My 97 Escort wagon's AC compressor started making a noise today when the clutch is not engaged. The noise stops when the compressor is engaged. It seems to me that the clutch bearing must be failing. I see that a clutch kit is available from Advance but I need to know if the clutch can be replaced with the compressor mounted on the car? How is the clutch removed? My Haynes manual doesn't talk about how to remove the clutch. The AC system works well otherwise.

 

The clutch hub it bolted on with an 8mm bolt. However, the pulley is pressed onto the compressor shaft. You would need to have enough room between the compressor pulley and anything else to get a puller onto the end of the compressor shaft to remove it in the vehicle. You may want to price a new loaded compressor verses a new clutch/hub assembly. They may be real close in pricing to be more cost effective to get a new compressor already loaded with the pulley and hub with the proper air gap. Plus a new compressor will have a 1+ year warranty. I just did this on my 04 Freestar. A/C went out on my way to AZ. The pulley seized up on my. Van has 168,000 miles on it. Clutch assembly was $100 (hassle to remove and install and no guarantee how much longer the compressor would go) a new loaded compressor was $170 (2 Yr. warranty). No brainer...When I got to AZ., I broke out my tools and I recovered the R-134a, installed the new compressor, pulled a vacuum and charged the system in about 4 hours. A/C was back in service for my time in AZ. and the trip back to NY.

 

I'm not terribly worried about how long the compressor will work as the car is only used in the middle of the night to deliver newspapers. If I could buy a different serpentine belt that would bypass the AC I would do that. The noisy clutch makes the car too noisy to use at night.

 

You would have to rough measure the length of belt required to bypass the A/C compressor. I had to do that with my Freestar. Tried 5-6 different length belts before I got one that would work. The Autozone Rep was nice enough to get different sized belts for my to try outside their door. Was on my way to AZ in about 1 hour with the A/C bypassed.

 

I took the bottom cover off of the car and found that I couldn't change the clutch with the compressor attached but when I unbolted the compressor I could lower it enough to change the clutch. The bearing was fine. The pulley was broken at each of the four points where the pulley met the bearing hub. It wasn't too hard to remove with a three jaw puller. The AC works again with no noise. We'll see how long the compressor holds up.


Another reason I didn't want to replace the whole compressor is that I don't have the tools to evacuate the R-134 or vacuum the system. The repair shop down the road refused to do that for me unless I paid them $150.00. That seemed outrageous to me.

 

Glad to hear you were able to have enough room to do the repair. $150 is overkill just to evacuate the system. I only charge $50 to evacuate a system, pressure test, pull a vacuum and ensure it holds and then recharge the system. The vehicle owner supplies the gas unless I pulled a full charge out. Then I just put their gas back in.