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More Dash Air Conditioner

Yahoo Message Number: 115755
I went to leave this morning and found while doing the pre trip checklist that my serpentine belt was broken. After a little looking I found that the a/c compressor was locked up and probably caused the belt to break (it was barely over a year old). I decided to put a shorter belt on and just bypass the a/c compressor. Mainly, what I need to know is if there is a chance that this will cause any damage to anything.

I had the compressor changed 2 years ago and then replaced about a year ago when the compressor locked up again. Now it has locked up again. I wonder what is causing it. Will it damage the compressor if run with no freon? I had the source engineering wax valve installed in place of the S/D. The tech that replaced the compressor said that the fan wasn't running when you first started up the engine. He said that we needed to install an electric fan or figure why the fan wasn't running. I called Source Engineering and they said that an orifice needed to be installed and they sent me one and told me where to install it. I thought that fixed it but now it has locked up again. When we first started this trip the a/c was blowing warm air. We let it run and a couple hundred miles down the road the blower quit. I located a fuse that was blown (under the dash in front of the passenger seat). I replaced it but it would blow immediately when I turned the a/c on. I did determine that after replacing the fuse the second time that the blower fan would work fine on vent but when I turned the a/c on it would blow. I haven't tried it on heat settings.

Thanks,

Dennis Holmes
2006 Intrigue #12055
Caterpillar C13

Re: More Dash Air Conditioner

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 115761
The blower is not related to the compressor locking up, so you have more than one issue.

The compressor will not run without freon in the system, there is a pressure switch to prevent this. When you have multiple compressors lock up you need to do a couple of things. First completely flush the system to remove any metal particles from the failed compressors, replace the expansion valve, receiver dryer, then the compressor. Put a vacuum pump on the system for 2 hours. THEN add the required amount of PAG oil to the system. It sounds like there was not enough oil in the system.

The blower fuse is a separate e issue

Mikee

Re: More Dash Air Conditioner

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 115762
Hi Dennis, I had a similar thing happen on my van, where the compressor would "lock up". After going through several compressors in a short period of time and the same number of repair shops I
finally found someone that knew what they were doing. Two things were happening, when the first compressor went after 8 years, the inside of the compressor disintegrated sending bits of metal through the system. When the other compressors were installed, no one flushed out the system, so the metal parts were still there. The A/C tech showed me a filter he pulled out before installing the last one and it was full of metal. The other thing he showed me was the that the compressor bracket had bent a little bit, therefore the belt was not flat on the clutch assembly . This caused the clutch to wear unevenly, and a bearing eventually failed.
Dennis Maloney
'05 Allure 42 #31207