SHO's Broken Down - Need Easy way out - A cry of help

[SHO SWIFT]

I'm afraid if I do not resolve this issue, I may be SHOless for quite sometime. Recently after a 364 mile drive back to NJ from Virginia the SHO started to smoke. Which with any car is no good. This problem reared it's ugly head when I was about a 15 minute ride home. So I took the chance a drove from my friends house back home which took all of 15 minutes. Sadly, I got about 1/10 of a mile from my own house and the car decided to roll over and die. It got towed the next morning to a shop. I recently was in contact with them and they said this is the problem. My AC compressor is utterly shot and I need to buy the whole assembly which from a quote from Ford Parts Network.com said is about $360 ... a college student just cannot afford that . . . I used all my savings to buy the SHO in the first place. . . and I have barely any money. . .

Does my car really need an AC Compressor to run? Can I drop the bad AC Compressor out of the car and run the SHO during the winter? Once summer comes and I have a job again I will be able to afford this expense but certainly not now.

 

[Slo-Sho]

I take it the pulley seized...The smoke was probably coming from your accesory drive belt. You can run a shorter belt and bypass the A/C w/ no ill effects.

 

[SolidState]

been there done that...

There isn't really a shorter belt for an ATX. You would have to measure it manually and find a belt that is near the same size.

You can replace the pully with the conpressor in the car, but it is tricky and requires some special tools. Plus, if you overheated the pully bearings, there is a good chance that the shaft transferred some of that heat directly to the compressor. Not good.

What I did for the time being is find a JY compressor simply as a big, oversized pully. With a little patience, swapping teh compressor isn't too hard. But you do have to release the refridgerant.

 

[luigisho]

I would go with what Teg said. Get a piece of string and route it through the belt path bypassing the ac compressor. Take your measurement to an auto parts store or find one on the internet that is very close with the same rib count. It should be doable. Address the ac in the summer.

 

[SHO SWIFT]

So the shop would need to measure out the length of the accesory belt bypassing the AC compressor? Do you think I shop would be willing to do that for me?

Would it be worthwhile to have them remove the AC Compressor altogether and drive without it until summer comes?

 

[SolidState]

this isn't a hard thing to do...get your hands dirty and measure the needed length...

The only problem that I forsee is that you *may* have to remove at least the pully off teh compressor..

 

[DHMag]

i have one of the famed A/C bypass serpentine belts, ribbed on both sides for your pleasure ! (rubbed on A/C pulley, thus ribbing other side). would you like me to measure it ?

 

[Rob94]

DHMag:
i have one of the famed A/C bypass serpentine belts, ribbed on both sides for your pleasure ! (rubbed on A/C pulley, thus ribbing other side). would you like me to measure it ?

Would do no good. Different between ATX and MTX.

 

[rangerj]

SHO Swift,

Unplug the A/C coil so it will not kick on the compressor in the "defrost" mode.

Check with the local auto parts store, and I do not mean Auto Zone, and see if the A/C pulley bearing is available as a replacement part. I know it is for 89 through 91.

If the pulley bearing is available, then replace the bearing. If it is not available, then replace the pulley and bearing as an assembly.

There are several "on-line" parts suppliers that sell the pulley separate from the A/C clutch/coil assembly.

If you want to drive around in a half-assed jury rigged car, get yourself one of those rice grinders. rangerj

 

[stevetatro]

If just recently bought a new A/C compressor/clutch/pulley assembly for my '93 ATX from www.caawparts.com. Very good prices and service.

It is not that simple to replace your compressor. I was about a 6-hour job for me to replace the compressor, accumulator/line, liquid line, and convert to R-134a.

The hardest thing would be for you to find someone to evacuate your R-12. If you go to a mechanic and ask them to recover it and put it back in when you're done, they'll probably laugh at you!

If you want a temporary fix, don't be afraid to bypass the A/C compressor pulley. Take the previous advice and measure with some string. It's a quick job to get the belt off and put a new one on. Remove the battery and tray, get a breaker bar with a 17mm (I think) socket, and pull CLOCKWISE on the automatic tensioner pulley. Pull it far and hold it steady while you remove the belt from one pulley. You can then release the tensioner and remove the entire belt. As you can imagine, the belt won't have to be exactly the length you measure with string, since the automatic tensioner will easily take up a couple inches of slack.

When you're ready to fix the A/C for good, take rangerj's advice. He was very helpful to me when I tackled my own A/C. I was successful, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing wink

Good luck.

 

[SW SHO]

rangerj is the A/C god!