Refrigerant Replacement

So one of my lines was torn on my prius a long time ago and all my fridgerant escaped. I went the cheap route and filled the whole system with a bottle I found at autozone that specificially advertised it was safe on hybrids, which I can only assume it had the right oil in it as it didnt really reveal that on the back or online. But it also didnt mention the use of pag oil like all the rest of the bottles.

Its been working for a year now and i had no problems and the pump hasnt broke. To bleed out the air in the system, all i did was poke the high pressure valve open for a few seconds while I was pouring the stuff in from the low pressure valve. Not sure if that helped much or not, but its better than nothing.

By no means is this the proper way or do i recommend anyone to do it, but its an option if you're feeling risky.

 

If you asked the questions and heard the right answers, go for it.

 

Proper procedures after compressor burn out watch this video. I very rarely give a video thumbs up or approval on YouTube but this one is definitely an exception.. everything that I’ve been teaching in my videos that I was taught when I was young from my father is inside this video. Well, not everything they had to keep the video short so they left out some stuff but it’s good enough..

 

For all automotive technicians on PriusChat, if you’re deciding to buy your first refrigerant leak detector or thinking about purchasing a new refrigerant leak detector here are the two gold standards without any competition on the market. Especially when it comes to snap on trucks MAC trucks or Matco trucks or Amazon or eBay refrigerant leak detectors are just not in this league..

 

and see if I can remember to include that in part of a recent video that I’ll put up in the next week or two or three are used a little metal cylinder for a oil injection usually the oil could be injected on the low side under pressure or while you’re pulling a vacuum

You just have to be careful where you inject the oil that your service port is up high and not down low in a valley where oil if you’re doing vacuum and then you hook up your vacuum pump and hose and suck the oil back out but because your service fitting is at the lowest point on some cars . Prius the suction side service port is usually a high.

I think some of the words came messed up because I’m using voice to text while I’m driving on the freeway without taking my eyes off the road to pre-scan and read

 

Yes, for aftermarket electric compressor motor oil in a metal can.

by the label that appears to be pure refrigerant with no oil additive, so that would be good , no sealer, no mystery, magic wonder additive.

 

Yes, for aftermarket electric compressor motor oil in a metal can.

by the label that appears to be pure refrigerant with no oil additive, so that would be good , no sealer, no mystery, magic wonder additive.

 

It looks like it. But if its not broke don't fix it. I think you are over thinking this. Same with the oil.

 

I will also add that we don't follow the suggestions to the T if said customer is up for it and the possible consequences. Some folks just don't have it and are doing what they can with what they have. We had a Ranger that we fixed that went for years, maybe a decade without air conditioning. So to start off we just put in a 12oz bottle of leak detector dyed refrigerant from walmart. It was enough to run the car for a day or two and find the leak which was at the high side side shrader valve. The car was just too rusty to remove the condensor without fear of turning into a much larger job. So since we found the leak was the shrader valve, we replaced it for $8, vacummed the system to -30 and let it sit for 24 hours. Came back and it didn't lose any pressure, so we vacummed it overnight, charged it up with 19oz of r134a or whatever it needed, and years later its still doing great. With that moisture ridden compressor oil. I assume the longevity and performance will be affected since water vapor in the system doesn't react like the refrigerant we want and it can corrode the system. Ford uses like galvanized steel lines which is all just a big yikes. The aluminum lines on all of my toyotas still look only a couple years old regardless of age.
So honestly after a couple times of just vacumming, fixing leaks, and leaving the oil and components in, and recharging the system with refrigerant we have had success every time so far. Try it out.