A/C Compressor Oil Spatter

[Gary Mettus]

I'm looking for advice on what to do with an A/C compressor that is spraying a fine mist of oil, so fine it resembles dried black paint blown out of a straw.

I inherited my Dad's 1990 GMC 1500 4x4 with a 5.7 last September. It only has 45,000 miles on it (even with the 3,000 mile trip from Pittsburgh to Phoenix and a 2,000 mile round trip from Phoenix to N. Cali.) but sat unused and not running in his garage for the previous four years. The A/C is original with R12 but blows cold (we've been well over 100 degrees already) without making any noise. I noticed the spatter after I cleaned the engine compartment, otherwise it was hardly noticeable.

Should I wait until it craps out and maybe seizes or is there something preventative I can do without doing a full conversion to R134A right now? I got a quote for parts (including compressor) & labor of $510 from a shop that specializes in A/C to convert it.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Could try RedAngel stop leak and run it until it doesn't work anymore. Its not super cheap, but supposed to be one that actually works for small leaks.

 

[RawbDidIt]

I'm looking for advice on what to do with an A/C compressor that is spraying a fine mist of oil, so fine it resembles dried black paint blown out of a straw.

I inherited my Dad's 1990 GMC 1500 4x4 with a 5.7 last September. It only has 45,000 miles on it (even with the 3,000 mile trip from Pittsburgh to Phoenix and a 2,000 mile round trip from Phoenix to N. Cali.) but sat unused and not running in his garage for the previous four years. The A/C is original with R12 but blows cold (we've been well over 100 degrees already) without making any noise. I noticed the spatter after I cleaned the engine compartment, otherwise it was hardly noticeable.

Should I wait until it craps out and maybe seizes or is there something preventative I can do without doing a full conversion to R134A right now? I got a quote for parts (including compressor) & labor of $510 from a shop that specializes in A/C to convert it.

I'd run it till you can't anymore, but save up for the conversion. I'd imagine you can save about half of that if you did the work yourself. I'm sure somebody here has done the conversion.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Gramps]

There’s 2 ways of doing the conversion, : you replace the compressor and screw on the $5 r12-134a adapters.
OR you replace the compressor with one from a 94-95 truck, the ac condenser, the drier, and the evap core. Will need to change a couple plug ins to the newer style weatherpack.

Do not use any kind of “stop leak”. Otherwise you will be hard pressed to find a shop that will ever touch it.
That crap ruins ac machines, there are filters but most shops won’t touch anything with stop leak

 

[Schurkey]

WHERE is it leaking?

 

[Gary Mettus]

Its hard to say as there is no apparent drip but I'd say at the back side of the pulley as it must go onto that and then gets spun out as spatter that is nearly dry.

 

[Schurkey]

Consider replacing the shaft seal. Under ten bucks, plus the cost of special tools. Depending on the vehicle, you wouldn't even have to take the compressor off the car.

You'll have to evacuate and recharge the system. If it was me, I'd replace all the hose O-rings while the system was de-pressurized, and also replace the orifice tube and desiccant.

https://ck5.com/forums/threads/how-to-reseal-an-r-4-a-c-compressor.307840/