Air conditioning help

Working on a 4840 Massey and trying to get some more refrigerant in the system. Due to my inexperience I added a little too much liquid to the system and caused it to lock the compressor. I got it running again by draining it off the low side some. Ran the system for 5 minutes and shut it down. Started it back up 5 min later and it had trouble starting the compressor again. Will this all work its way out and stabilize with letting it run or do I need to do something else?

Yes I will be more careful in the future. Gotta screw up somewhere or your not learning.

bill, you need to pull the system back down, and recharge with the amount the system is designed for. too much refrigerant is bad. if you had a r-12 system and converted to r 134, you only add 80 % of the 134 that the r-12 system calls for. be sure to use esther oil for 134.

OK so lets say vaccuming it out is not an option at this time. Will letting it run allow it to stabilize? It is an R12 system that has been converted. We don't know what the charge amount is either. Lots of unknowns and little experience but one has to learn somehow is how I look at it. Was just hoping to charge it using the idiot kits off the shelf at the parts store.

Not familiar with what compressor that one has but it was ran too low and hot before and you got it overcharged it"s going to run hotter and higher pressure with 134 and continue you will find out in hotter weather going to blow a hose or seal out of compressor or find other weakest spot. Drain it back down and start over and vaccum out and if no guages when the low side line is cold and your air vent temp in cab is 30 to 40 degrees cooler than outdoor temp stop adding it right then don"t finish another can off either you"ll have it overcharged again. You can buy some cheap guages now days that are sure better than nothing and help you diagnose other problems in the system as well.

do you by chance have a set of charging gauges? you may be able to adjust the amount of refrigerant with them if you knew the system operating pressures on the high and low side. there should be a tag somewhere on the system that gives the r-12 capacity. with that you can figure out how much 134 needs to go in. say the 12 system held 3 lbs of freon, 3lbs times .8 or 80 % = 2.4 lbs of r-134. did you do the 134 conversion? the system needs to be evac's and hold a vacuum for about 20 minutes or so to clear it out, then put in your can of ester oil with 134 first, then add the remaining amount of 134. may be possible to rent and evac pump from autozone or some autoparts store. if you were close by, you could stop over and i could put it on our recycler/charging station and set you right up.

Hello Bill,
If the system is running on too much freon the
way to release some is better with the engine off. Compressor oil is carried with the refrigerant and if you do it while running some oil will come out with the refrigerant.
Do it a little bit at the time with the engine off. The low side of the system should be swetting up to the compressor line. Take the temp inside the vehicle, when the temperature starts to rise, that is when you can stop removing refrigerant.
Run the system again and add just enough refrigerant to start pullimg the temperature down againg low side should not frost up. I hope the compressor survived, it is a vapor pump and any liguid in the compressor is not a good thing. Good Luck.
Guido.

Before you do anything, you need to get a gauge set on there to see what the low / high pressures are.

If this is on a R12 to R134a conversion, The 80 % rule that works fairly well on automotive systems, will almost certainly get you overcharged on an AG application.

I have found that charging a converted system is best done by vent temp alone. add enough R134a to get the system working, them add more, a few ounces at a time until adding a bit more (2 oz) does not produce a further drop in vent temp. This is the "sweet spot" that will give maximum cooling with minimum high side pressure. Adding more refrigerant beyond this point will actually reduce cooling and the high side pressure gets nuts real fast.
I have done many of these conversions, and find this charging procedure produces the best results.

I hope your unit is just overcharged, as many compressors with reed valves like the old inline York pumps will see exhaust valve damage if slugged with liquid refrigerant during charging. If an exhaust valve is damaged, the cylinders will fill with liquid refrigerant that backfed from the condenser. Restarting a compressor with a damaged exhaust reed valve will take so much torque to push the liquid refrigerant out that if usually smokes the clutch or drive belt.
Its tough to throttle liquid refrigerant into the low side of those systems, so I will only charge them using vapor. If your filling it with the 12 oz cans, it helps to set the can in a container of warm water to "boil off" the liquid to vapor.
I use only Ester compressor oil in a converted system, as it will tolerate a bit of mineral oil still in the system, where PAG will not.

What refrigerant are you using and is the system converted ? It makes a difference. Even a $35 HF gauge set will do, but you must know your low / high side pressures to adjust the refrigerant level.
For R134a, you should not be above 28-30 psi on the low side and 2---2-1/2 times ambient air temp on the high side.

I like that idea of charging till its at its coldest. I have a good temp probe I can use for that. We got a vac pump last night so were going to vac it out and start over. We were not using the guage set due to the valves being at the back of the compressor and tight to the body of the unit. With a little modification were going to get them on. Still looking for the charge tag on the system. Operators manual was no help.

This compressor is a long cylindrical unit about 8-10 inches long 5 or so in diameter. I would assume this pump was probably the most sensitive to having liquid damage. Just my luck on that. How do we know if the pump is bad I assume you are just looking for an increase in pressure from the low to high side but about how much?

Normal system pressure should not exceed 28-30 psi on the low side 2--2-1/2 times ambient air temp on the high side. What refrigerant are you using ?

Using 134a in the small cans in an R12 system.

Would I be better off to use the R12 replacement stuff vs 134A? I can get it locally from envirosafe.

We won't know if the compressor is junk till we get refrigerant in the system and see if it builds pressure right?

I have a 66 IH series. I have been told I can use a right handed pump in this application? I found a used left handed pump and installed it but after 7 days the refrigerant leaked out of the pump along where the head is bolted unto the compressor? while it ran ,some oil was wheeping along that seal? Anyhows, I have a right handed pump, does anyone know why the 66 series cabs had a left handed pump? ive been told that I can use a right handed pump? Ive used the envirosafe stuff for 5 years and all 5 of my tractors work fine with it. This is the first time I have run into a york issue, but while the tractor was not running I could hear bubbles by the pump? does this mean the head needs to be retightened? or is the pump bad?

Use the R134a, envirosafe is not safe, it is a mixture of propane and butane, same thing that runs your barbicue grill, flamible stuff you do not want in an AC system.
Make sure your using synthetic ester oil with R134a, the mineral oil used with R12 will not work with R134a refrigerant and the compressor will not get any lubricating oil.

Yes, if the compressor produces normal pressures and good cooling,should be OK.