Hi I am wondering if it would be possible to post of email me a detalied discription on how to remove the shims on the a/c compressor. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Peter,
Did you reuse the old clutch plate or get a new plate and re shimmed it?

I reused the old clutch plate. Two years ago, I replaced the entire clutch, which is more diffiuclt because you have to get a puller into that tight space, and have three hands.
This time, I only re-shimmed, and used the same clutch plate. The new clutch from two years ago came with 3 shime, each a different size. Fortunately, I had saved them, so I had a good selection when I went to reshim.

I measured my clearance at .042" and assembled the clutch with shims that were about .023" thinner than what I took out, and somehow ended up with clearance of only .009". So I had to take it apart again and reshim for more clearance. Thus my advice to buy extra 5MM bolts. (They are really cheap). But definitely get that tap and clean up the threads each time you remove the 5MM bolts after pulling the clutch plate. I don't think you can get the %mm bolts started in the threads the second time, if you don't clean up the threads.

Here is a combination of the instructions I originally posted 2 years ago after replacing the clutch, and a bit of advice I learned from reshimming it this spring.

Checking for the problem is pretty straightforward. If you remove the plastic undertray, you can measure the A/C clutch gap with a feeler guage. (Engine should not be running when you do this.) Much like the first person to report on the issue of A/C clutch wear, mine measured .041" - .042". This appears to be the gap distance at which the clutch becomes incapable of pulling in the clutch plate in hot weather. I removed shims to get it down to .019" and it has had no problem in the recent 100+ deg F weather.

Two years ago, I had posted information about using three 5mm X 080 bolts to pull off the clutch plate. Let me add some info to that: Unless you can find some hardened 5MM bolts, the tip of the bolts will be damaged in the course of pulling off the clutch plate, and will damage the threads in the threaded holes in the clutch plate when you remove the bolts. Therefore, when you go buy the 5MM bolts, I recommend that you also buy a 5MM X 080 tap, and an extra set of bolts. This will allow you to clean up the threads before you replace the clutch plate, as well as have another set of bolts to remove the plate again, if you find that your first attempt at shimming did not get you where you wanted to go.


1. Don't discharge the A/C system.
2. Remove the bolt holding the receiver dryer bracket to the car, but don't disconnect the receiver/dryer.
3. The manual tells you to remove the 2 radiator bolts and swing the radiator forward. This looks like a bad idea to me. If you do that, nothing is holding in the radiator but the hoses. I removed the right hand bolt and loosened the left hand bolt, so that the right side could swing forward.
4. Unbolt the compressor and move it to where you can access the center bolt on the clutch plate. Remove the bolt. You probably need an air impact wrench to get it off, unless you can stop the plate from turning when you try to unbolt the bolt. (Don't over torque it going back in. The spec is 10 ft/lbs.)
5. The manual tells you to pull off the clutch plate. It will not come off. What they don't tell you is that there are 3 5MM holes in the plate. You need to get three 5MM bolts, about 1 1/2" long, and thread them into the holes. Tighten them evenly, and it will pull the plate off. If you don't do it evenly, the plate will get cocked and stop coming off. 8. When reassembling, don't forget to put in the clutch plate spacer shim(s). The new clutch comes with 3. I used the one shim that was in the old clutch. (It was stuck inside the clutch plate, so you have to go look for it.)