OK. Good working system until today. On my way down here a week ago, it was occasionally screeching ... i assumed belt was slipping, etc. Today, when i fired the car up on vegetable oil (somehow i doubt if that relates to the ac problem), it screeched, loudly, i stopped to look and smelled the stench of burnt clutch lining. We did our trip
You sure this wasn't good old burning belt? The AC clutch is a metal-on-metal affair, there is no friction material. If the compressor proper seized the belt could slip making a stink.
pretty locked down. I can only turn it about 10 degrees back and forth.
Standard seized compressor it sounds like to me. Is this the hub? Or just the outer part where the belt goes?
So, can ac clutch failure jam things up? Or, did failure of the compressor cause clutch failure in that order.
If only the clutch failed, in theory it is separately replaceable and could not have harmed the compressor proper.
I assume i have to evacuate and save the R-12 (yes i'm running that), replace compressor, then evacuate and recharge the system??
If the compressor itself seized, your system is probably full of pump shrapnel. Not good. Requires heroic efforts to clean out.
The compressor is a round (delco? r-4??)looking object like one would find on an old american car.
It is, though there is some talk about a big "X" on it indicating that it has an inverted internal oil path for upside-down operation.
I saw it replaced by the previous owner maybe 5 years ago. I don't know if he used rebuilt or new. I'll bet the car hasn't been driven 20,000 miles in that time. What's the expected life of such a rebuilt compressor?
Generally low. Conventional wisdom here is that only a new one will hold up. Good used is OK, and is $15 at the U-Pull, but is of unknown condition.
Sources?? Expected cost, numbers of correct models, etc?
Good old Harrison R4. Try Rusty! -- Jim
