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i wanted to leave a message on this board for all my brothers and sisters with a/c issues. you have surely found the parts to be expensive to replace. if you can't afford $300 and up for a new compressor and you are relatively handy, read on. i have recently replaced the bearing in my compressor pulley. 2 weeks later and still QUIETLY cooling. i didn't even have to take the compressor out of the car, therefore, no expensive trip to the a/c shop for a drain vacuuam and recharge. it is a hard job and took me three days, but if you learn from my errors, you can have that compressor quiet and running again. ok, here we go. loosen allthree bolts on idler pulley. when you get the belt loose, spin that sucker to be sure that's not your problem. one is 12mm the other 2 are 13mm. the belt may give you some grief, i did not have to take my idler pulley off.just fiddle with it. next you will want to loosen the bolt holding the metal compressor lines, in order to get to the exhaust side front bolt. these are 17mm nuts on mine, with star bolts. the tricky one is on the back exhaust side, by the intake manifold. i managed to get mine loose by holding needle nose pliers down into the star while unbolting it. you will not be able to get this bolt out..don't worry, when you get the others loose the compressor will slide forward and you will be home free. i suggest you retighten the bolt securing the compressor lines, you don't want to break these! when you have the compressor loose, tilt it onto it's back, being cautios about those lines. i was actually pretty rough with mine. i got hot in the florida sun and was pissed and kinda threw it around, they didn't break, but they definetly show some gouges. some clutches as i understand it have bolts on the front. mine was a star. the only bitch there was getting it loose. it wanted to turn on it's own. channel locks or vise grips would help there.if you have access to a pulley remover you will be on easy street. if not, take your hammer and a screw driver and hammer away at the gap between the pulley and clutch. be sure to rotate as you widen the gap. it may take some doing. when you get it off, there are some shims in there to space the clutch and pulley. remove these carefully. put them aside. there are two clips in here. if you have those special pliers, again here you will be home free, if not just keep trying with the good old needle nose. getting the pulley off is a mofo without a pulley remover, but if i did it, so can you. i just kept turning it over (minding the lines, of course!) and hammering at it with the screwdriver. it took a while. once it's off, i STRONGLY suggest a trip to your local machine shop to get the bearing out. i did it by hand between two cinder blocks, a true ghetto mechanic. it was terrible. there was some kind of guard on the back that was welded on to secure the bearing, so it could not be pounded out the front or back. a true nightmare, but summer in florida is sooo friggin hot and i'm soo friggin poor. the bearing is 24mm wide by 40mm inner diameter and 62mm outer diameter. you can get this bearing from napa. their part number for it is AC2. $30. get the bearing and head over to the machine shop. have them take out the old and replace it with the new. for some time sweat and about $50, you can save $300. of course, there is always the neighborhood junk yard and you pull it. all of this is assuming you are sure that your compressor is still ok. i knew mine was cause it never stopped being cold, it just got awful loud. hope this helps and if you want to hear how i did my front hydraulic motor mount as well as getting that mid red zone turbo boost, let me know!!
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