Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I hope someone can help with this. My brother in-law had the aircon compressor replaced with a new unit in his 02-Jackaroo (4jx1 3.0L TD), cost $1800

Anyway the compressor has developed an intermittent problem where it ceases up when in use. As long as the aircon is left off and the clutch is left disengaged the pulley turns over fine without any noise. Once you switch the a/c on the clutch engages and everything seems fine but sometimes the compressor completely ceases up. The pulley is stationary and the belt screams around it.

The unit the old OE compressor was replaced with is made by Valeo and it has part number 5060119691 as shown here.

http://www.valeocompressors.com/catalog ... 691&type=1

Aside from a bearing (other than the pulley bearing) being stuffed, my other thoughts are that the installer either didn't put enough oil in, put too much in (a long shot as I don't know if that would cause what we are seeing) or maybe used the wrong type (Valeo specify 150ml[?] of ZXL100PG[?]). We are thinking about having the system vacuumed out, re-oiled and re-gassed rather than going down the new compressor route.

Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated

when the pulley stops moving and the belts start screaming have you tried disconecting the a/c clutch wire and see if it spins normally. have you removed the a/c belt to see if a/c comp spins freely or is notchy.

ledgend80 wrote:when the pulley stops moving and the belts start screaming have you tried disconecting the a/c clutch wire and see if it spins normally. have you removed the a/c belt to see if a/c comp spins freely or is notchy.

When the pulley stops and the belt start to slip around it hitting the a/c button in the cab frees up the pulley and stops the noise immediately, which I assume amounts to the same thing as disconnecting the clutch wire?

It is so intermittent that we would first have to have it lock up before we could do any tests. Also the a/c belt runs around the water pump as well so I'm not sure if the engine can be run w/o that belt. If we can run it without the belt and can get the a/c comp to lock up I will see if I can turn it by hand, I'll also disconnect the clutch and see if it has the same effect as hitting the a/c button in the cab.

Odds on there is no oil in the AC system...

want33s wrote:Odds on there is no oil in the AC system...

If thats the case would the fairly limited number of times its locked up have toasted the compressor?

We ran it for about 1min today long enough to make sure it was cooling air without a problem but chickened out of leaving it on long enough to see if it locked up.

So does the system still work...does it cool the air properly? up to when the compressor locks.

If it didnt have any oil it would lock once and that would be the end of it.

It sounds to me that it could be getting liquid back to the inlet of the compressor causing it to hydraulic and stop.

The TX valve might be a bit dodgy and its letting way too much liquid through to the evaporator.

If you still got any money left you probably should take it back to the air con guy cause it should be fairly easy to diagonose with a set of gauges (low side pressure should be to high)

Sam

Strange Rover wrote:So does the system still work...does it cool the air properly? up to when the compressor locks.

If it didnt have any oil it would lock once and that would be the end of it.

It sounds to me that it could be getting liquid back to the inlet of the compressor causing it to hydraulic and stop.

The TX valve might be a bit dodgy and its letting way too much liquid through to the evaporator.

If you still got any money left you probably should take it back to the air con guy cause it should be fairly easy to diagonose with a set of gauges (low side pressure should be to high)

Sam

Yep seems to work fine until lockup, then the banshee is unleashed . I'll pass the info on to the bro-in-law. I'll get him to take his jack into an aircon place and pass that info on to them. He's dis-inclined to go back to the place that did the job (was >12 months ago anyway) in case they give the throw-away line of "compressor must be stuffed, that'll be $1800 please".

Hi did complain about a nasty smell in the cab when the a/c runs. I couldn't smell anything myself but if the pressure on the low side is too high and there is liquid (oil or refrigerant?) getting in the evaporator could that be leaking out somewhere and causing the smell? I would have thought if there was any kind of leak all the gas would be gone and system wouldn't cool at all.

PCRman wrote:

Strange Rover wrote:So does the system still work...does it cool the air properly? up to when the compressor locks.

If it didnt have any oil it would lock once and that would be the end of it.

It sounds to me that it could be getting liquid back to the inlet of the compressor causing it to hydraulic and stop.

The TX valve might be a bit dodgy and its letting way too much liquid through to the evaporator.

If you still got any money left you probably should take it back to the air con guy cause it should be fairly easy to diagonose with a set of gauges (low side pressure should be to high)

Sam

Yep seems to work fine until lockup, then the banshee is unleashed . I'll pass the info on to the bro-in-law. I'll get him to take his jack into an aircon place and pass that info on to them. He's dis-inclined to go back to the place that did the job (was >12 months ago anyway) in case they give the throw-away line of "compressor must be stuffed, that'll be $1800 please".

Hi did complain about a nasty smell in the cab when the a/c runs. I couldn't smell anything myself but if the pressure on the low side is too high and there is liquid (oil or refrigerant?) getting in the evaporator could that be leaking out somewhere and causing the smell? I would have thought if there was any kind of leak all the gas would be gone and system wouldn't cool at all.

The smell can be build-up of gunk in the ventilation system. Fungus etc likes to grow in the dark damp bends around the evaporator core in the dash. You can get AC/ventilation sprays that clean it out. We used to use a Wurth product i think when i was working at Holden. As Sam said, get someone to throw some pressure gauges on it and see what is happening.


Link to Wurth spray - http://www.wurth.com.au/catalogueview.a ... 4_0611.pdf
Layto....

Yep, sounds like Liquid flood back...... could of even been what stuffed the last one.

The gas charge could be fine if it cools correctly and you could have a TX valve thats in need of some adjustment or replacement,

or

They could of over charged the system and thats why your getting liquid flood back, basically a set of guages ( and someone who knows what they are doing with them ) will quickly determine your problem,

and as sam mentioned, if there was not enough oil, once it locks it will lock for good and that will be that.......

Screwy