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Air Conditioner Woes... latest edition
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Posted by Monster (more from Monster) on Sun, 17 Mar 2002 14:24:41 Share Post by Email
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I decided to start a new thread on this one, for those of you (Keith!) who've been following along.

I just spent two hours out in the Garage Mahal troubleshooting, and the news isn't good. Looks like the compressor clutch is not engaging. But it sure took me a long time to figure out the clutch is bad....

Initially, when I started looking at this a couple of days ago, I thought I wasn't getting voltage at the compressor. So this has sent me on a wild goose chase around the car. Keith G. got me onto the right page of my shop manuals, where I found the relay (number 156) which, when energized, is supposed to send voltage to the compressor via a high temperature cutout switch on the upper radiator hose.

I pulled that relay out and ran a bunch of wires to each of its pins. I then plugged the pins into +12V and ground sources to see if I could get the relay to work... then I'd be able to see if pin 30 was connecting to both pins 87 and 87A. Armed with my trusty VOM and this multi-colored spider plugged into the fuse box, I started looking at voltages on the pins. Oh, yeah, the shop manual schematic says the compressor is connected to 87A, but the label on the pin of the relay is 87B. Weird.

Anyway, I couldn't get the relay to trigger, which didn't make any sense, because I knew it was at least working to pin 87, which runs the right side radiator cooling fan. After fiddling with the relay awhile, I got frustrated and decided to try another tactic.

With the car turned off and the relay removed, I took a piece of wire, inserted it into the slot in the fuse box for pin 30, then stuck the other end into the slot for pin 87. Magically, the right side cooling fan came on. Ha! Then I tried it again, this time with the slot for pin 87A, or 87B, whichever it is. Nothing seemed to happen. I was expecting a click from the compressor clutch.

So while I had the jumper in, I decided to see if there was voltage at the temperature cutoff switch. I looked, and sure enough, 12 volts on both pins. The switch was good. Then I looked at the connector going to the compressor. 12 volts! Hmmm. So maybe the relay was the bad component after all?

I plugged the relay back in and started the car, turned on the A/C. Fans came on. Compressor didn't. I checked the voltage at the compressor, and to my shock, it was there! 12 volts!!! What!?!? I could have sworn it wasn't there the other day. I was pondering this when I realized... I was now using a different ground for my meter. Sure enough, when I looked, I hadn't been using a good ground when I tested for voltage there before. So the compressor had had voltage all along, and I wasted all this time troubleshooting nothing! I was kicking myself big time for that one. DOH!

Anyway, that means my compressor clutch is out. Voltage there, clutch doesn't engage. I read about repairing it, and it looks like a real ordeal. Has anyone here ever rebuilt one? Can it be done without completely removing the compressor and evacuating the system? Is there any way it's a simple job?

If replacing the compressor clutch involves pumping out all the R-12 and removing the compressor, then I think I'm going to switch the system over to R-134a. I'll get a new compressor and new filter/drier, get rid of all the old R-12, put in the new oil and new refrigerant, and never have to worry about paying $200 for a freon recharge again.

What do you guys think? Compressor clutch rebuild? Can I do it? Or should I just do the changeover to R-134a? I'm interested in your opinions.

Thanks,
- = M = -
'87 900T 172K

posted by 208.63.20...
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