Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - 07:32 am, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
I have recently replaced my compressor with a good condition second hand unit out of a 31, which I had to take apart to fit the end plate from my former unit, I have a 32, so the end plate is different. I am running a Hydro carbon mix for refrigerant, which is working fine but a noise has developed in the unit.
The noise, which sounds like a bearing comes in on start up when the air con is engaged and gradually fades out with time.
I thought that it must be the internal bearings or some foreign object that had gotten into the unit when I was rebuilding it. The air con works fine as far as temp is concerned.
On rethinking I thought that maybe it was the bearing in the pulley wheel, so I tried to get that off to replace the bearing but could not get circlip pliers to the circlip to remove it without removing the compressor, so thought some more and wondered if the problem was the clutch on the front that was somehow not engaging correctly and so was scrapping on the pulley plate until it caught up. This seems to be controlled by the shims that give the two plates the right gap.
So,I changed the end plate, that pulls in to the pulley face, with the old one along with its shims. Great, the sound was gone!!
But, it came back the next day. The noise did not seem to be as bad as before. It went away as before after a bit.
I have taken to turning the air con off before I stop the engine so that when I start up the next time the air con is not on. When the engine is then running and I am mobile I turn the air on all is ok, Noise may not be loud enough to hear when I am driving or maybe it just needs a minute to come into alignment properly?
Am I on the right track? I would think so but need to know what gap I should have between the plates before I engage the air con so that I can decide on the appropriate shimming of the plates.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - 06:54 pm, by: Boris Siljanoski(Z2tt)
It is most likely the air gap, keep adjusting it until you get the best balance, don't make it too close otherwise the clutch material may always scrape and wear constantly
John Stafford TryHard Qld. Soarer UZZ31 GT-L V8 and a UZZ32 # 514
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - 06:59 pm, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
Thanks Boris, I looked at a Ford Falcon gap yesterday and it seemed a fair bit greater than mine, does that mean that I should widen the gap, when I was assuming that I should make it less to ensure that there was more positive contact of the surfaces. Which way, wider or closer? Cheers John
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 12:10 pm, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
thanks again Boris, The friction material is just steel plate and it doesn't seem to be worn at all. this morning when I started it up with the air con on there was no noise, so it must just about be right, if not then I will take one of the shims out and see if it is still clear of the main pulley wheel.
Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 12:03 am, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
Hey Arthur, that is a great encouragement as just when I thought that it was gone it came back. I checked and adjusted the shims to spec (between 14 and 26 thousands of an inch). I set it to 20 thou right on and still the noise but the air works fine and the noise fades away pretty well. I have taken to turning the air off before I shut it down and then just turn it back on when I drive away next time. Don't want to be paranoid .
If it stops working one day I will just buy a new compressor and do the TX and dryer again new. But till then I will enjoy.
Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 05:11 pm, by: John Stafford(Johng12)
Hi Boris, I did take it right down until there was nearly no gap and I did put the clutch in off the old compressor and still no difference. Is it hurting anything?
Previous
. 
