Air Con compressor clutch....

Hello All,

Due to a leaky compressor I have just fitted a second hand replacement I sourced from RPI engineering.

It was bought from the 'bay, I hadn't tested it but they said it worked fine when it was removed, and I have no reason to doubt them.

I installed it with new O rings and sent it for re-gassing today, but they've just phoned to say the air is still warm.

It looks like the clutch isn't clicking in. They've said they can't hear or see it clicking in.

When I get home tonight I'll re-check the electrical connections to see they're working, but is there anything else I should look at? Do they seize if they don't get used, and a good clout might help?

I have the old compressor with a working clutch on it. Can I swap them over if the one I've got doesn't work?

Would I need to do a reset with a Nanocom if I changed a compressor over? I didn't switch the ignition on when I had the car apart.

Also, I thought I saw the orange "air-con off" light flashing yesterday when I was driving the car. What does that mean?

I should add, there was no book symbol on the screen to suggest a fault.

Any help, as usual, gratefully received!

Al.

Taken from another site, have a read on Compressor Clutch Failure

newrremedies

The people you’ve asked to re-gas have clearly not read the button! It says “A/C OFF” so when the light is flashing or fully lit the A/C is off!! I know this is the other way around to 99% of cars??

Try your A/C again making sure the orange light is off! And if you had a faulty clutch then this wouldn’t show as the Book symbol neither would low on Gas so don’t use that as a guide either.

Check the Dual Pressure switch....

Also when the lamp flashes, this means the HEVAC system cannot maintain desired comfort level with the Air Con switched off....

JohnnyCrash said:

The people you’ve asked to re-gas have clearly not read the button! It says “A/C OFF” so when the light is flashing or fully lit the A/C is off!!

Click to expand...

When they phoned, I told them to make sure the AUTO button was pressed. That should override the A/C off button.

They said they had done this and the clutch was still not engaging, having said that I'm secretly hoping this is the case because as the air isn't cold they won't charge me for the re-fill!

BTW I found out what the flashing means....

The flashing of the A/C off button means that the car is unable to obtain the selected cabin temp with the air-con off. In other words the outside ambient temp is too high.

So,

I've just been to have a look.

If I push the clutch closed with the engine running the system works as it should, I have freezing cold air.

It appears I have the common "air gap between the pulley and the clutch disk is too big" fault.

A bit annoying, because RPI said it was working perfectly before they sold it, and it can't have been if I have this fault.

Anyway, ericbaeuchamp has provided an answer for me, so thanks for that.

I'm going to try and transfer my old clutch mechanism over to the new compressor, but if that doesn't work, I'll try removing the shim washer as per the instructions on RR.net and see where that get me.

Thanks again all.

For the sake of completeness I'll just update this thread for future readers.

It's all working again now. I swapped the clutch over from my broken compressor to the replacement.

An easy job in-situ with a 14mm socket and a pin spanner.

I think the old clutch was worn and the air gap was too big for the magnetic coil to overcome. My old compressors clutch is in better condition and so I've just swapped it over and it work. The other thing to try is to remove the shim washer that sits under the drive plate. This reduced the air gap allowing the clutch to work again.