Oil capacity on totally new system

Sanity check here as I'm ready to start putting the A/C back together. All components in the system are new and dry. The new compressor has no oil in it according to the label, and I did tip it over to verify that nothing spilled out.

The FSM says:

If compressor has less than 1oz, add 1oz
Condenser 1oz
Evaporator 3oz
Accumulator 3.5oz

So total in a completely new system according to this should be 8.5oz.

As far as adding it goes, is the right approach to fill each component separately with the appropriate quantity, or would it make more sense to draw the system down to a vacuum and then suck in 8.5oz?

You can pour the oil in each place either through the hoses, or directly. The oil suspends in the refrigerant, and travels throughout the system.

It's best to put the oil amounts in each component as they are installed. As Fred says, the oil will be pulled throughout the system during normal operation.

Thanks guys - that's what I was planning on doing, so should be ok.

Just make sure that before you activate the compressor for the first time, you turn it by hand a bunch to get any and all liquid oil out of it, otherwise you'll slug the compressor and potentially damage it.

Yep, thanks for the reminder sherlock, I did turn it by hand a bunch of times and everything seems ok. I drew the system down and found that it wouldn't hold a vacuum. Detecting vacuum leaks is hard, so I shot some refrigerant in it and used a (not so great) sniffer and found a couple of leaking fittings. I'll keep monitoring it but my suspicion is there's still some leakage somewhere.