wilsjay

My nephew was trying to change the coolant in his car and thought he was removing a drain plug in the water pump but actually removed the drain plug in the a/c compressor. In his words "a bunch of air and some goopy yellow-green oil came out".

The a/c worked fine prior to this. Not sure what needs to be done to get this thing back working. I never even knew they had a drain plug actually. All I have ever done is a vacuum with my Harbor Freight air powered pump and a recharge. Never messed with a/c oil before. Please help!

firemangeorge

Welcome to the site.

First. Never let that nephew near an automobile with any tools in his hands. Never ever!

Hmm. Make sure that plug is sealed back. You should be able to pull a vacuum, let it sit 30 minutes to check that the plug doesn't leak.(no vacuum loss=no leak)
I've been out of the automotive biz for years, but I guess you can still get the small oil recharge cans. Some oil and recharge the freon, you should be OK.

wilsjay

Thanks for the reply. Just trying to help the poor kid out. I guess he is trying at least...

Any idea what kind/how much oil to add and how much 134a needed by any chance?

firemangeorge

Try to guesstimate how much oil leaked out and put back that much. I doubt the system holds more than a few ounces of oil total.
Not sure on the refrigerant amount. Haven't worked on a HHR system yet. Probably going to be be 2-3 lbs. total or so but I'm just guessing.

firemangeorge

Wow. I was way off.
Did a quick Google search. Couple of those stated .9 lbs of refrigerant for a HHR.
You may want to do your own search and see if that amount seems right.

Jimmy68

Honestly, bring it in for a proper recharge.

firemangeorge

Why ?
If he's got the gauges, tools, know how and experience, it's just basic mechanics 101 to recharge a system.

donbrew

First the torque for the plug is 16 N.m. 12 lb. ft.

Jimmy68

Sure. IF he has the right equipment and knows how to use it.
But GUESSTIMATING how much oil to put in and tossing a couple can's of RedTek in is not correct.
Yes, it kinda works. But it's not perfect. Very easy to be wrong.
Look around, I can get a professional recharge done for $40.

firemangeorge

If he takes it to a shop, they're going to guesstimate the amount of oil too. There's no way to measure how much oil is left in the system. If they did a complete flush, vacuum and refill then you could refill with the total oil capacity.
Looks like 4 ounces according to donbrews chart. But doing a flush would cost a whole lot more.
A professional recharge for $40 may be right but we're not talking about just a freon recharge in this case.