Hey all. I'm working on my AC (97 Civic, 4 cyl) and hoping that my problem is just a bad bearing and not the compressor itself. Since the clutch plate fell off all by itself, I'm not super optimistic. Anyway, I'm trying to remove the pulley and have not yet been successful. The clutch plate is off, and I've got the snap ring off as well. The pulley wobbles a lot and I can see exposed bearings all coated in dust. I've tried spraying WD-40 in there and letting it sit. I've tried prying it off. I even tried a 3 claw puller but that didn't work either. I didn't torque the puller a whole lot because 1) I didn't want to put too much strain on the hoses (I had removed the four bolts that hold the compressor on to the engine so it would drop down and I could get to the front of the compressor more easily) and 2) I didn't know if I would potentially warp the compressor shaft.

So, first question: Is there something I'm missing that I need to do to get the pulley off?

Second question: The belt that drives the compressor seems to go around an engine mount or something and I'm wondering if I actually need to jack the engine up and remove the mount just to get the belt off. Is that right?

Thanks in advance!

 

Use a jaw type puller, but you must also use a cup-shaped something to distribute the force from the screw in the puller onto the fixed snout of the compressor (the part the snap ring goes on) rather than the shaft. There is a special tool for that or you can try using a socket.

To remove belt from the car, take out the two bolts holding the motor mount to the frame and slip the belt through the crack. This is a torque mount, the weight of the engine is supported by the big mount on the top, so the engine will not move much when you take the bolts out.

 

I'm trying to get the pulley off of my compressor (97 Civic - bearings are completely shot) and I'm having a heck of a time, and it's making me wonder if it's not really supposed to come off. The fact that I can order a new pulley and clutch all by itself makes me think it should. I tried a 3 claw puller last week with no luck, so during the week, every couple of days, I've been spraying it with wd-40 and letting it soak in. I put the puller back on today and no dice.

More details: The compressor is still attached to the hoses, but not to the engine. That's the only way I can get access to the front of it so I can get the puller on. Because of that, I'm afraid to put too much torque on the puller because I'm a little afraid I'll put too much strain on the hoses and create a leak. So - it could be that I just need to really get the puller pulling harder. I'm also slightly afraid that I'll put a bunch of tension on it and then something will suddenly give, and then parts and puller arms go flying everywhere. Having never used a puller before I'm wondering if that's something I need to be careful of.

 

My compressor was making intermittent noise, though still blowing cold air. Sometimes it would make noise when the compressor was engaged, and other times when it wasn't. I noticed a lot of wobbling in the pulley, and then one day the clutch fell off.

Looking more closely, it was obvious that the bearing was completely shot. Today I removed the pulley, but I don't know enough about this kind of thing to know if this could all be from a bad bearing or if the compressor itself is bad. I can turn the shaft without much resistance - too much resistance for me to turn it by hand, but not too much to turn it easily with some pliers.

I've attached some pictures. It appears that the splines on the shaft are worn down. I don't know if there should be splines on the inside of the clutch plate, but there aren't. I've attached a wider angle picture as well to find out if anyone sees any other obvious problems that I don't.

So again, my question is: Can I replace just the pulley or bearing, or does it look like I need to replace the whole compressor?


Excuse the blurriness. It looks like the splines are pretty rounded off, but I don't know what they're supposed to look like.

Wide angle shot.

 

It's hard to see from the pictures. The splines should be OK as long as the shaft nut stayed tight. Note that one spline is missing so the plate will only fit on in one rotational position. This is because the plate is intentionally made out of balance to counter-balance an internal part in the compressor. Put the plate on and see if it holds on the splines.