R134a oil

[grumpy old man]

I am ressurrecting an 89 Bronco II for my granddaughter. I am at the A/C now and am going for the R134a changeover. I changed the accumulator and the oil that ran out is bright green. I do not believe that this is mineral refrigeration oil. What are the odds that it already had R134a even though it does not have the R134 service valve adapters. The thing that makes me question is the green oil. I have never seen an r12 system with anything but a light viscosity mineral oil.

Any opinions?

[Tim]

There was oil in your new accumulator?

[grumpy old man]

Sorry I apparently was not real clear. I did replace the accumulator but when I disconnected the inlet hose on the evaporator it ran a puddle of bright green oil on the garage floor.
The green oil makes me wonder what was in the system, if it was 134 I don't need to be real careful about cleaning out the oil residue because I am charging with 134.

[Tim]

Green, normally means the oil has dye in it. No telling if Mineral, PAG, POE, or vegetable unless you know the work that was done before. Could be from over-the-counter charge kits.

[Cusser]

When I was working in the chemistry lab, I could use infrared spectroscopy (IR, FTIR) to detail in two minutes whether refrigeration oil in a system was PAG or mineral-type oil. Know anyone who works in a chemistry lab???