lujandj

Hey Fellas,

I have a 2002 GT and my A/C clutch is rattling, how can I properly tighten or loosen this? Do I need to shim it up or what? don't really understand the A/C compressor a whole lot. Thanks.

cliffyk

It depends on why it's rattling. There's a single bolt in the center of the armature (the frontmost piece, the one that doesn't turn when the AC is off) that holds the armature to the splined shaft of the compressor--if that is loose then it will rattle,[/align][/align]Also the free pulley (the grooved pulley that the belt drives) bearing can be bad--or the pulley bore to bearing outer race, or bearing inner race to bearing post, fit can be bad and cause a rattle. Last the compressor bearings could be bad and cause a rattle (however if the AC works this is the least likely scenario as the compressor seals generally go bad the the bearings go.[/align][/align]Check the armature first, just grab it and see if it shakes around; if it's OK then drop the serpentine belt and see if the free pulley shakes about with no belt tension.[/align] [/align][/align]Or the clutch electromagnet could be rattling about, it mounts on the face of the compressor and usually has a pretty good sized snap-ring holding it in place, if the snap-ring is broken or loose the coil can rattle about. To check this you'll have to pull the armature and free pulley (remove the small center boltthen the armature, then a snap-ring holding the free pulley bearing to the bearing post (and then the free pulley), last the snap-ring holding the electromagnet and the magnet coil itself.[/align]

lujandj

Well it looks like the AC works fine and the main AC pulley is not loose. I've have tightened the electro magentic plate this appears to be loose. I can wiggle it around and it has some fwd and aft play. Do I just wrench this down? I tried that and it just seems to drag on the pulley when the AC is not engaged. Or should I just replace the pully assyembly with a new clutch plate? Thanks for the info.

LetThePoniesRunFree

It takes a special tool to remove the clutch plate off of the compressor. I bought a complete clutch assembly for $80 and payed a shop $60 to put it on.

$140 was worth it.

cliffyk

There are shim washers that are used to adjust the air gap spacing between the armature (electro magnetic plate) and the pulley--they are smallish things that go into the splined bore of the plate, an AC shop would have them kicking around as a selection of them always comes with a new clutch.[/align][/align]Here's a link to the AC Clutch Service info, the special tools help but are not essential--holding the armature without the tool can be tircky, often the pulley will come off without a puller, and the coil will sometimes fight you. But it sounds as though all you need right now is to adjust the air gap...[/align][/align]

lujandj

Hey thanks! The info is greatly appreciated...may even save me some bucks. The AC manual is awesome THANKS! I'll get back once I get all this taken care of. Have a good one.

lujandj

Well..I replaced the AC clutch assy. and all is better now. Thanks for all the info.