ac clutch
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Junior User
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 79
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From: spring,tx.
ac clutch
i have a 1986 f-150 with 302. my ac compressor turns on and off real fast. i replaced the low pressure switch. i checked freon and it was good. i had been hearing a noise from under the hood under load. ac was working fine at this point. so i checked the belts and the ac belt was real tight so i loosened it and the noise went away. about a month later the noise came back and the ac stopped working. im running 134 freon. can a bad compressor clutch cause this? what are the sympotoms of the bad ac clutch.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 56,997
Likes: 2,744
From: Virginia
With the engine off, get some feeler guages and see what the gap is in the compressor clutch where it opens and closes. It should be .014 to a max of .030. The one in my truck was over .040 and had the same symptoms as yours.
If it's wide, you can go to autozone and rent a special puller to pull the clutch apart. When you get it apart, there will be a couple of washers on the shaft. You can take one of these out to close the gap up.
When I did mine, one washer was a little too much, and brought it down to about .012. I could see the clutch grabbing a little bit when the compressor was off, but it finally wore in. You probably could make a little thin washer to avoid that if it happens.
This fixed my A/C system right up. The only problem I have now is I fooled with the pressure adjustment on the pressure switch, and it cools a little bit too much and the coil freezes over. But it still works well.
If it's wide, you can go to autozone and rent a special puller to pull the clutch apart. When you get it apart, there will be a couple of washers on the shaft. You can take one of these out to close the gap up.
When I did mine, one washer was a little too much, and brought it down to about .012. I could see the clutch grabbing a little bit when the compressor was off, but it finally wore in. You probably could make a little thin washer to avoid that if it happens.
This fixed my A/C system right up. The only problem I have now is I fooled with the pressure adjustment on the pressure switch, and it cools a little bit too much and the coil freezes over. But it still works well.
