No A/C, compressor rebuild?

[BenjiHoggi]

My air conditioning stopped working last summer and now that it's getting warmer, I'm trying to fix it on the cheap.

Here's where I'm at

• The compressor seems to not be kicking on even with the AC light on.
• I have the Harnessed Performance AC light flicker harness so this is not *that* issue
• I have not checked the refrigerant level but I suspect the problem is not a leak. The AC worked great, I parked the car for a weekend, came back to no AC.
• I used to hear a click from the compressor when AC was engaged (assume this was the clutch kicking in). I no longer hear this click.

I'm inclined to think this is a clutch issue, so I'd really like to investigate a solution that does not involve replacing the compressor or refrigerant. To begin with, I'd like to check if the clutch and associated components are working correctly. Has anyone done this and how?

From my research, I've found the following threads which seem related.

I

Thread 'Has any one of you ever had your ac compressor clutch completely fall off?'

Aug 22, 2018

my p5 has been down for a year now. I got it up and running yesterday so I've been back on the grind trying to fix what I can. while looking into the ac compressor ( ac stopped working many months before the care stopped working), I found that the clutch was completely missing. this got me thinking. A while back when the ac first stopped working I took it to a random ac shop to see if they could tell be what was wrong because they offered a free ac check. Considering I tried to recharge it myself and that didnt work, I figured maybe I was doing it wrong so I took it to them and they said...

• ICEE
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Protege5 Forum

D

Thread 'AC Compressor Clutch Issue'

Aug 1, 2012

Ok. Who has had this crap happen? I have owned my Protege5 for 7 years. Recently my AC when from ice cold to super hot. After driving a month without AC in the summer time, I was starting to lose it. So I decided to diagnose the issue myself. I asked the parts store what they thought. They told me to see if it needed to be charged. The needle in the gauge we used jumped into the red. I tried to get my face down close to see if the compressor was kicking on and couldn't tell. I know nothing about AC's.

BUT... While I was looking for God knows what... I noticed a circular piece of metal...

• DeCaro
• Replies: 4
• Forum: Protege5 Forum

V

Thread 'How do you remove AC clutch from compressor?'

Aug 19, 2013

My 2002 P5 AC was getting louder- clicking and chirping while idleing -with the AC off so I had it on my radar. Then the wife came home from a longer drive with the AC on it was grinding pretty good. I disconnected the belt and could feel a tiny amount of play on the pulley but actually not what I was expecting. I removed the compressor and there is some grinding when I the spin the pulley but only in a few spots every couple of rotations. I'm wondering how to remove the pulley/clutch because I can see you can buy bearings for this and I think a rebuild kit for P5s. Has anyone removed...

• v02maxed
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Protege5 Forum

Replacing A/C Compressor, please double check my process - maybe a little past what I'm looking to do right now, but helpful

I've also found that eBay has non-OEM clutch kits for around $100. I would tend to not trust these but curious if anyone has thoughts?

RYC New AC Compressor Clutch FH479-CL Fits Mazda Protege 2.0L 2001 2002 2003 | eBay

Premium Quality Best Offers Fast and Free Shipping Discounted Prices! ABOUT R & Y A/C COMPRESSORS Since 1989, R & Y A/C Compressors has been providing quality automotive air conditioning parts and services. We are family owned and operated. We specialize in automotive air conditioning and...

www.ebay.com

Anybody have experience with this?

 

[BenjiHoggi]

I'm an idiot. As always when posting these kinds of things, I keep researching after posting to try and understand the problem more. I went out to try and test the resistance on the clutch coil and the clutch is just gone.

Literally exactly what happened here.

I

Thread 'Has any one of you ever had your ac compressor clutch completely fall off?'

Aug 22, 2018

my p5 has been down for a year now. I got it up and running yesterday so I've been back on the grind trying to fix what I can. while looking into the ac compressor ( ac stopped working many months before the care stopped working), I found that the clutch was completely missing. this got me thinking. A while back when the ac first stopped working I took it to a random ac shop to see if they could tell be what was wrong because they offered a free ac check. Considering I tried to recharge it myself and that didnt work, I figured maybe I was doing it wrong so I took it to them and they said...

• ICEE
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Protege5 Forum

Sadly the parts are just gone, so I am going to try and source new ones for cheap and reinstall them.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

Bought this AC compressor clutch kit.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

It came with the clutch, pully, and magnetic thing.

I sanded and wiped down the old pulley and pressure plate on the compressor because I didn't want to risk the cheap China bearing in the Amazon kit and the original bearing and pulley were still good. Because of this, the clutch chattered for a few days when the AC was off but now it's mostly quiet.

And the AC works great, which is surprising for 212k miles and non AC service in the last 70k miles and 6 years of ownership.