AC compressor. Possible to bypass

[Gmoney11MKS]

Hey all,

It's been a minute since I've been on here. But I just had an issue with my MKS. Tuesday morning my serpentine belt broke. I replaced the belt after making sure all the pulleys spun free, and they did. Well today on the way home from picking up the kiddo from daycare I heard a noise. A slapping like noise. Thought the belt broke again, but it was still intact. Looking over the car I noticed a piece of rubber sitting on the frame rail. It's round and appears to be possibly a damper of some sort. After fishing it out and looking at it and the car, I see it came from the AC compressor. Or at least I'm 99% sure it did as theres still a tiny piece left over on the compressor.

I'd like to avoid further issues with the belt and cannot currently afford a new compressor unfortunately. Is there a way to bypass the compressor? Pulling it off and running a short belt seems like it would work, but I'm not so sure.

Anyone have similar issues? Should I replace the comprssor soon? Is there a bypass pulley available? Googling isn't showing any, but I just started looking?

It's my only vehicle so I neeed it to run good. Help please!!!

 

[Gmoney11MKS]

picture of rubber piece

 

[krewat]

With the belt off, and the engine off (of course), does the AC pulley spin OK? Feel like there's sand in it or just not spin at all?

 

[Gmoney11MKS]

It spun fine and felt good after the initial belt failure. I have not checked since seeing this piece. I do not have my tools at home to check currently. It does still seem to spin ok with engine running.

I can attempt to check tomorrow at work. If not I'll do it over the weekend, at least with any luck.

 

[b4black]

It has a clutch on the front. It may spin fine when disengaged, but not when engage. You might be able to disconnect the electrical connector to prevent it from engaging and tearing up the belt until you fix it properly..

 

[Gmoney11MKS]

Engine running, it appears to spin fine, both engaged and disengaged. Best I can tell clutch operation is still functional without this rubber piece. Which I'm only assuming is a damper for noise suppression? I'm just really kind of hoping it's not used for balancing of the pulley or something.

More than likely I'll be sucking it up and ordering a new compressor and belt. Maybe a new tensioner, but dont really see that being a necessity. Hopefully work will allow me to evacuate the ac with there machine. I'd be less than happy to have to pay someone to do it, then pay again for a recharge.

 

[SHOdded]

check car-part.com to see if you can get a used OEM compressor for cheap. Preferred over new non-OEM compressors, sometimes even over remanufactured ones.

 

[Johnbigdog]

The clutch can be replaced seperatly from the compressor most of the time, but I cant recall a part like that from the compressor unless your field coil is taking a crap and overheating/melting and it should open a fuse.

 

[jman1200]

Not sure why would you order a new compressor, is the AC not cooling?
You stated the pulley spins freely and the compressor appears to work fine when ON. Never seen that rubber part on other brands but maybe is not a critical part.

 

[fordfanstan]

If it's hard to check compressor on the car stop by auto part store and look at one in person to see if the rubber is in there. And check on clutch replacement as well possibly.

 

[HyperMikeD!]

Used this on our race cars in the past...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113986849767

 

[Gmoney11MKS]

Sorry for the delayed response, stopped getting email notifications.

update: checked over last weekend and the compressor was gritty to spin, but did still spin. It was making a pretty bad noise, but assumed all was ok to drive for a few. And it was, until today. Driving home from work this afternoon and the battery light came on. I was able to make it home, barely. Belt came off again.

I'm assuming the compressor is toast, especially considering the noise it was making the last couple days. Really wishing I would've discharged the ac at some point this week, as now I'm stuck with a non running car with a full charge. I'm really hoping in my ignorance of driving I didn't damage anything else.

I did find a used compressor with less miles just up the street from me, so I'll be picking that up tomorrow
along with another new belt.

check car-part.com to see if you can get a used OEM compressor for cheap. Preferred over new non-OEM compressors, sometimes even over remanufactured ones.

Found one right up the street, waaaay cheaper than a new or reman!!

The clutch can be replaced seperatly from the compressor most of the time, but I cant recall a part like that from the compressor unless your field coil is taking a crap and overheating/melting and it should open a fuse.

The clutch assembly is pricey, at least the ones I've found. At the prices I was seeing, makes more sense to grab a used compressor.

Not sure why would you order a new compressor, is the AC not cooling?
You stated the pulley spins freely and the compressor appears to work fine when ON. Never seen that rubber part on other brands but maybe is not a critical part.

That's what I was hoping too. But over the last few days it's shown to be an important piece.

If it's hard to check compressor on the car stop by auto part store and look at one in person to see if the rubber is in there. And check on clutch replacement as well possibly.

The rubber is not there. Or at least if I'm seeing it right, that's the piece in my second post. It came from the compressor.

Used this on our race cars in the past...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113986849767

I was hoping to find something similar but could not find one spec'd for this model unfortunately.

 

[Gmoney11MKS]

https://imgur.com/p1Xk3hv


Got it off. Omg they give you zero space to work in there. My arms and hands are torn up, but it's off. Going to grab the used one tomorrow morning and throw it on there.

Its absolutely trashed!! Just glad it lasted as long as it did. No idea how it failed, but it definitely did.

Now I'll have to throw it on and get a recharge. Usually I'd just grab a can from the parts store, but since its completely empty now, I'm guessing I'll have to take it to a shop. Maybe I'll be able to use the machine at work and just pay for the freon, but they get weird about using shop tools.

Anyone think grabbing a can would work even though itll be completely empty system? I doubt there's enough refrigerant to make the clutch lock up and dont want to waste money.

 

[jman1200]

So it seems that your magnet broke off and the rubber piece was just the insulator behind it. Never seen one break like that.
Since you completely depleted the system, you want to apply full vacuum before recharging it in order to fill it properly and remove all the excess moisture. Do not forget to add oil.

 

[Johnbigdog]

I will second that you want to evacuate the system (pull a vacuum for a minimum of 45 min) to boil out any moisture in the system. There is a desiccant in the system to pull moisture out when working properly, but you want it as dry as posible after opening it up to insure longevity.

A new compressor will usually have oil in it. Most of the time I will manually rotate the old compressor to see how much is in it and measure that into the system during fill.

A new Ford compressor has enough oil in it for a whole system so you have to drain and fill accordingly or you will have to much in the system.

You can just fill the system with the small cans and the system will work, but maybe not as well as it should or you may have an early failure agian.

 

[Gmoney11MKS]

Thanks guys. The compressor I got was used. Fairly priced and lower miles than the one I removed.

I used the ac machine I had available at work. It's what we use on semis, though I'm sure it's the same machine for cars. Been awhile since I've actually used an ac machine.

It runs a 20 minute vacuum, followed by a 15 minute leak test where if holds the vacuum. Then adds oil based on the amount of refrigerant the system holds. So far so good.

The car is now near silent when idling. Other than the fuel pump noise when listening from the front of the car. Gotta love the direct injection pump noises! So much quieter than before, I'm almost positive this was a ticking timebomb since I bought the car, as it's never been this quiet. I'm very happy and so is my wallet. $70 compressor, $25 belt and free use of the machine.