update:
Temps at the vents went down to 40F while driving, 45-49F while idling...ambient temps here have been 85F.
when i reported back last time i had not driven the vehicle or revved it... so the refrigerant had not dispersed throughout the system. everything was working great after a short drive around the neighborhood 15-25mph and 10-15 mins.

i am very tempted to add just 1 oz of 100% pag oil just to help the compressor out a tiny bit since my refrigerant cans did not specify that they included pag oil specifically... i cant imagine that my pag oil from 2007 that has been used, heated up, exposed to ambient air, and been thru countless hours of vacuum is adequately protecting the comprrssor. if i were to do it over i would definitely change the old pag out of the compressor before recharging with refrigerant. it makes a lot of sense to do it but the training materials i used really didnt cover the importance of getting out old pag oil.

 

Adding 1 oz. of PAG 150 won't harm your A/C system but A/C sealers will. Sometimes they might seem like they are working, but in the end, it's not good, and will likely cause problems. I haven't ever used any pf that stuff, but my guess is that they plug up the desiccant in the accumulator, which means that no H20 is absorbed by the accumulator, and they likely raise hell with the compressor, and the orifice tube as well.Only three things go into the system: PAG 150 lube oil, R134A and leak detector.

 

07 Uplander actually calls for PAG46 not PAG150. the number is the viscosity.
I generally agree on the sealers and additives, but I think the ones that are present in refrigerant cans with fancy labels that say usa are potentially ok. i did research on this topic a year+ ago so its a bit fuzzy but basically what i remember reading is that modern sealers that are pre mixed with r134a have much less risk than whatever was used even 10yrs ago. the other notable was that the purity of r134a should always be suspect bc cheap $3 cans may say they only contain r134a but they are chinese products with questionable ingredients and quality standards vs the usa-made cans which usually use higher quality/highly pure r134a and are also honest about the other additives they put in the can... most of the walmart/part store cans that are usa have additives clearly labelled while the cheap chinese ones claim only r134a is present and its a dubious claim.

i am happy with the 'arctic freeze' brand i used. its made by the same company as the ac pro, ez chill, etc. its called 'id quest' and the can said usa if i remember right. i would use another brand if i did it again though... the additives by weight in 'arctic freeze' are a bit higher than the brand i used the year before... cant recall its name but it was pricier and made some claim about being used by NASA on its blue can. got em all @ walmart on clearance a couple yrs back.

i will update as i go... its held up good so far. my bluepoint gauge says its 40F at the vents when i am moving and 49-50F when i am idling. compressor is always engaged and seemingly never cycles off.. i believe ive only heard it click off once or twice. i believe it is normal for an H-block/thermal expansion valve system like the one in this uplander to just run the compressor continuously...

 

the problem with sealers is damage to the shop charging station. newer machine have refrigerant identifiers that detect sealers. to protect a $5000 machine, shops won't work on a contaminated system.

 

its been a bit of a pain trying to find an oz or so of pag in a can that doesnt also come with an ounce or so of additives or refrigerant. its important, bc i think i am on the verge of being overcharged with refrigerant... its tough to tell, bc theres surely some unmeasurable amount of refrigerant left in my gauges, and im not sure how much oil was left in the system and also not sure how to count the 'additives', etc...

i think i may be low on oil but high on refrigerant and the system may be working properly despite being overcharged with refrigerant because it is low on oil... if that makes sense?
say you are 4oz high on refrigerant but also 4 oz low on oil... the system is 'full' but just not in the correct proportion... im not sure if such a system would cool correctly or exhibit poor cooling due to having too much r134a?

i dont want to use a bottle of pag, rather use a can since i am already charged and confident there is no air in it. i tried using an oil/dye injector once and it seemed fruitless for just an ounce. i might leave it and just chock it up as a lesson learned and keep my eyes peeled for a compressor deal bc i have a feeling that the old oil or insufficient oil is what will kill it eventually. i just cant imagine that the oil is still good after it was saturated with moisture and boiled in the vacuum for like 12 hr... plus its from 2007...

 

If you were concerned about the quality of the oil from the beginning, WHY did you even chance it?? I’d love to read through these sources you post about because to the best of my knowledge, AC oil will NOT give up moisture during vacuuming, regardless of how long you vacuum for or if you only vacuum the high side of the system.

The fact that the compressor hasn’t seized is a good indicator that there’s sufficient oil charge, but if you want to be sure, it’s not gonna hurt to add oil. The accumulator will store excess oil and meter it back into the system accordingly - it takes quite a bit of excess oil to overcharge it - you could have 1.5 times the charge and be fine (for accumulator systems only - expansion valves cannot handle excess oil as well).

What’s probably the issue is excessive moisture and contamination due to the system being open for too long. After 24 hours, the dessicant in the accumulator is done - it has already absorbed its capacity for moisture.

If you really want the system to work properly, you need to stop making your case for what you did and why you did it - this problem isn’t gonna solve itself by posting excuses and “facts” from questionable sources. Your best chance at a properly operating system without replacing the compressor is to remove ALL the existing oil in the system by draining the compressor and flushing the condenser, evaporator and lines. Install a new orifice tube, accumulator, and add the correct amount of oil and refrigerant.

 

system is workin fine gumby... its hitting 40F at the vents on 85-90F degree days... its good enough for a work van...

-you are doubting that pag is hygroscopic?? that is common knowledge.
-you are doubting that moisture is boiled off at lower temps in a vacuum? that is common knowledge.
-you are doubting that oil is boiled off at lower temps in a vacuum? that is common knowledge.
-you can even recharge desiccant if you boil off the absorbed moisture long enough... that is common knowledge too.
-you have a pump pulling, say, 1cfm from two hoses, high and low. then you are pulling, say, .5cfm from low and .5 cfm from high... if you pull from high only you are pulling 1 cfm from high... its simple physics. now whether or not that will actually suck the liquid pag out i do not know the answer to that... and i stated that. i found a video where this random guy with an expensive ac machine said you could vacuum pag out of the high side easier than the low bc it is mostly on the high side... no clue if he is right or wrong about the oil actually coming out or not but if he is correct that theres more pag on the high side than the low side then pulling on high only will provide higher suction/airflow on the high side and increase the suction by ~2X on the high side...once again its basic physics: you are putting the full power of the vac closer to the target source by closing off the low.
put a 6in straw in a glass of water and a 6ft straw in a glass of water... which straw will get water in your mouth first? A: 6in bc you are closer to the source.

the most helpful free ac source ive seen for a total beginner were by a tech school instructor in pittsburgh who goes by scannerdanner on youtube. he did a good set of videos on re-doing AC on an old jeep. he has other ac videos too. "scannerdanner jeep ac" is a good youtube search for a total beginner. he has a pay channel too, but i didnt spring for that.

i didnt have time to dck with the compressor, just needed to get it on the road. the oil was an afterthought, bc the other cans i had specifically said they had some pag inside.. i thought all my cans were the same formula but they werent. the cans i had left didnt specify that they included pag. and i misplaced the extra bottle of pag i had laying around...

 

-you are doubting that pag is hygroscopic?? that is common knowledge.

I never said that. What I said is that PAG oil doesn’t give up its moisture content during vacuuming. By definition, a fluid that’s hygroscopic absorbs and retains moisture, even in a vacuum. Even if it did, that moisture has already caused the PAG to start breaking down, so it’s already not working as intended and it will also begin forming acids that are corrosive to the components.

-you are doubting that moisture is boiled off at lower temps in a vacuum? that is common knowledge.

Never said that either.

-you are doubting that oil is boiled off at lower temps in a vacuum? that is common knowledge.

Yes, I am, because if the AC oil you’re using is boiling in a vacuum, it is not qualified for use in an automotive HVAC system. Furthermore, no manufacturer with half an inclination toward building a product that lasts would even consider using an oil that boils in a vacuum. Why would they select an oil that vaporizes before the system can even be charged?

AC oil must maintain its viscosity regardless of temperature or pressure because it’s circulated through the system by the refrigerant. If it didn’t, compressors would be seizing and failing all the time.

The oil is circulated by the refrigerant. During recovery, some of the oil will be pulled from the system which is why the machines are capable of separating and draining the oil during recovery - so the technician knows how much oil to replace. But oil is not removed during vacuuming. Period.

-you can even recharge desiccant if you boil off the absorbed moisture long enough... that is common knowledge too.

That only worked for the desiccant used in R12 systems which was silica based. The desiccant used for R134a systems is not silica based and will not “let go” of any moisture it has absorbed during the vacuum process. Additionally, all car and compressor manufacturers agree the desiccant should be replaced if the system has been opened for major service, for extended periods of time, or after about 5 years of use. It doesn’t make sense to recommend replacement if vacuuming the system long enough would recover the moisture from the desiccant.

-you have a pump pulling, say, 1cfm from two hoses, high and low. then you are pulling, say, .5cfm from low and .5 cfm from high... if you pull from high only you are pulling 1 cfm from high... its simple physics. now whether or not that will actually suck the liquid pag out i do not know the answer to that... and i stated that. i found a video where this random guy with an expensive ac machine said you could vacuum pag out of the high side easier than the low bc it is mostly on the high side... no clue if he is right or wrong about the oil actually coming out or not but if he is correct that theres more pag on the high side than the low side then pulling on high only will provide higher suction/airflow on the high side and increase the suction by ~2X on the high side...once again its basic physics: you are putting the full power of the vac closer to the target source by closing off the low.
put a 6in straw in a glass of water and a 6ft straw in a glass of water... which straw will get water in your mouth first? A: 6in bc you are closer to the source.

Yeah I’m not gonna trust some “random guy” to educate me on how AC systems work, especially when he doesn’t seem to understand the basic principles of servicing an AC system. There’s only 1 way to remove oil using a standard recovery and recharge machine (the same equipment any shop would have), and that’s to repeatedly recover and recharge the system, and that’s a very inefficient method.

About 1/2 the system oil capacity remains in the compressor, with the remaining 1/2 being distributed relatively evenly throughout the rest of the system. Contrary to what some random guy may think, outside the compressor, more oil collects in the evaporator than the condenser. Why? Because the oil is circulated by the refrigerant. On the high side (particularly when leaving the condenser), refrigerant is in its liquid state and under high pressure and therefore it naturally flushes oil out of the condenser. Once on the low side (past the metering device, whether an orifice tube or expansion valve), refrigerant is in its gaseous state and under lower pressure, therefore oil has more “time and opportunity,” so to speak, to collect within the evaporator.

Additionally, it doesn’t matter if you’re focusing the full power of the vacuum pump to one side of the system - the whole system still needs to be evacuated. If the system volume is 5 cubic feet (example only - I don’t know or care what the actual system volume is) then the entire 5 cubic feet needs to be evacuated, plain and simple. As stated earlier, since neither the oil nor the desiccant gives up moisture during vacuuming, there’s nothing to be gained by only vacuuming one side, high or low.