[Shotimes] A/C clutch noises

[Peter Chase]

OK, after locking up that one morning, the compressor hasn't done it again, so I'm not sure what happened.  Last night I looked under at the compressor while the engine was running and noticed that the clutch wasn't  running "true" but with a slight wobble.  After letting the motor cool off, I reached down and noticed that I could push on the face of the clutch and get it to move in relation to the pulley.  Is this normal?
                                                     Pete 
(closer and closer every day to going down to Advance for a new compressor)


On Apr 7, 2005 8:27 AM, Peter Chase 
wrote:
> In my continuing A/C saga, I hooked up the harness to the A/C clutch yesterday after work and the clutch kicked in with no noises and I'm pretty sure it was working because I could hear the rpm's drop when the I turned the temp on the EATC down. No cold air though, because I'm pretty sure it needs a recharge. However, on the way to work this morning, I heard a bad belt squeal which lasted for a few seconds, which at first I thought was due to the rainy conditions. However, when the squeal came back, I started noticing rubber smoke coming from under the hood so I shut the climate control off and the squealing stopped. So now that I have what seems like a frozen A/C compressor, anyone have an extra lying around?
> Pete
> 
> Leigh Smith wrote:
> Pete;
> The A/C clutch actually operates on metal to metal contact, there is no
> clutch material per see. However the metal wears away with age, hence the
> gap becoming too large. At some point the electro-magnet coil cannot engage
> the clutch. Also at some point the steel bolts or rivits that hold the
> assembly together start scraping against the other surface. Hence the loud
> 1-2 sec squealing or scraping noise you hear, everytime the clutch cycles
> on. There are three solutions to the irritating noise: One is a new clutch
> asembly, at about $100-130, and that would last the longest. I put one of
> those on once and it out-lasted the compressor. You do ultimately need both
> parts, but the part that wears the most is the outer piece that is the
> easiest to get off (for once). It's only $35-40 or so. It worked as well as
> #1, but might not last as long. The other or pulley piece is very difficult
> to get off with the compressor still in the car. The third way is to grind
> down the rivit ends on the outer piece with a dremel tool to give you
> 1/16-1/8 in clearance to eliminate the squealing. It's easy to get at and
> the Cost is $free. Life expectancy is unknown, but I've currently got 30k on
> that same fix. It works as well as either of the first 2 methods. On either
> repair you should re-shim the clutch gap to fix or prevent the
> non-engagement issue. And even after 380k in SHO's I've never had to change
> the coil.
> Lee
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Chase"
> 
> To: "SHOlist"
> Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 11:42 AM
> Subject: [Shotimes] A/C clutch noises
> 
> > When I first picked up my 92 in december, when I went to test out the A/C,
> when the clutch tried to engage, there was a bad metal on metal scraping
> sound coming from the clutch. So, in order to get the car home, I just
> unplugged the clutch from the harness and it hasn't made a peep since. The
> PO said he had re-shimmed the clutch so is it possible that he simply left
> the tolerances a little too tight and that a proper re-shim would make make
> it work right?
> > Pete
> > Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
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