Hello To All,

I did my retrofit today from R12 to R134a. I followed just what the Volvo instructions down loaded from this site step by step. First by replacing the old Evaporator, Expansion valve, removed old Compressor oil and re filled it with the provided 125ml Ester oil then hook up the dryer together with the new R134a fill tube. I made sure also that all connection lines are out of dripping R12 oil.

To go beyond the process, I did removed the condensor, vacuum it to see if it can hold 30inch/hg of vacuum & it did. And then I did also a test of pressurising it with 50-70psi of helium gas then used a Snoop leak detector to see if bubbles will show from those soldered U joints but no leaks found (I did the tests at my work while nobody is around). The reason I did this because of my doubt upon seeing a U joint that's kinda oily and the history of my Air Cond. of losing freon slowly before.

Now the real question is, Do I have to pour some known amount of Ester oil to the Condensor? it seems dry to me when I tilt it and no drop of oil is coming out from it. All and All so far the amount oil that is in the whole system is only 125ml. Is this enough? Right now I'm so confused, due to the fact that I thought there are some contradicting discussion on this site compared to Repair Manual telling that oil must be added to new parts. What's right?

Again, I need guidance before I put back my Condensor and let somebody service my Air Cond. system. Thanks! for any help.

Gil C.