Traveling through Utah today my A/C took a dump in my '97 Expedtion....!! A nice balmy 90 deg. day! I've noticed for a while that the a/c will quit intermittantly, then get cold again. Well, today I had my wife engage it while I watched and I swearI saw a spark fly off the pulley and the thing tried engageing... would turn half way then quit, then try and turn and quit. So... I'm not sure if it's the clutch or the whole compressor. Should I just replace the whole thing? Is this something I can do in the driveway? My dad just said I cant evacuate the system myself... something about being illegal? WHat should I do... I hate to take it to someone but, if I have to...
Thanks!

 

With the engine OFF !!!
Try turning the center front of the Comp. by hand.
If it turns free with a hump - hump feel like a small engine, it is probably OK.
Sounds like it went low on gas and you let it keep cycling on and off and
that took the clutch out.
You can replace the clutch assembly without releasing the gas.
Then it needs to be recharged.

 

thanks! that seems quite proboble. I got a new clutch kit today, took off my old assy.... the old pully/bearing assy fell apart inmy hand! Anyway... do you know a good way to put the new one on? I finally got the field coil put on, but the new pulley will not at all go on! and there's no room to really tap it on! I'm stuck! ANy ideas? Maybe I can find someone with a dremel that I can use to smooth down the nose of that compressor!

Thanks!

 

 

fHoly crap... what a beehoch! I finally got it! but not after using the dremel on the end of that shaft! But I got it! wow! ... hope it works! I didn't get the belt back on before dinner! Why does everything haveto be so hard!
Thanks
Tom

 

Oh... and when I get it together, and add the refrigerant.... is the fill port the ..one on the right front of vehicle, by the radiator? thanks

 

No, its on the right side (passenger side) by the heater motor area (firewall).
You always charge on the low side.
The one you were looking at is the high side.
Follow the Hose (Lines) from the compressor to the heater area, somewhere
along the lines before they get to another part there will be a low side port.

 

Got everything together and drove a couple hundred miles and noticed the new clutch/pulley is fried. Had to take it in and it was the compressor shot! bummer! But got a killer deal in Casper, WY. Glad the dealership couldn't fit me in!

 

97Expyguy - how did you get the new field coil on?

I assume you pried the old one off?

 

Pried the old one off. Then, tapped the new one on. Not too tough... except there's like no room to work down there! But I must've schmucked the nose of the compressor a lil tapping on the field coil.... cause the new pulley would not go on at all until I grinded the tip of that nose down with a dremel! What a pain!... plus it blew a day of my vacation!

 

I know this is an old thread, but it was the one that helped me fix my compressor clutch, so I'll add my two cents for the other neophytes out there ... Big thanks to subford for his comments in various threads!

My 98 5.4L 4X4 began intermittently making a terribly loud groaning noise on a highway trip (fortunately, on the way home!). The noise wouldn't go away, but changed, when I toggled the A/C. Removing the serpentine belt and checking pulleys revealed that the bearings on the A/C clutch were shot. I could wobble the pulley about 1/4".

Here's how I replaced it in less than two beers, never having done it before (which never happens to me!):

To get room to work, I removed the throttle cover and the bent part of the air cleaner assy. and the radiator shroud (only 8 reusable plastic fasteners hold it on). Then, disconnected the fan, using one of those nylon strap-type wrenches (wonderful tool!), a big crescent wrench, and a hammer. Only four bolts hold the fan shroud in, so I pulled the fan and shroud out all at once, giving me lots of room to do all work from the top. Time so far, about 15 minutes, but from the complaining I've heard about trying to do this from below, it sounds like it was time well spent.

I removed the small bolt holding the clutch plate on, using a big screwdriver between the lugs on the plate to hold it still while I wrenched (suprisingly little torque required to loosen it), then removed the serpentine belt using a 1/2" drive breaker bar to rotate the idler pulley a bit to put some slack in it. I then removed the circlip holding the A/C pully with an appropriate tool. I used a small 3-way puller to get the pulley off, examined it, and said "Well, there's your problem!". Almost half of the bearings were missing. Using a mirror, I saw bearing parts back in the recess, so I dug that out with a small screwdriver, cleaned everything up, left the field coil in place, and put it all back together by reversing the process with a new A/C pulley & bearing and a new plate.

I learned here that there needs to be a very small bit of space between the plate surfaces. The assembly I bought included several small washers to use as spacers. These drop into the bolt recess in the inside end of the outer plate. I used one of those 6" metal scales (which measured out to .020") as a gauge, making sure my guage barely fit in the space. It only took me one spacer washer (YMMV). Turning on the AC on and off with the key in the accessory position confirmed that the spacing was OK with a click as the plates made contact each time the clutch was energized. Thanks to a tip I found here, I'll confirm this was also a good way to hold the clutch plate when loosening and tightening the little bolt holding it all together.

Hope this helps the next guy!