Air Conditioner Compressor Clutch
Adjustment
(by Ritchie
Tombasco)
There seem to be a rash of a/c problems on the list,
lately. Some of them relating to a bad clutch or out of spec air gap between
the clutch and the pulley. I replaced the a/c clutch on my '92 about a
month ago, so everything is still kinda fresh in my mind. Even if you have
to remove one of the shims to get the air gap back in spec, you still have
to remove the clutch..so here it is...THE "HOW I DID IT!"
First off, you don't have to remove the compressor,
the pulley or the belt...The specs for the air gap are in the Helms book
(0.021-0.036 inch between pulley and hub). What I did was put the
car up on jackstands, removed the passenger side tire and the fender liner.
You can (somewhat) get at the compressor now. It's a 12mm bolt (me thinks??)
at the center of the compressor that has to come off. I got a flat screwdriver
and placed it against one of the rivets on the clutch and put the handle
end of the screwdriver against the subfame and kinda wedged it in there
to keep the clutch from turning while I loosened the center bolt..you'll
see what I mean when you're in there!...it's a little tricky, but it'll
work..ya need patience! They tell you to use a "spanner" wrench" but, I
"ain'tgotno" spanner wrench! OK, once you get the bolt and washer off,
get two thin flat blade screwdrivers between the clutch and the pulley,
one on each side and gently pry the clutch off..be gentle..you have to
play with it a bit, but hang in there, it'll come off. They make a tool
for removing the clutch, but you have to remove the compressor to use it!
Now that the clutch is off, there should be a couple shims on the compressor
shaft. They look like (probaby are!) very thin washers. There's usually
two of them, a thick and a thinner one. Take one of the shims out (I took
the "thinner" one out) and put the clutch back on and check the air gap
with your trusty feeler gauge to see if the gap is now "in spec". Hope
it is, cause if it isn't, you gotta take the freakin' clutch back off and
switch shims. Just play mix-n-match with the shims until you get
the gap where it's supposed to be..then put everything back together and
give it a try. Sure hope this helps someone,....anyone!
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