Motor Oil vs Refrigerant Oil

[zolar1]

I just talked to a friend of mine this evening. He told me that one of his buddies put motor oil in his new automotive a/c compressor. The man apparently had past problems with lubrication in his R134a system.

From what I've been told, it's been several weeks since the man used motor oil in his a/c compressor, and the system still works very well.

The man used straight 20 weight non detergent motor oil.


Any thoughts as to how/why this is working?

[condenseddave]

I think it just hasn't caused any problems YET, as motor oil is pretty crude stuff.

I wonder if Mobil 1 or another good synthetic would work, though.

He didn't happen to mention what kind of lubricant he was having problems with, did he? POE? PAG? Mineral?

I can't see how 134a would move motor oil, even 20 weight, unless he's counting on it NOT moving, and staying in the compressor, which would be like rolling dice, IMO...

[FreezerGeezer]

I'm guessing that this guy just doesn't understand what he's doing? It will be very intersting to see what the effects are, though.

[Brian_UK]

These Yanks will try anything to save a buck won't they ?

[Gary]

Motor oil has a high wax content, which will gum up the works. He is going to play hell trying to clean up that mess.

[Karl Hofmann]

It would be interesting to learn why he felt that the compressor was short of lubrication, what caused this shortage and why, when there are so many lubricants suitable for R134a, does he feel that motor oil would do the job better. In UK use I know of a Sanden compressor that lasted 18 months running R134a / Mineral oil before becoming too vocal for the driver, Ive never had a problem with PAG in automotive use when the lube quantity is correct and the system is charged to the manufacturers specs

[Bones]

clap clap clap....... so this guy knows nuffink about refrigeration right? we would hope...?

so who the hell sold him the gas, or put it into the system for him?

[chemi-cool]

thats an interesting experiment. PAG oil works fine in automotive systems. if the oil gone to another part of th system, investigate why? could be TEV too open, run out through the mechanical seal or a hole in the rubbur pipes. you will not be able to clean the wax from the TEV and the evaporator.

next time use pneomatic systems oil- it is thinner. LOL
chemi

[zolar1]

My best guess is this:

He got sick and tired of the JUNK made/refurbished/remanufactured here in the USA?

Comapnies want to save a few bucks, so they hire really POOR quality employees (with terrible work ethics) for slave wages. The good employees are canned, then they go work at McDonald's just to put food on the table.

There's way too much BS, politics/brown-nosing, and hoochie hunting going on in companies here in the US.

Perhaps he is trying to make a statement in protest? Or perhaps he got tired of shelling out $250-$500 each time for compressor replacement?

I think he's got bigger problems than a little miniscule amount of wax in the system to worry about.

But the compressor is still working very well to date.