A/C Compressor question...

RLDSL

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Ok just to make sure I understand...you're talking about having an electric fan on the outside of the radiator pushing air through the (I'm no a/c expert so please forgive...the little radiator used for a/c) the a/c condensor I think it's called. And by doing this it helps with cooling at idle...that's sounds like a cool idea "pun intended'. Where exactly did you mount the fan? Now will this help with the squealing issue already or do I need to still replace the clutch? I'm glad to hear you can just replace the clutch as the whole compressor was around $200...cheapest at Advance Auto.

Yup, get the biggest electric fan you can poke in there on the condenser. you'll be able to mount it on one half of the condenser ,there is a bar running down the middle ( if you want to get fancy, you could get one for each side :D
Chances are the clutch on the compressor is still fine. What happens is over time the fan clutch looses oil and for that and other reasons , doesn't pull air like it was designed to at idle in the heat when it should. When not enough air is passing over the condenser, the the compressed refrigerant , to simplify, doesn't do it's thing, and you wind up with a flooded evaporator. The accumulator is there to catch this excess liquid so that hopefully it can equilize as the mix comes through so that you are returning gasseous refrigerant to the suction side of the compressor with a minimal amount of liquid.
When the air flow across the condenser gets way too low, it sets off a chain of events and the evaporator gets completely flooded and the accumulator gets overwhelmed and the suction line going back to the compressor gets a steady diet of straight liquid, which just like pouring a garden hose into your air intake on your engine, makes the thing hydro lock, hence the clutch slipping and squeeling and belt slipping. if you keep it up, you'll kill the compressor. You can put another clutch on it thatll mask the problem a little longer, but it'll just be a catastrophic compressor failure when it does go, and you'll be having a real blast flushing all the compressor crunchies out.

I almost never replace clutches ( aside from the extremely rare case where it actually IS the clutch and the compressor isn't so long in the tooth to make it not truthfully cost effective) In most cases the clutches outlive the compressors. and in ones where the clutch truely has given out, you can bet the end seal isn't far behind and for the price of a clutch etc, , I can get brand new compressors ( not rebuilt, they're not worth fooling with too many problems and cost more than the new ones most of the time ) for just about any vehicle for between $165-225 so why bother. For the amount of time tied up fooling with them. Why not just get the new compressor and be done with it.

So, in a nutshell, take care of the airflow issue, forget about the clutch, until you can get to that, if it starts squeeling SHUT THE AC OFF! flip the switch back on once you start moving.

It's not hard to rig a fan just attach it to the condenser with the provided push through plastic pins. pull the grill off , remove the bolts that retain the condenser and you will have enough play in the hoses to be able to pull it back farr enough to get your hands behind to work the retainers for the fan pins CAREFULLY work them through the fins and tubes without puncturing anything and secure them, or alternatiely, you can secure the fan to a couple of strips of flat bar and bolt it to the rad support.
Get a bosch relay , rig it to trigger off the ac clutch wire, , run the feed wire through a circuit breaker to the battery and ground everything appropriatly ( I can get you a decent circuit if needed )

If you've had this squeeling bit going on for a good long while, there's a good chance that you've already damaged your compressor. It may keep going for quite a while, but if this has been an ongoing thing, you may be needing a compressor before long. If so, you will need to take the entire system apart and flush all of the componants out thoroughly, to get all of the crunchies out.
If you end up going into the syste,. make sure to pop a variable orifice valve in there. it'll help even more with the low speed temps ( usually about a 12 deg drop in duct temps) and will help prevent evaporator flooding
 

ericboutin

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Wow awesome information!!! ;Sweet I went to Advance tonight to price up the goodies and a 10" fan was like 30 or 40 bucks and a 16" was like $75. The compressor just started doing the squealing thing on this last trip. I went ahead and bought 3 cans of 134 and checked the system. It was low but not out so that might explain why it was blowing cool but not cold. It took all three cans and now shows full and it was blowing cold cold and that was just sitting. :thumbsup: I'll need to wait until she gets heated up again to see if it will squeals again. We got a big trip coming up in August so I'm definately gonna look into putting the aux fan on. If you could dig up that circuit that would be great! Thanks again!
 

Dirtleg

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I just wanted to confirm what RLDSL said about the variable orifice valve. I installed one in mine yesterday and it blows super cold at any engine speed now. Got that tip on here shortly after I redid the system last time. It's a big improvement.
 

MIDNIGHT RIDER

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I just wanted to confirm what RLDSL said about the variable orifice valve. I installed one in mine yesterday and it blows super cold at any engine speed now. Got that tip on here shortly after I redid the system last time. It's a big improvement.


You said that like you just screwed it in and done.

I am A/C dumb; what is involved in replacing this variable orifice valve ??

Thanks, I'm still a'learnin'.:dunno
 

LCAM-01XA

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With the clutch laying on the bench, I find three or four equally spaced surfaces that have enough meat to drill and tap.

The exact location will vary, as I have seen all manner of configurations for clutch-housings that fit the same engine.

I drill/tap holes for 5/16 bolts.

I clean everything good with paint-thinner, then LOCTITE bolts into the holes, such that the tightened bolts have pushed the internals of the clutch together, thus locking things up.

On some vehicles, I have actually drilled plumb through and simply installed a bolt/nut through the hole.

So basically you're locking the fan blade and clutch housing to the clutch shaft - what about locking the shaft to the water pump pulley? Cause just locking the blades and the shaft together could cause the fan to unscrew itself from the water pump shaft and fly into the radiator, not a pretty sight at all.

The clutches on my wife's truck and my truck are pinned and I wouldn't hesitate to pin another; I have done many over the years.
Yeah, I had a solid hub on my old hopped-up Chevy, with its stock 7-blade fan, that beast could pretty much suck paper sheets through the radiator and it didn't even have a shroud!!!
 

MIDNIGHT RIDER

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So basically you're locking the fan blade and clutch housing to the clutch shaft - what about locking the shaft to the water pump pulley? Cause just locking the blades and the shaft together could cause the fan to unscrew itself from the water pump shaft and fly into the radiator, not a pretty sight at all.


This is only a remote possibility upon initial shut-down, and only if you neglect to really set-down on the big nut; also, it is a good idea to let the engine run quite some time, before the first shut-down.

It ain't going nowhere so long as the engine is running.


I keep the threads on all of mine saturated with anti-sieze, and even at that, have never had one work loose.
 

RLDSL

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Wow awesome information!!! ;Sweet I went to Advance tonight to price up the goodies and a 10" fan was like 30 or 40 bucks and a 16" was like $75. The compressor just started doing the squealing thing on this last trip. I went ahead and bought 3 cans of 134 and checked the system. It was low but not out so that might explain why it was blowing cool but not cold. It took all three cans and now shows full and it was blowing cold cold and that was just sitting. :thumbsup: I'll need to wait until she gets heated up again to see if it will squeals again. We got a big trip coming up in August so I'm definately gonna look into putting the aux fan on. If you could dig up that circuit that would be great! Thanks again!

Good deal. get the16" fan if it'll fit in there.
For the fan relay circuit, standard bosch relay pin out :
Terminal 86 of the relay connects to the wire that feeds the ac clutch. Make sure that you tap into it downstream of the pressure switch ( between the pressure switch and the clutch )
Terminal 85 grounds the relay, connect a short pigtail from it to a ring terminal and loop it back to the mounting screw for the relay ( if mounting to a good ground, if not, extend it to a good ground point ).
Terminal 30 is the battery voltage. ( or rather supply voltage to terminal 30 through an appropriatly rated for your fan, automatically resetting circuit breaker)
Terminal 87 is the output to the fan hot ( those aftermarket e fans are reversable so make sure to get the direction of rotation worked out before cutting any wires. Make sure to get a good clean ground point for the other wire .

If you took that much refrigerant after the squeeling incident, I'd be willing to bet the other day after the squeeling there was a pop off and a puff of smoke that you didn't notice as the over pressure valve cut loose and blew off a bunch of refrigerant.

And if anyone is interested My custom ac supplier has rigged me up with an oversized condenser from a later model rig that can be fit in with out too many modifications I'm about to put one in, I Have to make a new hose from the condenser to the fitting at the orifice tube ( the supplier can make those ) and the lower brackets from the old one wil have to be used on the new one , but it ought to be worth the effort. the thing has near twi ce as many tubes at about half the diameter so a lot more refrigerant acually geting contact
 

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