mstrhiei Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Driving home, all of the sudden, loud squealing, that gets louder with acceleration, then it stops. Made a right turn and then the squealing started again, this time ending with a small thunk. Sounds of metal clanking and the car suddenly losing about 50% of its power. Pedal to the floor and doing 60 mph. Eased up after realizing and took side streets to get home. Opened the hood to find a plate in between the pulley and the rotating cap on the front of the AC compressor(facing the vehicle). This plate seems to be 2 pieces of metal riveted together. Well now this piece is dangling freely , clanking jumping around and rotating violently. Im guessing that its friction is the cause of my power loss. I tried to remove the rotating cap on the AC compressor, only to find out that there is some sort of compression ring, or a special tool i am missing in order to remove the piece that is holding this erratic plate in place. On a side note, My battery went dead after this incident. Could the interference from the dangling plate slowed my alternator's ability to charge my car. Is there a short that may have been caused by something violently breaking off and damaging my battery cables. It seems something was holding that plate in place before. I noticed that the AC compressor is fairly close to my battery cables. I was inspecting them but it was getting dark. So I need to know if I can remove this plate and keep driving with out it in place. My AC compressor is purely cosmetic. Its only there cause the belts run off the pulley it has on it. If I can do that , what tool would I need to get the front assembly of the AC compressor off. I do plan on getting the AC restored on this car but not sure as to when I might be doing that. Could be a few months or a few years. Would replacing the entire AC compressor be more viable and better in the long run for my older vehicle. So after a little research I have found out that the plate is part of my AC compressors Clutch. Can I replace just the clutch . Anyone know how this might have happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Sounds like the clutch bearing self destructed and took out the clutch plate. You need a puller to remove the clutch plate, pulley, etc. Is the compressor an A-6? The A-6 compressor is long unit and is very durable. You could replace the clutch, clutch bearing and shaft seal and it would work fine. You will need a lot of specialized tools though - it might make sense to find an A/C shop that can repair the compressor for you rather than buy a POS rebuilt unit from one of the chain stores. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrhiei Posted December 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 Sounds like the clutch bearing self destructed and took out the clutch plate. You need a puller to remove the clutch plate, pulley, etc. Is the compressor an A-6? The A-6 compressor is long unit and is very durable. You could replace the clutch, clutch bearing and shaft seal and it would work fine. You will need a lot of specialized tools though - it might make sense to find an A/C shop that can repair the compressor for you rather than buy a POS rebuilt unit from one of the chain stores. Yes it is an A-6, and that is exactly what happened. im thinking of looking at a few places to rent or borrow the tools from for a day. It doesn't seem to invasive if you have the right tools. WOuld it be entirely necessary to replace the clutch plate can i just remove the broken one and keep driving llike that. THe AC compressor doesnt do anything at all anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 If the pulley bearing is trashed - you need to replace it. Removing the broken clutch plate wouldn't make much of a difference if the bearing is bad. If you are able to locate the tools, replacing the clutch plate and bearing is not a difficult job - all while the compressor is still on the car and you don't have to worry about the refrigerant. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manowar77 Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Pull the compressor out and throw it at the junkyard..u dont need that crap!! Roger Martinsen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trev0006 Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 could bw just about anything. Driving home, all of the sudden, loud squealing, that gets louder with acceleration, then it stops. Made a right turn and then the squealing started again, this time ending with a small thunk. Sounds of metal clanking and the car suddenly losing about 50% of its power. Pedal to the floor and doing 60 mph. Eased up after realizing and took side streets to get home. Opened the hood to find a plate in between the pulley and the rotating cap on the front of the AC compressor(facing the vehicle). This plate seems to be 2 pieces of metal riveted together. Well now this piece is dangling freely , clanking jumping around and rotating violently tire. Im guessing that its friction is the cause of my power loss. I tried to remove the rotating cap on the AC compressor, only to find out that there is some sort of compression ring, or a special tool i am missing in order to remove the piece that is holding this erratic plate in place. On a side note, My battery went dead after this incident. Could the interference from the dangling plate slowed my alternator's ability to charge my car. Is there a short that may have been caused by something violently breaking off and damaging my battery cables. It seems something was holding that plate in place before. I noticed that the AC compressor is fairly close to my battery cables. I was inspecting them but it was getting dark. So I need to know if I can remove this plate and keep driving with out it in place. My AC compressor is purely cosmetic. Its only there cause the belts run off the pulley it has on it. If I can do that , what tool would I need to get the front assembly of the AC compressor off. I do plan on getting the AC restored on this car but not sure as to when I might be doing that. Could be a few months or a few years. Would replacing the entire AC compressor be more viable and better in the long run for my older vehicle. So after a little research I have found out that the plate is part of my AC compressors Clutch. Can I replace just the clutch . Anyone know how this might have happened? Cars and fast motorcycles video collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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