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AC Clutch Lesson tonight. 200 1986

Last night I went on a late night run for the wife and suddenly the ac started blowing hot air. Now it was ONLY 98 here yesterday so at least is was after dark before it quit.

Checked the fuse and good there.

Clipped on the gauges and the high side was low and the low side was high so there was no compression.

Jumped the low pressure switch with no luck. Chopped off all of the splices looking for an open, and nothing was sticking out as bad.

Checked the 12 volts on the green wire and there was 12 volts. I then realized the pusher fan was humming away and that should have told me that I had voltage. Checked the clutch to chassis and it read a low reading. It was late, I was hot and tired so shut it down.

Tonight after the sun started to fade, I checked the clutch wire to chassis of the compressor and wrote it down, it's 3.8 ohms. Hooked the compressor clutch up to the wire coming out of harness which I knew had 12 volts on it and the clutch did not engage.

Starting to look like it was time for the new compressor, and dang it the AC has been so good for the last year. Was about the start the tear down when the bulb went on. Went inside and typed AC Clutch Resistance. And there was a post from jorrell about the compressor being grounded.

In my frustration I measured the clutch to the chassis of the compressor but did not check the resistance to the engine block or chassis. Pulled out the ohm meter and 3.8 ohms to chassis of the compressor, but it also read 78 ohms to the block.

Well that was not right, and what do you know. Scouted around and found the ground wire, and after taking it off and inspecting the connector, it was eaten up with the green gunk inside the crimp. Humidity is heck on bare copper wires down here, looked like by last set of Bosch plug wires did when they got ripped out and tossed in the refuse bin.

Installed a new heavy duty wire with shrink tubing and a good tape job over the crimps and it now read 3.9 ohms to the engine block. Redid all my slice and dice troubleshooting and got it all back in place.

When I started her up about 10 seconds later heard that click of the compressor kicking on and then the cool air started coming out the vents.

Glad I did not rip out the compressor. Called around and new compressor are $300 and was not able locate a rebuild. The idea of high 90's and the PUP has sort of lost it's appeal from some reason. Did find a place in Stafford close to where I work that rebuilds compressors with a one year warranty for $148 bucks. Was about to save the core fee of $30 by having the compressor in the trunk of the wife's car tomorrow.

Good to read up before you plunge in too far.

Regards,

Paul











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    AC Clutch Lesson tonight. 200 1986

    Paul,

    It's good to hear that an old post of mine still did some good! That's the beauty of the brickboard... type in a question, read a few answers (or search)and save big bucks!

    Glad to hear it worked out on the cheap!

    jorrell
    --
    92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!








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    AC Clutch Lesson tonight. 200 1986

    Hey Paul i am surprised there is nothing in the archives about the clutch wire?
    Its a high failure item as you found out and as i did a few yrs ago.








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      AC Clutch Lesson tonight. 200 1986

      Well you have to have make the time to go look at the achives....... And type in the right phase a lot of the times. Have found that Google is a decent place to find BB postings recently.

      Happened late at night and the job thing and being awake for it came up. Then yesterday afternoon it was out into the heat and get this done. Guess the lucky break for me was doing the search for the coil resistance and then figuring out to check the resistance to ground on the block not just the compressor body.

      Have to admit did not start checking problems with a resistive ground connection as one of the things to check.

      Any future AC troubleshooting where the clutch does not engage will have a resistance check to the motor through the coil.

      Thanks and Regards,

      Paul








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    AC Clutch Lesson tonight. 200 1986

    I can't imagine how many repair $hop$ would have ripped that compressor out in a heart beat.

    I took my mother-in-law's 740 to a repair shop for her because the A/C was blowing hot air. The shop insisted it needed a new compressor and untold other parts - $1500 worth. I tried to point out to them that she probably wasn't willing to throw $1500 at a $1200 car.

    We then took it over to a little hole-in-the-wall repair shop who said all it needed was a can of refrigerant. That brought it back to life for another three years.







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