A/C Compressor/Clutch Sticking

[JRA2000TL]

Tonight, my brother's 95's a/c started acting up. The compressor makes a horrible noise, and when we looked at it, the clutch was spinning really slow and acting like it was hanging up (and just making an awful slow rotational noise--kind of like a starter that's struggling). It worked great yesterday and all of a sudden started doing this tonight.

Should I try to whack the clutch with a broom handle and see if that works? There's VERY little room to work down there in an ATX with the battery situated the way it is.

Need a/c working soon. Hot as *** here. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Hopefully the compressor isn't dying already. If so, I might have to buy this car from him, lol.

 

[rubydist]

sounds like the compressor has taken a dump.

 

[JRA2000TL]

Wow, awesome. 33 hrs of SHO ownership for him and it already begins. Oh well 15 yr old car I guess.

The clutch turns really slowly and makes a horrid noise. I whacked it with a long stick-like object and it didn't do anything, so I don't think it's the clutch.

Compressor with labor runs around $700 or so, right? It was blowing ice cold yesterday and today up until tonight.

 

[JRA2000TL]

What do you folks do when you need a new compressor--get a crappy reman or what? It's damn near impossible to find a new one; they're obsolete I think. One shop wants $1400 to do all new stuff (says he doesn't recommend a reman, which I agree 6 Tauruses in the family, most had a/c issues and the remans just die again). Won't a new one have the same prob. if it's the same crap design? Another guy quoted 1100 for an accumulator/drier and compressor. Another shop said he coudln't find anything except a reman and gave up. They said it's too much work to pay to do it twice (no shit; I know what's entailed so I know they're not screwing me--not a job you want to pay a 2nd time to do again).

Does my brother just need to pay up or keep hunting or do a halfass reman job? New parts get 1 yrs parts/labor warranty.

 

[rubydist]

the SHO a/c compressor is not the same lousy design of other Ford compressors, as it is sourced in Japan. I have only had one die, and in those days I had the Ford dealer fix it and its still going strong.

You must replace the line with the orifice (expansion valve) when you change the compressor or it will fail again.

Its not that hard to do, I'd visit the junk yard for some pre-owned parts.

 

[JRA2000TL]

the SHO a/c compressor is not the same lousy design of other Ford compressors, as it is sourced in Japan. I have only had one die, and in those days I had the Ford dealer fix it and its still going strong.

You must replace the line with the orifice (expansion valve) when you change the compressor or it will fail again.

Its not that hard to do, I'd visit the junk yard for some pre-owned parts.

Yeah I know about the orifice. I found a brand new Denso 10P15F online for $335.00 and accumulator/drier for $68. This is my brother's DD, so I really don't have time to tear the car apart, go buy an evacuation pump, and attempt to do this ourselves. If it was my 90, I could make a learning experience out of it and take a couple of weekends to fix it; but this isn't the case.

 

[FOMOCOTOSHO]

1) After you evacuate the system flush the lines clean as well to make sure there isn't any old contaminated oil or metal shavings from a locked compressor in the system.
2) Yes always replace the orifice tube & the receiver/drier (which in this case is the accumulator/drier hose assy)
3) Don't forget to fill the new (or reman.) compressor with PAG oil BEFORE you install it.

 

[RonPorter]

What do you folks do when you need a new compressor--get a crappy reman or what? It's damn near impossible to find a new one; they're obsolete I think. One shop wants $1400 to do all new stuff (says he doesn't recommend a reman, which I agree 6 Tauruses in the family, most had a/c issues and the remans just die again). Won't a new one have the same prob. if it's the same crap design? Another guy quoted 1100 for an accumulator/drier and compressor. Another shop said he coudln't find anything except a reman and gave up. They said it's too much work to pay to do it twice (no shit; I know what's entailed so I know they're not screwing me--not a job you want to pay a 2nd time to do again).

Does my brother just need to pay up or keep hunting or do a halfass reman job? New parts get 1 yrs parts/labor warranty.

I had a reman setup put on the white '89 a few months ago. Price wasn't bad, and even with the R134a conversion, it works well. IIRC I have the receipt back at the hotel, I can look it up later. I don't recal it being too expensive, though.

 

[JRA2000TL]

I had a reman setup put on the white '89 a few months ago. Price wasn't bad, and even with the R134a conversion, it works well. IIRC I have the receipt back at the hotel, I can look it up later. I don't recal it being too expensive, though.

My brother put it in the shop today. He went with brand new all OEM stuff (now obsolete). Somehow the guy got the parts though; guaranteed to be Motorcraft. 1 yr parts/labor warranty. $1100 bucks, which is insane--probably could have gone a reman route with our shadetree guy or the a/c shop, but it would have had no warranty. After calling around, most shops are refusing warranties on remans for parts/labor on these old Tauruses (Tauri) because they're a PITA to work on (in their eyes) and the remans tend to fail alot ( but that usually applies on the regular Taurus compressors, the FS-10s-non Denso models).

He has the $ and just bought the car Saturday. He plans on keeping it awhile even after retiring it from DD status, it will be his "toy" like mine is. I said do it right and do it once.

Good thing we have SHOforum. Nobody really wants to work on these anymore, nor do they want to put forth effort to find parts. A/C is just one of those things we take to the shop since we don't have a vacuum pump.

 

[kevinspann]

You could buy a nice vacuum pump for $1100...

I know not everybody wants to mess with this stuff though.

How much were the parts? or were the parts $1100 and labor is extra?

 

[JRA2000TL]

You could buy a nice vacuum pump for $1100...

I know not everybody wants to mess with this stuff though.

How much were the parts? or were the parts $1100 and labor is extra?

$1100 total. Not sure of the breakdown yet. I'll look at the receipt or get him to and post the results for everyone's info. in case they want to have a shop do an all new setup.

If it were my 90, I MIGHT try to learn a/c, buy a pump, take my time, etc.; but his car is a DD and we don't have time to "experiment" with it. Not only that, we're just now learning to be mechanics with these cars and a/c parts aren't cheap if you screw something up.

 

[RonPorter]

My brother put it in the shop today. He went with brand new all OEM stuff (now obsolete). Somehow the guy got the parts though; guaranteed to be Motorcraft. 1 yr parts/labor warranty. $1100 bucks, which is insane--probably could have gone a reman route with our shadetree guy or the a/c shop, but it would have had no warranty. After calling around, most shops are refusing warranties on remans for parts/labor on these old Tauruses (Tauri) because they're a PITA to work on (in their eyes) and the remans tend to fail alot ( but that usually applies on the regular Taurus compressors, the FS-10s-non Denso models).

He has the $ and just bought the car Saturday. He plans on keeping it awhile even after retiring it from DD status, it will be his "toy" like mine is. I said do it right and do it once.

Good thing we have SHOforum. Nobody really wants to work on these anymore, nor do they want to put forth effort to find parts. A/C is just one of those things we take to the shop since we don't have a vacuum pump.

I've been saying for years that, if you are beyond just needing an a/c charge, be prepared to spend $1,000 or better.

if he's gonna keep the car and doesn't want to worry, it's $$$ well-spent.

With all the stuff my car needed, my bill was north of that. But it's done, and I shouldn't have to touch it for quite a while.

 

[RonPorter]

$1100 total. Not sure of the breakdown yet. I'll look at the receipt or get him to and post the results for everyone's info. in case they want to have a shop do an all new setup.

If it were my 90, I MIGHT try to learn a/c, buy a pump, take my time, etc.; but his car is a DD and we don't have time to "experiment" with it. Not only that, we're just now learning to be mechanics with these cars and a/c parts aren't cheap if you screw something up.

Yep. If it's a DD that you have to rely on, get it done quick and right. A toy car in the garage can be left for weeks, but not the DD.

That's when I sold (what I thought was my last) the SHO back in '04. I HAD to rely on it, and it was getting shaky. It was new-car time again.

 

[RonPorter]

FWIW, I found my receipt from back in May:

Reman comp+clutch: $429
Accum&hose: 140
Liquid line/hose: 40
R&R a/c parts: 207

Total: $816

Plus, I had the R134a Retrofit for $160, plus a new belt for $44.

Overall total for the a/c: $1,020

This was just a part of the whole $3,500 bill.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

My brother put it in the shop today. He went with brand new all OEM stuff (now obsolete). Somehow the guy got the parts though; guaranteed to be Motorcraft. 1 yr parts/labor warranty. $1100 bucks, which is insane--probably could have gone a reman route with our shadetree guy or the a/c shop, but it would have had no warranty. After calling around, most shops are refusing warranties on remans for parts/labor on these old Tauruses (Tauri) because they're a PITA to work on (in their eyes) and the remans tend to fail alot ( but that usually applies on the regular Taurus compressors, the FS-10s-non Denso models).

He has the $ and just bought the car Saturday. He plans on keeping it awhile even after retiring it from DD status, it will be his "toy" like mine is. I said do it right and do it once.

Good thing we have SHOforum. Nobody really wants to work on these anymore, nor do they want to put forth effort to find parts. A/C is just one of those things we take to the shop since we don't have a vacuum pump.

the problem with reman parts is some rebuilders only fix what broke instead of rebuilding it from the ground up. because of this you have some new components in your reman part and some parts that are xx years old or have xx number of miles on them so the part will fail sooner and more frequently in theory than a brand new part. You could have purchased a new motorcraft compressor from Rock Auto. it isn't that the compressor itself is obsolete. All a reciever/dryer is is a can packed with some dessicant so buying an expensive motorcraft may have seemed like a good idea but als long as they don't suck at welding and crimping a different well known brand would have done the job as well.

I need to replace the compressor, reciever, and some other parts on my car to bring the AC back online and I think I can do it for 500 or so.

 

[sperold]

I used to think the compressor was the expensive part in the AC system.
It isn't, pretty well everything else is more. The new compressor is a good idea.
You could have saved some money by mounting it yourself, but unless you can do it all, that saving seems to disappear when you turn it over to someone else.

 

[RonPorter]

I used to think the compressor was the expensive part in the AC system.
It isn't, pretty well everything else is more. The new compressor is a good idea.
You could have saved some money by mounting it yourself, but unless you can do it all, that saving seems to disappear when you turn it over to someone else.

Yep, not necessarily so on the compressor.

Going into the wayback machine......

My original '89 had the manual a/c controls. in about '91, I got the seals replaced under the factory TSB (free)going fron green to black, or vice-versa (I forget). They also recharged it at that point.

Everything worked fine for the next 7 years. Then, in '98, the a/c clutch started going. I carried a 3-iron shaft in the car to kick it in! It still seemed like it was getting warm.

Took it to a L/M dealer to get it fixed. they replaced the clutch, but the car got warm in a week. Long story, but the put in dye, found some bad lines, etc. Complete repair, but NO new compressor, was $1,800. It was my DD in hot, humid Louisville (and this was in August), so I wanted it fixed NOW.

Yeah, it was pricey, but it was the first $1 I had ever put into the a/c in 9 years.