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A/C Clutch?

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Old 04-10-2007, 05:34 PM
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Default A/C Clutch?

I am working on my friends car, a 1995 SE. The AC pulley is making a horrible noise, and the inner part of it is turning at different speeds. It is turning very slowly, but not at a constant speed. It does this when the AC is on and when it is off. I am thinking it is the clutch, but i'm not sure. If it is, how difficult is this to repair?
Thanks
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Old 04-10-2007, 05:39 PM
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what kind of noise?
Old 04-10-2007, 05:40 PM
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I'm not sure about repair, but I did have that same issue with my 92. The clutch started to fall apart, and then quite literally fell to pieces and I have no idea where it fell off. I figured no big deal, cause there would be no clutch engaging, so I left it. But then, after a while, I started noticing a lot of noise coming from under the hood, and I realized later that it was the A/C pulley'* bearings were just running metal on metal, so I eventually bypassed the pulley with a smaller belt. I have thought about having the A/C replaced, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Let me know if you come up with a different solution.

I would possibly recommend bypassing it the same as I did for the time being, until you find a solution, otherwise your clutch/pulley could break apart as well.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Old 04-10-2007, 05:43 PM
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What happens is that it starts breaking welds on the outer plate (or inner plate cant remember) But as the weld breaks it rubs the other plate and makes a loud tapping noise and gets faster as the RPMS raise. It sounds like that is what is happening 9but cant know for sure until you tell me the noise its making) and its like $100 for the plate and about 2 hours maybe to fix
Old 04-10-2007, 05:45 PM
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the hardest thing is finding the tools to it with.
Old 04-10-2007, 09:04 PM
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I think the route we're gonna go is the shorter belt for the time being. What size belt did you use to bypass the AC? And the noise is very hard to discribe, i'm gonna see if i can get a video of it tomorrow and upload it.
Old 04-10-2007, 09:08 PM
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it is possible that the gap between the AC clutches has gone a skew and they are rubbing. I had that happen on my 96. Got the clutch plates re-gapped and was silent again.

the clutches rubbing sounds like metal on metal.
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