Made the mistake of not doing the work myself. Took my 92 Accord EX to have A/C looked at. The A/C was working in January, during the regular runs to keep the compressor oiled. Then the A/C stopped. At the same time I had the timing belt changed so I thought a connection might have gotten knocked loose. I did not spend much time looking as the days were still cool. Now the days are NOT (Arizona). I noted there was no pressure in the system and suspected a leak. I took the car to a local shop and asked them to see if the system would hold a vacuum. They said they pulled it down twice and it held for 45 minutes. Figuring the system was intact and puzzled by the lose of pressure, I had them convert to R-134a. When I picked the car up, I was told the conversion failed and was shown that the A/C would not put out cold air. Their diagnosis was a bad compressor. Being the disbelieving person I am I went to the parts store, bought a r-134 charging system with a gauge and a 12 oz. can of r-134 with stop leak, leak detection dye and 2 oz. oil charge. I also got two additional 12 oz cans that were the r-134 and 2 oz oil but not the stop leak and dye. I charged the system first with the stop leak can and started the A/C system. I immediately started getting cold air output. I added the second can and looked under the car. There was a puddle of reddish oil and a fairly steady drip coming from the compressor area. The oil had a reddish ting which I attributed to the lead trace dye (non-UV type.) The drip tapered of to almost nothing. Peering around the alternator, I could see oil on the top of the compressor but not where it was coming from. The system was at first losing pressure and I could hear a hissing. this slowed then became inaudible. I figured the stop leak was doing it's job. The pressure loss slow down dramatically but there was still some. I bought the Interdynamics Maxi Seal two can stop leak kit, added the Metal Fix then the Seal Fix cans. The pressure seemed to be holding. So I topped the system off with two more cans containing r-134 and 2 oz of oil. This all happened over the course of the weekend. Monday I drive the car to work and notice the A/C compressor is making a very obvious whirring noise ( about like the sound of the engine when revved over 4K.) At idle I opened the hood and listened to the compressor and there is a noticeable sound of each compression stroke. Thinking there may be not enough oil (easier to check then too much) I added one 2 oz oil charge can. Seemed to make no change in the sound.
The question at the end of all this is: Is the compressor bad, too much oil or too little? I would like to avoid the cost of replacing the compressor, but will if that is what it takes.