A/C Comp pulley ?

raleighjeepguy

New Member
Joined
May 27, 2007
Location
Raleigh,nc
Ok guys have some quick theory I need to verify. So my ex's grand cherokee started squeeling like a pig last night. The pulley for the a/c compressor just locks up and wont spin. The a/c has had issues forever but imho its not related to the compressor itself. To my understanding with the a/c is off basically nothing on the pulley is related to the compressor minus being attached. Is the correct? Also how much of a pita is it to change out just the pulley? The car is pretty much a pos that she needs to drive for another 6mo until she can afford a new car so spending a grand on a compressor kind of hurts.


Also would the a/c comp clutch failing cause this?
 
Can you get a different size belt and bypass the a/c compressor all together? That might be the cheapest and easiest fix. See if you can get a belt for the same vehicle without a/c.
 
Can you get a different size belt and bypass the a/c compressor all together? That might be the cheapest and easiest fix. See if you can get a belt for the same vehicle without a/c.
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That was actually another thought. The A/C didn't work worth a poop anyways and it'll be 4 or 5 mo before its needed anyways. Atleast that would give me a chance to back away from the situation and put my hands up later :flipoff2:
 
funny, I just looked up the ZJ belt routing and came up with this image:
az.about.com_d_autorepair_1_0_R_F_91350183.gif


anyone see anything odd about this diagram? Looks to me like something is missing.
 
WTF? working on an ex's car???:flipoff2:

Anyway, sounds like the compressor is bad if it spins when ac is off and locks up when on. If the pulley locks up with or without ac on, then the bearing/pulley is bad and don't mess with the compressor. I believe they sell clutch rebuild kits for them to fix this probelm.
 
Check with your local parts house. They compressor bypass pulleys. Its a bracket with a idler pulley mounted to it that goes in place of the ac compressor.
 
Is this a 4.0 or the V8?
I think the AC turns on when the defrost is on which could explain why it just crapped out.
I just had to replace the compressor on my 4.0 ZJ. Should it come to that. Best deal I found was at Loop Road auto parts in Garner and I had Chase (Cperry) install it for me.
 
WTF? working on an ex's car???
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yea well I really don't want to but the car is still in my name and it gets my kid to school everyday. :shaking:

I think the AC turns on when the defrost is on which could explain why it just crapped out.
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Now that makes sense on alot. She said she hadn't run the a/c but I bet she runs the defrost 24/7.

its the 4.0 btw.

I believe they sell clutch rebuild kits for them to fix this probelm.
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superb! Yea if she can just get away not running the defrost and its not going to freeze up then I'll consider my work done.
 
raleighjeepguy said:
change out just the pulley? The car is pretty much a pos that she needs to drive for another 6mo until she can afford a new car so spending a grand on a compressor kind of hurts.
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Check www.jeepair.com Looks like $229.99 for a brand new compressor from them.
Also would the a/c comp clutch failing cause this?
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Yes. This happened on my wife's liberty coming back from Disney last summer. THe clutch failed and locked everything up. THe compressor was still good actually, but I didn't realize it until long after I bought a new comp. I've been there... The new comp for the liberty was under $200 IIRC and I just ran it with the power wire off of the clutch until I got the new accumulator and vac'd/filled it. Worked fine like that.
 
Looking like its the clutch. The belt was pretty much shot and changed that out for her. Ran the thing for 30 min in the driveway w/o a prob but called 2 min after leaving saying it was squeeling around turns and when she ran the a/c. Any ideas or the clutch pretty much seem to be it? Thing is just giving me a headache at this point.
 
un plug the A/C compressor, clutch won't engage no matter where she has the AC controls
 
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