air con pully screeching

[roy]

i have put some leak stopper and gas back into the air con system and the pressure is good and seems to be holding.

now that the system is pressurised again the compressor pulley is engaging and is screeching like mad when switched on.
looking at the pulley i can see that it is not turning freely with the belt and engages intermitently.
when it does engage the cold air is free flowing and then it will blow warm again as the pulley is not turning the compressor.

anyone any advice to this issue ?

i am woundering if i can replace the pulley system which i believe has a clutch in it ?
or is the whole compessor a single unit, if it goes , you need a full new one ?

not had a much experience with air con so any help will be appreciated.

cheers roy

 

[Chris]

Was the system completely empty? If it was then it had air in it when you put the gas in. The air needs to be vacuumed out and the gas put in under negative pressure. There should be an oil based lubricant in there too which you generally add as an extra with the gas.

Tempting with cans from Halfornts but it's a specialist job to get right.

C

 

[roy]

it was not with halfords products.

i got a specific air con pressure gauge to check if the system was worth re-gassing and then added leak stop and lubrication that was fed into the system first before re-gassing.

 

[Chris]

OK, so it sounds like a mechanical external fault rather then inside the actual pressurised system. The clicking in and out could be several things unfortunately right from low gas pressure, to faulty temp unit in the cabin. Beyond my skills that one. Does tightening / loosening the belt make any difference?

Chris

 

[roy]

took further readings of the pressure when runing and found the pressure would drop just enough for the pully to disengage, this would then stop the compressor and after a few minutes the pressure would rise again enough to re-engage the compressor.

i added some more gas to the system and now it runs normally as it sholud.

so it seems worth checking the pressure once re-gassed when the engine is off and when the system is running, just to check there is sufficient gas in the system to have consistent pressure when running.

cheers roy