AC clutch going bad

The a/c clutch on my '88 XJ, 4.0L Limited is going bad . . . . REALLY noisy and even smokes . . . . I have unplugged it (electrical connection) so that it just "free-spins" and the noise and smoke are gone. I know the clutch is supposed to go on periodically to assist with humidity control/whatever. My question is how long it is that I can likely get by just leaving it unplugged . . . I don't want to bother with replacing the clutch for awhile. In other words, is it likely that while unplugged and just free-spinning the clutch will seize-up and fail?

Also, if you have any experience with this, you might comment re recommendations/cost/etc for replacing that a/c clutch. I've never gotten into any of this and if it involves removal of the a/c pump and disconnecting any a/c lines, I'll just leave it all to my mechanic.

Curiously, at the end of the summer, the a/c clutch failed on my daughter's '95 New Yorker. It burned-up, seized and stopped the engine from cranking (due to melted "stuff" oozed out of the clutch). Fortunately, that vehicle has a separate belt for the a/c unit and I just cut and removed the belt .......................... so, I actually have two to repair or have repaired.

TIA

Don

lmao...my bearings went to hell up after i my engine was submerged in water for a good 2 hours. it took a few months of sounding like a dish washer until the whole thing finally seized up. you can get it all done at the stealership for like $1200 or you can do it yourself and buy one at schucks for about $250. i dont think they ever used toxic gas in their ac system, but if you want to be safe you can take your jeep to an oil change place and have your system discharged, i think. Removing the lines and stuff will be easy. this is definitely a do-it-youselfer for what they try to charge.

So, Small, are you telling me that the clutch isn't serviceable/replacable without replacing the entire a/c compressor?????

im telling you the bearings arnt serviceable. you may be able to just buy a new clutch assembly, but if i remember right (and i rarely do) i was told they only have fully rebuilt units for sale.

When my ac clutch failed the first time I searched around- Stealer wanted over $200 for the clutch amd it requires special tools to swap. A local shop wanted to charge me $400 in labor to put it on. I ended up replacing it with a junkyard one for $100, put it in myself- that lasted about a year.

Second time I bought a new clutch/comp off the internet for about $300 and put it in myself. Still going after 3 years.

Not sure about your year but on a 93 there are little valves built into the hoses that isolate the comp from the system. Once that is done you can swap the comp without evacuating the whole system. There may be a minute amount left in the comp itself but it is negligible. A couple bolts, an electrical connector and the belt(replace it if it is old) and you are done.

You can replace just the clutch, but it's spendy, and you will usually get a better warranty if you replace the compressor and the clutch at the same time.

However, I've had my compressor clutch unplugged for the last two years without incident. Feel better now? You can leave it unplugged theoretically indefinitely, it will act as if it was an idler pully.

5-90

until the bearings freeze...then it acts as a belt stretcher

I have a perfectly good compressor in my '94 that I will GIVE to anyone who can get me the pulley assembly for a non-A/C 4.0.

You can just close the valves and swap in a new comp? I thought you had to draw a vacuum in the new compressor once it is installed and then open the valves.

Ecarlcl said:

You can just close the valves and swap in a new comp? I thought you had to draw a vacuum in the new compressor once it is installed and then open the valves.

Click to expand...

Well if you are supposed to, I didn't and nothing exploded. I don't remember if the FSM said anything about that or not. If anything I probably contaminated the system slightly with ambient humidity/air.

It has been three years and it still cools like a champ.

IMMV

Hey, thanks for the good input. I'm just going to leave it unplugged and repair it later. Don