Cat 277c AC Charge

[Quki22]

Going to replace my AC accumulator on my CAT 277C MTL (JWF01714) and was curious if anyone knows how many lbs of 134a is required for a full charge.

 

[Nige]

Going to replace my AC accumulator on my CAT 277C MTL (JWF01714) and was curious if anyone knows how many lbs of 134a is required for a full charge.

2.8 pounds of R134a.
1 fl oz of PAG oil is required per component if you go into any of the following - accumulator, condenser, receiver/dryer, or 3 fl oz if you replace the evaporator.

 

[Quki22]

Thanks Nige. I appreciate the help.

 

[Quki22]

Hey Nige,

When cleaning the the belly of the machine out, I came across an aluminum tag that states “R134a 0.60 kg”. Is this the amount of refrigerant to add? This however does not correspond to the 2.80lbs previously mentioned.

 

[Cmark]

Nige's information is correct according to SIS. Is there a part number on the tag? Can you post a photo of it?

 

[Quki22]

Hello Cmark,

It’s a little beat up, but based on other photos of tags I found on the internet I am pretty sure this is showing 0.60kg also the part number can be seen in the lower right corner of the tag.

 

[Quki22]

Hello Cmark,

It’s a little beat up, but based on other photos of tags I found on the internet I am pretty sure this is showing 0.60kg also the part number can be seen in the lower right corner of the tag. View attachment 281989

For reference, this is a tag I found on the internet for a 259D


And for a 289D



This is how I based my assumption that the tag I found in the belly of the machine was saying 0.60 Kg

 

[Nige]

Hey Nige,

When cleaning the the belly of the machine out, I came across an aluminum tag that states “R134a 0.60 kg”. Is this the amount of refrigerant to add? This however does not correspond to the 2.80lbs previously mentioned.

Here is the info straight from the manual.

 

[Acoals]

2.8lbs is nearly double .6kg. Keep an eye on the gauges when you fill it, if the system was in fact .6kg, you would see that when you are trying to charge the system. It's not going to blow the system up trying to fill a double charge, it just won't take it.

 

[Nige]

OK, so I looked in the service documentation. The 259D refrigerant capacity is listed as 0.81kg and the 289D as 1.0kg.
The tag Part Number 315-5381 is applicable to your machine Serial Number according to the Parts Manual. So I would suggest that the Service Manual information could possibly be incorrect and that you should initially charge with 0.6kg of R134a then see how it goes from there. Sorry I can be more certain that that.

It's also interesting that the 1.27kg of refrigerant listed for the C model is higher than both the 0.68kg of the early model 277 and the 0.81kg for the B model. That in itself doesn't sound right.

 

[Quki22]

Good point Acoals. Thanks for that info


Nige - No apologies needed. You have helped me and so many others on here and am so grateful for that. I won’t be charging it anytime soon as I’m doing a lot of other maintenance on the machine, but when I do, I’ll repost to this thread and let you know how it turned out. Maybe some one will find the info helpful in the future. Thanks again!!

 

[Quki22]

2.8 pounds of R134a.
1 fl oz of PAG oil is required per component if you go into any of the following - accumulator, condenser, receiver/dryer, or 3 fl oz if you replace the evaporator.

2.8 pounds of R134a.
1 fl oz of PAG oil is required per component if you go into any of the following - accumulator, condenser, receiver/dryer, or 3 fl oz if you replace the evaporator.

Hey Nige,

What weight PAG oil is recommended for the AC system?

 

[Nige]

Sorry, no idea. Can't even find a spec sheet for the oil anywhere.
According to that tage you found in the belly guard the Part Number is 228-7xxx where the last three characters are missing. I can't even find that.

 

[Quki22]

No problem. Thanks again for you help

 

[Nige]

Always in the last place you look......

Part Number is discontinued. States - "PROCURE ANY PAG 100 A/C LUBRICANT LOCALLY"

 

[Nige]

Also found another snippet - 228-7840 Air Conditioner Oil. "If unavailable use 4C-2959 PAG air conditioner oil." This is the 100-viscosity oil mentioned above.

 

[Quki22]

Great. Thanks again Nige.

 

[Quki22]

Wanted to provide an update on the AC charge for this machine. Just completed the charge and the 2.8 lbs mentioned in the service manual appears to be correct. When only putting in 1.32lbs (.60kg) per the tag I found in the belly resulted in very low pressures. When I got to the 2.8lbs the pressures starting look much better (35-40psi) on the low side at 90F this morning. Thank you all for your help.

 

[Nige]

Nice to have it confirmed so that we can quote the same number in the future.

It's funny but a few days ago I had a case of a grader where the online manual said 2.0kg (4.2 pounds) of refrigerant yet the tag on the cab door was stamped 1.5kg (3.3 pounds). It was filled to the quantity on the tag and worked fine. Go figure........

 

[Quki22]

Out of curiosity, what is the total amount of oil that should be in the system?