOT having enough R134a, bc the can of Joy Juice from O'Reilly was only 28 oz. ...

Thanks for all your help -

[Dieseltech67]

Blowout, Having been a diesel tech for 40 years.., I know hydro-lock. That case damage was not from refrigerant pressure. That was caused by oil trying to be compressed which it cannot.
As far as high/side question goes.., They equalize whrn not running.
As far as leaking when sitting question goes.. I have seen factory manuals state that no AC system is truely sealed and up yo .25oz a year refrigerant loss can be expected.
Bottom line is that auto AC is dicey unless ypu know the exact history of your system and exactly what is in it. You don’t know, its guessing unless measuring oil out of a compressor and crossing that against specs and shop manuals saying how much to add for any other component like a hose, condenser or evaporator.
Then the unknowns like sealants added in there, acid from moisture mixing with oil, ect.
Yeah, You had a hydr-lock blow out.
Flush everything and go from there.

[JohnHere]

Unfortunately, you'll have to rebuild the entire system now, as both Tim and Dieseltech67 suggested.

If the can of refrigerant that came from the auto parts store contained sealer, which will internally coat and plug-up, or partially plug-up, every single component in the system, then you'll have to replace everything.

Only you can decide whether the vehicle is worth the considerable work involved, as well as the cost.

A few suggestions:
--Use only a new compressor and components, nothing "rebuilt."
--If the compressor comes dry (without any oil in it), add all four fluid ounces of PAG-46 into the compressor.
--Remove the sealing caps from the Receiver/Dryer (R/D), and install the R/D last, and quickly.
--Use Nylog Blue sparingly on every o-ring and any other connections.
--Evacuate the system, using a good vacuum pump having fresh oil in it, down to ~29.9 inHg (inches of Mercury) for at least one hour, depending on your elevation above sea level (the more elevation, the less vacuum you'll be able to achieve), and make sure the vacuum holds.
--Charge the system using pure R-134a refrigerant only (no sealers or other additives), and do so by weight, not pressures.
--Start the engine, the A/C system, and check the center vent temperatures at ~2,000 RPM.

[Tim]

Just reading that you thought it had evacuated itself due to a leak. Shows a better understanding of auto a/c service is needed.

The picture I'm getting, and I could be wrong. Many cans of A/C Pro with oil were used. Finally, the system was overloaded with oil and, boom.

[Cusser]

I got a headache from rolling my eyes when I read "Jiffy Lube". I wouldn't let shops like that do anything to my vehicles - even an oil change !!!

[Blowout]

Just reading that you thought it had evacuated itself due to a leak.i

Well, initially, at the beginning, it had just been slowly leaking down... failing to cool adequately, when I took it in to Iffy-Lube. They hooked it up to their Infernal Machine, and discovered that the low side Schraeder valve was leaking. They were going to have to order the valve from Someplace, and andwere licking their chops over the huge bill they were going to charge me, if I'd leave the car with them... .

Incidentally, it *now* ocsurs to me, I don't know in what stage Iffy-Lube had left the system at that point. I thought I'd just replace the valve myself, hook up a can of R134a (with dye, but NO sealant and NO oil - and see if it'd hold pressure.

Which produced the aforementioned Volcanic Eruption, back out of the low side port, when I disconnected the can of R134a. Which event, I thought had evacuated everything in the system... (Big mistake, apparently.)

The picture I'm getting, and I could be wrong. Many cans of A/C Pro with oil were used. Finally, the system was overloaded with oil and, boom.

After the Eruption, I *replaced* the low-$ide valve, and tried another can of R134a. Which *did* hold pressure. So, believing that all the oil was now GONE out of the system, I added ONE FOUR-OZ can of oil (that's the only way Oh-Really sells the FAG oil - in smaller cans, pressurized with enough R134a to get the oil into the works).

But who the hell knows how much oil might have been ALREADY IN there, LEFT by previous miscreants... .

... it's guessing unless measuring oil out of a compressor and crossing that against specs and shop manuals saying how much to add for any other component like a hose, condenser or evaporator.

Which information, I noticed, *Is* in the "Red Book", for all of the individual components.

But are we to believe that all of those specifications are stable over time - i.e. those individual volumes for each component (Compressor, condenser, evaporator, dryer, and hoses - ALL of which have individual oil volume specifications) - will not change? even after the compressor has been circulating the refrigerant? (I.e., I don't really see how that information can inform how much oil should be added - to the compressor, for instance... Etc.

For instance... If the oil has to be distributed with that much precision, I don't see how it's even *possible* to "get it right" - even by totally flushing the entire system of ALL the oil that's in it - and *particularly* not by injecting a charge of oil through the low-side port (!!).

Unfortunately, you'll have to rebuild the entire system now, as both Tim and Dieseltech67 suggested.

Only you can decide whether the vehicle is worth the considerable work involved, as well as the cost.

Yeah, that's really the bottom line, isn't it... and it's interesting, the cost of all the equipment vs. the labor costs to pay someone else to do it, are enough to beg that question for *any* "vintage" vehicle...

A few suggestions:
-
-
-

Good procedural list - better than what's in the shop manual... I'll tack it to the wall of my shop (if there's any room left).

However, since people keep asking and insinuating and, etc.: For the record:

I DO NOT USE STOP-LEAK, OR HAVE SEX WITH REPTILES.

I.e. there are still *some* depths of moral depravity to which even *I* will not sink.

M'K?

I got a headache from rolling my eyes when I read "Jiffy Lube". I wouldn't let shops like that do anything to my vehicles - even an oil change !!!

Ah... Finally, someone asked the key question:

They were "the only game in town" at the time... the shop I used to go to, had gone out of business... and I was on the way home... And it was just a recharge of a slow leak, I thought? And they had the Infernal Machine...

yeah. Right.

[Tim]

It's PAG oil unless you're using the other term intentionally.