kenlandrum

2003 Accord EX 4cyl
A/C suddenly went from cold to warm air.
Checked under hood and compressor is not engaging. Fan runs fine.
I can turn compressor freely by hand.
I disconnected the plug from compressor clutch and I am getting 12volts when the a/c button is pressed.
I jumped a wire to the clutch from battery and clutch still won't engage.
I am thinking it is the clutch coil... Can any one confirm this?
(sorry to ramble)

Also, is it ok to replace just the coil and can I do this without removing the compressor? looks kinda tight in there.

Any comments or tips are appreciated!

BLKFLSH

I had the same problem and the dealership changed the clutch and coil ($600). I know it's a lot to pay, but I know nothing about A/C stuff, and it didn't look possible to change them with the compressor in the car. You might be able to just unbolt the compressor, and change the clutch and stator with the hoses still attached, but I wasn't going to try it, break something, and end up with an even larger bill.

PS: I just noticed you have a 4 cylinder. That might make a difference, don't know.

kenlandrum

Part is 63 bucks on ebay... guess I will give it a go.
Thanks!

BLKFLSH

Good luck. It looks like a nightmare, but I guess it's doable.

kenlandrum

Getting ready to dive into it this weekend and I found this...

http://www.justanswer.com/honda/2a3o...onnecting.html

Sounds possible.

BLKFLSH

I thought about trying it, but after I added up the cost of the clutch and stator, plus buying a clutch wrench (if needed). The cost of the parts would have been more than half the price to have the dealership do it. I just wasn't confident that I could do the job, so I took the easy/expensive way out. I changed my own timing belt (V6 engine), and adjusted the valves myself, so I think I saved enough money to spend a little on the A/C. Good luck, if you decide to try it yourself.

DCFIVER

A low charge will not let the compressor engage. Hows about having the systems refrigerant level checked first? Probably cost just slightly more than the 63 bucks your ready to toss....

BLKFLSH

Wouldn't "jumping a wire from the battery to the clutch" rule that out?

kenlandrum

Yes, I jumped the clutch with no success. I got the part off of ebay $63 and went for it this weekend... here is how it played out for those who wanna give it a go.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-jack up right front of car and put it on a jack stand

-remove battery cable (have those radio codes handy)

-removed the serpentine belt (bought a new one to replace as well $29)

-removed the bolts to the ps pump and moved it to the side.
-removed the alternator

-removed the top two a/c compressor bolts (easy)

-removed the bottom two a/c bolts (slightly more difficult, had to do this by removing a couple of bolts from the bottom splash guard and squeezing my hand under it.)

-remove the wires from the a/c compressor (be careful with the phillips screw as it strips easily)

-You can now move the compressor up to the top of the engine bay, just be careful not to damage any hoses.

-unbolt clutch plate (comes right off)

-remove c-ring from pulley (be careful not to muck it up if ya wanna re-use it, have c-ring pliers on hand)

-Remove pully (this was the worst part of the job and still wasn't too bad. couple drops of WD-40 and pryed it off with two large screwdrivers and a tap hammer. Would have been better to use the rental puller tool from autozone, but it comes off fairly smoothly. Careful not to beat it too hard as it seems to be made of a soft aluminum.)

-Remove the c-ring holding in the coil

-Reverse procedure and you are all set. ( I did think about a new clutch pulley bearing while it was apart, but mine seemed good.)

That was it!! Much easier than anticipated... oh, and the air is cold again. A great thing in the hot mid-west weather.

Thanks again to everyone for their help!!!
Ken

tradosaurus

Good job.

BLKFLSH

Congratulations! You have more guts than I do. Did you need a special wrench, to remove the clutch? Did you replace the coil and clutch? How much did the parts cost you?
Great job. I guess if mine goes out again, I'll try it next time.

kenlandrum

$63 for the new coil on eBay. Only special tool we used was a c-clip tool to remove the two clips. That was it! Could have made life a bit easier if we used the pulley tool available At AutoZone. But we just prided it off with two huge screwdrivers and a tap hammer.

BLKFLSH

Did you measure the clearance on the clutch? Or just put back the same shims that were on the old one? I had checked my clearance before the clutch and coil were changed, and it was a little wide. Haven't checked the new one.

John_Florida

I had a similar problem (clutch stopped operating). Since I have 110,000 miles on my Accord, I chose to replace the compressor along with the clutch (new clutch and compressor came as a unit). It was not cheap by any means, but I dreaded the thought of having to pull the compressor again should the compressor fail sometime in the near future.
I was also a bit intimidated about pulling off the clutch by the dealer as they said there is a possibility of damaging the unit in the process. I suppose they may have said that as a way to try to convince me to let them do the work and replace the compressor/clutch together.
Anyway, it was not terribly difficult, but not a quick job either. AC is nice and cold now.

BLKFLSH

I find it interesting, that the dealership told you to change the compressor with the clutch, when my dealership had no problem changing the clutch and stator only on my car. The A/C works just fine. I think the part about damaging the compressor, when removing the clutch is hogwash.

John_Florida

I suspected the dealer's idea was hogwash as well. But once I decided to do it myself, I concluded I did not want to repeat it in 10 or 20 thousand miles should the compressor go out.

How many miles did you have on your vehicle when you replaced the clutch?

John_Florida

To be clear, the dealer did not say they could not replace only the clutch. They said that based on the age/mileage on the car (and compressor), there is a risk in just replacing the clutch of having to replace the compressor in the near future (thus doubling the labor).

BLKFLSH

I had 84k miles. I guess their cutoff mileage (for changing the compressor) is between mine and yours, Haha. I have 101k miles now, a year and a half later.

John_Florida

True. Also mine is a 4 cylinder and yours a 6, right? I don't know, but perhaps the 4 cyl requires more labor to replace or the 6 cylinder allows easier access to the clutch without disconnecting the hoses to the compressor.

BLKFLSH

I doubt the 4 cylinder compressor is any harder to get to. It is very close to the frame of the car, on the V6. That's why I didn't attempt the clutch change myself. It would have been very difficult to change the clutch, with the compressor in the car.

ericfl

It sounded like I had the same problem (04 Accord EX 2.4L 110k miles) so I ordered the clutch coil from eBay and gave it a try. Disassembly went fine, accessing the AC unit by removing the passenger side front wheel and fender liner. The issue I ran in to was I couldn't unbolt the main clutch bolt, the clutch kept spinning. I couldn't figure out how to lock up the clutch up so I could loosen the bolt. Any suggestions? I sure hope I'm replacing the right part..