Has anyone come across capillary blockage using R134a.

A large Amana fridge/freezer only 10 months old has given up the ghost. First signs of trouble was ice in the milk and then total defrost. Had a line tap on the thing and registered suction pressure @ -20psig!. No loss of charge and after recovering couldn't get nitrogen all around the system. Seems that the capillary is well and truely blocked.

Spoke to a friend engineer and he said that in his experience this had happened quite a lot on his jobs and it appears that the gas causes the oil to floc and the capillary then "grows" a lining until there is just no free space left.

My theory is that the compressor was left open for a long time during installation at the factory and the oil has been contaminated with moisture. Can't be sure though as I haven't had the compressor out yet to do an acid test or oil test.

Any thoughts or experiences would be welcome

frank