4age 20v A/C compressor problems

(Archived October 1, 2007)

4age 20v A/C compressor problems


Symptom : 
1) Switch on A/C, poor idling. RPM drops about 0.5K…
2) Compressor makes excessive noise


The reasons :


1) Leaks
- One of the most common compressor failure is due to loss of lubricant. Most common places the leak take place are hoses, pipe connections (flange gasket and O-rings), condenser and evaporator.
- For my case, there was a leak at one of my hoses, due to that, it contributes making my compressor very unhealthy…heeeee

2) Compressor clutch problem
- the clutch is not working properly, maybe the magnetic clutch did not engages when energized, when i turn the compressor pulley, the movement weren’t so smooth…others maybe include a bad relay, fuse, wiring problem or a defective clutch
- how to determine the clutch engage or not, by jumping the clutch lead with a jumper wire from the battery, it will show if the problem is in the clutch or elsewhere. If not engaging it’s the clutch problem.
- If the clutch engages, it maybe due to clutch power supply, such as relay, fuse, wiring, switch or control module. You can detect al these by simply work backward, from the compressor to the battery to find out the root cause, mainly voltage problem.
Through out my mechanic finding, due to my compressor problems, (as mentioned in the Symptom) , it makes my cutout switch burned, all the wiring near by was caught up in flames…lucky nothing serious happened.
This is the picture of the burn-out cutout switch (I think). See the burn mark…

Below are the second hand compresor (half-cut condition, used from Japan)





3) Clutch air gap 
- as mentioned before the clutch not turning very smooth and it also makes the clutch air gap reduce or wasn’t the correct gap. Through out my finding, most of clutches air gap was around 0.015 to 0.040 inch.
Soooo…with these 2 problems with my compressor and keep on ignoring to replace my compressor, it makes my compressor cutout fails to operates properly and finally it burned. Since the cutout switch burned, the future consequences are…compressor will burn, compressor belt also will burn and the worth part is the whole engine will caught up in fire, because not cutout switch, which supposed to protect the compressor from such damage. (As mentioned by the A/C specialist) .

Solutions : 
Replace the faulty compressor with a new one. By doing so, the idling when A/C is on is much more better. Others that related, better acceleration during A/C is on with better FC.
Others : 
Top : New Compressor
Bottom : Faulty Compressor

Details for picture below .
Left picture : Faulty AE101 compressor part number and details
Right picture : New AE101 compressor part number and details
P/S : Old model R12…better to changed to R134a, for better protection to the environment…heee