I have a 2000 Chevy S10 pickup truck with 2.2l engine with automatic transmission at 172k miles. I am at least hoping there are no metal shavings and assuming there isn't any in the oil just for the purposes of oil balance can I flush a condenser just for oil balance provided the system is not contaminated? If not how much oil is there in the condenser so that I can subtract it from what I need for the system?
Can I just run shop air through the condenser and Evaporator to verify that they are not clogged as long as I'm going to use nitrogen and solvent to clean out the oil once I know that there is no stoppage or could that cause a problem like moisture contamination that we can't get rid of?
Not really. Your grammar is kinda hard to interpret with run-on sentences. Maybe try to explain this more simply?
Ordinary air contains water vapor. There's a receiver/dryer in the refrigerant circuit, and only refrigerant must be inside the units at all times. There's a substance that acts as a desiccant, and it can only handle so much moisture before it can't absorb anymore. That's why receiver/dryers or accumulators come pressurized from the factory. You need to install them within an hour or so after releasing the pressure.
HFCs are in refrigerant, and, in the presence of water, it can decompose over time to produce hydrofluoric acid, which is very bad for your A/C system.
I ran shop air but it was moisture filtered. I've already opened up the system so I was planning on replacing the accumulator. I figured that the condenser would not also have any filter that has to be replaced. There's only a suction accumulator. The pressure is strong on the output tube at both sets of coils ( evaporator and condenser) so I am certain neither of them are stopped up like my nose on a cold weather day. I'm just going to run dry air through with solvent and flush it out with dry air and pull a very long vacuum just to make sure. Sorry about the run on sentences.
It's not really clear what you are trying to accomplish or why you suspect there might be metal shavings, but the parallel-flow condensers used in R134a AC systems cannot be flushed. They need to be replaced if contaminated, and contamination in the rest of the system would need to be dealt with as well.
It's easier to just evacuate everything and start over vs starting with whatever you have in there already. Refrigerant pressure is highly dependent on temperature. Even 4 or 5 degrees' difference will throw off the reading. When you're talking within a faction of an ounce of refrigerant and there's only 12-20 oz of refrigerant in the first place, it makes a huge difference in terms of cooling capacity. You can do it, theoretically, but it takes quite a bit of math.
The proper way to do it is to evacuate and recharge the AC system with the correct amount. In modern systems being only a couple of ounces off can affect performance. That's doing it by the book, and is highly recommended for the best results.
However what you can sometimes get away with, especially on older vehicles that don't have variable-displacement compressors, is to slowly add a little bit of refrigerant at a time, pausing to let the system settle, while watching pressures and outlet temperature. (You need a full gauge set, not a stupid "fill to the green" recharge can.) When you reach a good set of pressures with good temperature at the vents, you stop.
I think stupid is the perfect word for those fill to green. I'm not even sure if they really know how much refrigerant is in my system by the time they get to Green. It could be way over or way under depending on what all that gauge assumes such as the capacity of my system how much is in there already the pressures and I don't know if it measures any pressures except the pressure inside the can. I hate those things and I will never use one
This isn't related to any particular maker model but just to a video I saw on Scotty recharging an AC system. I noticed he weighs the amount taken out to see how much has to go back in. However when you work on AC system don't you take all of the freon out and therefore all you need to do is go by how much the spec is for how much to put in according to the manual or is this just so that you don't have to check the manual?
2000 Chevrolet S10 pickup 2.2 l with automatic transmission. I'm planning to eventually flush both heat exchangers that is the condenser and the evaporator with nitrogen and oil flushing solvent. This way they're both empty and clean and when I go to add oil to the system I'll know exactly how much I have in it. However I have not leaked tested the condenser or the evaporator to make sure there's no leak or they either one of them is plugged. There shouldn't be any contamination. Also the refrigerant has all been pulled. Can I just run shop air through the condenser and Evaporator to verify that they are not clogged as long as I'm going to use nitrogen and solvent to clean out the oil once I know that there is no stoppage or could that cause a problem like moisture contamination that we can't get rid of?