Air con compressor and off roading, do they mix?

[Rob]

Last year before my trip to Mongolia I replaced my compressor with a brand new Denso unit with what looked like an oversized aftermarket magnetic clutch pulley and it all work fine until the tensioner pulley bolt broke which loosed the belt considerably and I realised that the pulley on the compressor was loose Since installed it had done about 15-20k miles with a considerable amount of off-roading so the shiny new unit was soon covered with a layer of mud/sand/dust etc. So after I cleaned the up the engine bay a bit including the compressor I took it in for a warranty repair and it was removed and sent back to the supplier who said it has somehow overheated due to the huge amount of dust inside (I assume they mean in the clutch mechanism) and will not be doing a warranty repair. They said that they have never seen such a dirty unit. Anyway they will fit a new clutch and recon the whole unit for £200 as a good will gesture.

What I would like to find out is if anyone else has had their magnetic clutch fail and if it had anything to do with off-road use (was the whole engine bay covered in a layer of dried mud?). I have a suspicion that if a genuine denso/toyota clutch was fitted I would not have this issue.

I highly doubt that the really hot Russian summer could have done this as it was above 35 degC for a good few days with but the aircon was keeping up fine with no problems.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

It's not uncommon for the bearings to go but 20k seems a bit short lived. Maybe they used the wrong shim and it wore the seal prematurely, letting the dirt in. You can push the bearing out of the clutch unit and should be able to source just the bearing.

 

[Rob]

I don't think it was the bearing Jon, the pulley was very loose. The play at the top of the pulley was about 15mm. You could spin it perfectly fine. I may be wrong though as I have not seen it apart...

 

[Paul_Humphreys]

Rob, mine is still the orignal one fited at the factory. It had never seen any off road use till I had. Since then it has seen lots and still works fine. That is 2 1/2 years of "use".

Paul

 

[Rob]

Well that's encouraging as I know you use your 80 properly Paul.

 

[Cptsideways]

Cheap fix

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10950

 

[Dave Docwra]

IMO if the unit was sold to be fitted to a Land cruiser it should have been capable of been used for its intended purpose, if they do not know why it overheated it should be covered under warranty.

 

[DaveN]

Where did the clutch come from?

If not OE, then it probably had a cheap chinese bearing with incorrrectly hardened races, oval balls, and a tiny dab of rubbish grease. Not to mention a low quality rubber seal that wil go hard and not seal after a few weeks.

 

[Rob]

The clutch was provided by a UK company that rebuilds air con compressors, there are no marks on it so I cant Identify it.

Declan, the clutch on the 24 valve is different from the 12 valve and are very difficult to get hold of in the UK including second hand. My mechanic struggled to find a recon unit as well, so had to go for a new one. My old compressor was seized and the clutch material was spread all over the engine bay, it was soo bad that the entire system needed to be flushed.

 

[Cptsideways]

What does a 24v one look like, is it a multibelt?

 

[Rob]

No its a v belt but for some reason they are not interchangeable with the 12 valves.

 

[Rob]

Well I have a new compressor and it has a Denso clutch, lets hope this one lasts longer.