Air was working fine, as it generally does.

Coming down from highway speed , suddenly got a smell of asbestos, like a locked up brake or slipping clutch.

Air then went tango-uniform, blowing, but no cooling.

On observation, the belt looks fine, tension seems correct.

I obviuosly need to check pressures, haven't looked for the ports yet...where is the low pressure port on our cars?

Any ideas?

I'm not sure if the ac clutch failed, or if the compressor failed and took the clutch with it, but it doesn't look like either is an easy fix.

 

wa3ra, open the hood of your car and walk over to the passenger front tire (right front tire). With the tower strut housing there in front of you, look just beyond it and you should see 2 metal stems sticking up with black plastic caps on them. if you look, one port is going to be bigger than the other. If I remember right, the bigger port is the low pressure port. If you have a pressure gauge, it will only connect to the correct one. Then you check the pressure with the system turned on max and the dash blower going full blast.

 

105 psi. no movement. Clutch relay works, but current draw is 13.5 A, which is really bad news for the 10 amp fuses.

I wonder if I'm better off changing the clutch ('02, factory, so no keyway ) or just swapping the whole compressor and accumulator/dryer and putting fresh gaskets everywhere.


I just hate to have a full charge vacuumed.

 

wa3ra, if you are going to put in a new compressor, then you might as well do the other 2 pieces while you have all the freon out.

105 psi is a little high. As I recall, it should be down around 30 psi. So, that would cause your system to not put out any coolness. Sounding like your clutch is frozen and is not able to disengage or you have a blockage in the system (which would also lead to you needing to replace the accumulator/dryer).

 

The 105 tells me that the charge is all upstream...it should pull down to about 45 or so with the charge that is actually in it, which is the correct factory charge. I did verify that myself when I got the car. (that 105 is high side, 45 is low side. When it is working correctly, I should see about 125-130 high, about 18-25 low).


I can be pretty sure that the TXV is roached, since there shouldn't be that kind of pressure below the valve.

Priced a clutch...not worth it for the amount of work involved.

Getting a new compressor with the clutch, a new valve, a new accumulator and drier, and as long as the pressure will be gone anyway, new seals and o-rings.

I doesn't look like it will be a particularly easy job!

 

I just had a new compressor fitted by my Jag guy. It came to around $600. Living in Florida I really didn't have much choice.

 

That actually sounds about right, flyrr, a tad under 200 for the parts, $50 in gas and the labor.