Which part of my compressor blew up?

[avatar28]

Uh, one other thing. Should I be able to turn the compressor shaft by hand? Several people seem to have made references to turning it with their fingertips but I don't seem to be able to do that.

 

[pjtoledo]

to borrow a phrase from a TV show; Dude, you're screwed.
the compressor shaft should turn some by hand, at least it should wiggle.
with the pulley/bearing assembly torn in half it's possible it spun on the housing extension and galled it.

you need to remove a large retaining ring, which is buried in the trashed seal, to pull the bearing off. then go deeper into the hole and remove the next ring to release the coil.


assuming the compressor is locked up, you can drive the vehicle by installing
the bottom ring, then the pulley/bearing assembly, the the outer ring.

no disk, no coil.



Perry

 

[pjtoledo]

not the best angle, but this shows the housingextension and ring grooves.

the ring that secures the pulley/bearing assembly. this one was kinda trashed too.

 

[avatar28]

Thanks. Not sure what you mean by "galled it" though. I was able to get the rest of the pulley and bearing off at least now. I was apparently trying to grab the wrong retaining ring. Here is where I'm at now.



I'm assuming that the retaining ring visible in this pic outside the metal cylinder that surrounds the shaft and inside the coil is what I need to get off? I'm not sure how I can get to it. My snap ring pliers won't reach. I tried using hex wrenches in the snap ring tool but because of the way the wrenches are, they sit awkardly at angles and don't really work.


Here's another wider view.

 

[pjtoledo]

yep. that big ring holds the coil on.
I did once take one off while the compressor was still mounted. it took a couple hours and tons of cursing.


Perry

 

[pjtoledo]

galling is when something spins on a shaft or whatever, and gouges the surface. think badly worn.

your housing does not appear to be gouged/galled.
when I saw the pulley/bearing broken into 2 pieces I had anticipated the worst case scenario, that being the inner race of the bearing spinning on the housing.

Perry

 

[avatar28]

What did you use to reach the snap ring? I've yet to find any tips that are the requisite inch or so long. Someone suggested using modified allen wrenches but all the ones I've been able to find have an angle running along the bend.

 

[rubydist]

However, if you cannot turn the compressor over slowly by hand, then the compressor is toast and you need to abandon this mission and just get a different compressor to put on there.

 

[pjtoledo]

What did you use to reach the snap ring? I've yet to find any tips that are the requisite inch or so long. Someone suggested using modified allen wrenches but all the ones I've been able to find have an angle running along the bend.

I used some modified allen wrenches for tips on a mulit-tool, used a Dremel to shape the tips and bent them to fit. Even then there was too much leverage, and needed to wedge something between them, its been a while, don't remember what I used.

have you pulled the plastic wheel well liner back to see if there is a way to get to the ring by going in fromm the bottom?

by the way that ring is tapered. the inner part is narrower than the outer. the purpose is to wedge into the slot and put rearward pressure on the coil plate to hold it firmly against the compressor.

as stated, you most likely need a new compressor. You can remove the mounting bolts and tilt it back to access the ring without breaking the refrigerent lines. That way if you don't want to completely fix the AC now you can just put a new pulley on, then drive it.


I'm curious, did the pulley fail into 2 pieces, or did you cut it to remove it?




just took another look at my broken compressor. If you need the drive the car without AC, leave the coil alone, just be sure the debris does not interfere with the new pulley. put the pulley on, ring on, belt on and drive.

 

[avatar28]

However, if you cannot turn the compressor over slowly by hand, then the compressor is toast and you need to abandon this mission and just get a different compressor to put on there.

I've not really been able to turn it over. I'm assuming at this point that the damned thing is seized. I was going to try to get some pliers on it though and see if maybe I'm just not getting enough torque on it. It wasn't making the rattling noise you usually associate with an impending compressor failure that I ever really noticed (or maybe it was and I mistook it for something else).

I used some modified allen wrenches for tips on a mulit-tool, used a Dremel to shape the tips and bent them to fit. Even then there was too much leverage, and needed to wedge something between them, its been a while, don't remember what I used.

Not quite sure I follow. You're saying that it took too much force to spread the ring and you had to use something to help push the tool open? So you didn't use the wrenches as they were, you cut the longer part off and then rebent them? What did you use to do that? I'm thinking maybe a vice, a hammer and a blowtorch to heat it up enough to soften it.

have you pulled the plastic wheel well liner back to see if there is a way to get to the ring by going in fromm the bottom?

No, not yet. I've got the front wheels up on some concrete blocks. I'd have to put the battery back in and start the car to get it back off. I can lay on the ground and get to it from below but the space is even worse that way. Going at it from the top has been much easier thus far.

by the way that ring is tapered. the inner part is narrower than the outer. the purpose is to wedge into the slot and put rearward pressure on the coil plate to hold it firmly against the compressor.

So even if I get it off a little, it's going to want to snap right back into the groove. Fun times.

as stated, you most likely need a new compressor. You can remove the mounting bolts and tilt it back to access the ring without breaking the refrigerent lines. That way if you don't want to completely fix the AC now you can just put a new pulley on, then drive it.

I think that's where I'm quickly headed towards. I've heard that I have to put a jack or something under the engine to support it when I unbolt the compressor? Is that correct?

I'm curious, did the pulley fail into 2 pieces, or did you cut it to remove it?

I did that on its own. When I removed the nut and the disk, that part just fell off into the bottom of the engine. I didn't even realize it until I tried to run the car with the disk off as a test and the belt didn't move.

just took another look at my broken compressor. If you need the drive the car without AC, leave the coil alone, just be sure the debris does not interfere with the new pulley. put the pulley on, ring on, belt on and drive.

I might could do that. And just sit on the coil until I can replace the whole system. It's going to suck the next time it rains and I'm trying to drive around in near 100% humidity and my windows are all fogged. I don't see that I've got much choice right now if the compressor is toast though. My concern with the coil, there should be a cover and no exposed wiring, right? There are pieces of wire sticking out and that have fallen out so I'm not sure I trust it not to make things worse.

 

[avatar28]

Well, a bit of good news. The compressor doesn't appear to have seized. I couldn't really turn it by grabbing the shaft with my fingertips but when I grabbed the spindle with pliers I was able to turn it. It turned smoothly, if not particularly easily. So if it comes down to it, I will throw the new pulley on to get it driving and try to work on it some more this weekend when it's closer to 60 than 45.

Edit: I will need to shim it too to set the airgap, right? I think there were three in there before. I'm sort of flying blind on the assembly here since the old one flew apart.

 

[rubydist]

iirc, you can take the a/c compressor off w/o having to remove the front motor mount. unless there is not enough room to actually get the compressor out/in of the space, in which case you need to jack up the motor to get the motor mount off.

a piece of 2x6 on top of a floor jack under the oil pan always took care of it for me.

 

[avatar28]

There's a bracket that goes to the intake manifold that's attached to the top bolt.

Where I'm at now: I've decided that the radiator fan is simply in the way. If I get that out of my way it seems like getting to the bolts should be relatively simple. I started trying to remove that. Snapped the clips on the wiring harness going to the fans. I got the passenger side screw out but the driver's side one is being stubborn. It seems like it's rusted together with the metal insert that sits behind it in a slot. The insert is just spinning with the screw. I don't think I'm going to be able to get anything in there to hold it without removing the upper radiator hose and the bracket and big box with the wires that sits between the radiator and the air cleaner box. This is turning into a total cluster. No wonder shops want $1200 to do this.

 

[rubydist]

most of the factory ones had two shims, a thicker one and a thinner one. typically, when they got so they would not pull in, removing the thin one solved the problem.

you need enough gap so that the compressor does not get dragged over by the pulley when disengaged, but will engage firmly when pulled in.

my service manual specs a gap of .021" - .036"