AC Compressor pulley wobbling?
 

So, after this noise began showing itself last week, I finally had an opportunity to remove the PS/AC belt and take a look. The PS pump and Idler are all perfectly fine, they spin fine, no play. I got to the AC compressor, and there is a decent amount of backward and foreward play on the pulley. It seems to spin fine, but that wobble is noticable, so I'm 99% sure that is the source of the noise I was hearing. Started the car without the belt on, no noise whatsoever.

Has anyone heard of this happening before? I'm curious as to if I can just replace the pulley, because the A/C still works fine. What got me, though, is the belt is completely undamaged, no cracks or anything whatsoever.

Did you check the central bolt that holds the magnetic clutch armature (pressure plate) and clutch pulley to the AC compressor shaft to see if it is loose?. It so, it would allow the pulley to wobble.

The torque spec for the bolt is only 96-144 in.- lbf (10.8 - 16.2 Nm).

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...80b74e141f.png

That is a valid point, I can simply try tightening the one I have. Getting to it with it on the car is going to be a pain, though.

Worst case should just need to remove the battery and battery tray in the car.

The pulley is separate from the compressor - you can remove it or whatever and the refrigerant won't leak out or anything.

Dale

^Like Dale said, it will help to remove the battery for access. You'll also need to finagle a "special tool" to hold the clutch pressure plate steady (center part of pulley) while you tighten that bolt to spec. Fortunately with that light torque spec, you can probably get by with just a firm grip on the thing, or by finding a way to wedge it with a screwdriver or something to prevent it from turning.

That's what I was hoping, to be honest. Good thing the torque spec is so low. I just hope there isn't any damage or the compressor doesn't have to come off. The weather has been pretty cold/wet the recently, so I'm hoping that it will improve soon so I can (hopefully) get this fixed.

Managed to get the clutch off with my electric impact gun, that one bolt wasn't much of an issue with the low torque it was on there with. With the battery/tray removed there was quite a bit of room to work to. The issue I ran into is currently trying to remove the pulley. I bought a replacement clutch/pulley/bearing set, so I wasn't too afraid of banging on the current pulley at the 12,3,6,9 positions,and prying on the back a bit, but it refused to budge, even with some lithium grease sprayed in.

Per the FSM, it says to use a universal gear puller. I was worried about one of those putting too much strain on the compressor shaft, but I'll try it and report back tomorrow. Hopefully I can get that thing off. New parts will be here Tuesday, then ideally I'll have working (non noisy) A/C again, without having to replace the compressor.

That front part should just easily come right off with the bolt off. If not it's seized or stuck or something.

Not sure why you would put lithium grease on it, it's not a penetrant. Try some PB Blaster if it's rusty or something.

This should be just the VERY front section, not the pulley the belt goes on. It's the plate that the magnet sucks in and clamps on to the pulley. Refer to the exploded diagram above.

Dale

The clutch came off easily Removed the bolt and had no issues. The pulley, however, has been a pain. Snap ring came off without much fuss, but the pulley won't come off, probably will need a puller.

May also try a little heat on it. Tricky part is you don't have a lot of room to work with it in the engine.

Don't know if you can get a long enough bar or something to apply a hammer force to the back of the pulley. Or may want to see if there's a way to do some prying - pry a bit, turn pulley, pry a bit, repeat.

Dale

I wasn't sure about how much heat to apply, I mean, its the front of the pulley so I doubt any heat soak would transfer to the compressor to the point of causing damage, but I erred on the side of caution I suppose. I did try whacking it with a hammer and rotating it, then pulling, no luck. There's a decent amount of room to get at it and get it off, definitely do-able when the battery and tray are removed, this pulley just doesn't want to come off normally, going to have to use a gear puller it sounds like.

I'm not 100% sure, but based on the diagram is it possible that BOTH snap rings need to be removed to get that pulley off? To my eye, it looks like the outer (#4) snap ring secures the pulley, and the inner ring (#6) secures the stator coil. So the pulley should come off after removing just the #4 ring. Assuming you can access the #6 snap ring, maybe you can try removing that?

Otherwise, I suspect the pulley may be a bit off square, and hanging up on the compressor body's shaft snout section while you're trying to wiggle it out - so a decent gear/pulley puller that pulls square to the shaft and lots of PB Blaster should solve that issue.

Yeah, I can't remember if you have to do one or both at this point. It is good to make sure you have the snap ring off though :).

Dale

Based on my understanding of the diagram, I think its that one snap ring holding the pulley on, then another holding the coil. I see no way to get to that second snap ring (or even see the snap ring) because the pulley is obstructing it. Looks like the gear puller will have to suffice.

Just as an update to anyone that encounters this in the future, issue was the pulley bearing on the compressor. New pulley & bearing, runs perfect.

Thanks for the update! How did you finally get the stubborn pulley off the compressor? I'll be pulling my compressor soon to rebuild it - need to replace its leaky shaft seal and will replace all the other seals case seals as part of the job, so this is super relevant.

Do you have the link to a new pulley and bearing? Just for my future reference, I might need one. Thanks.

No, my pulley & bearing is currently healthy, and I'm hoping I don't bugger up either of them upon removal. But the parts you'll need to repair the compressor shaft seal, and the seal kit needed anytime you open up the case of the FD's Denso TV14C compressor are these:

Shaft seal kit: Santech #K20-3156
Compressor rebuild seal kit: Santech # MT2064

For the record, mine is a factory R134a compressor, as its a 1995 Bathurst-X. I was able to get mine online, four seasons brand I believe. It came with the clutch, pulley (with bearing pressed on) snap rings, spacers, and coil. I left the factory coil in place, as it wasn't defective, and the new coil didn't have a harness connector (I wasn't about to have someone chop up my harness to make this aftermarket coil fit when the coil wasn't defective to begin with.

I was unable to get it off with any form of finesse. The rotary tech that I took it to said it literally fell off as he removed his puller from it, so I guess it was just stubborn. For what it's worth, this entire job was done with the compressor in the car, given that only my pulley/bearing was getting replaced.