collinsj

Hello, I'm currently attempting to change the clutch, pulley, and electromagnet on my ac compressor. I have them all off, except I cant figure out where the power cable and ground go. The compressor is still on the car, so its hard to see down in there. This is stopping me from being able to fully remove the coil. Is the anyway to disconnect those 2 cables with the compressor still on the car or am I going to have to pull other stuff apart to access the power and ground cable?
I can take some pictures tomorrow if that will help.

Thanks in advance for any input!


Electromagnet stuck due to wires being in a spot i cant reach, any ideas? can i temporarily remove power steering pump to access bolts?


Power assembly for electromagnet is at about the 1 o'clock position.


directly above these bolts is the power steering pump, must i remove that to access these bolts? can i remove just the pulley? is there any other ways?

collinsj

opted to just pray the magnet is good and put new pulley and clutch on over it.

collinsj

UPDATE : DO NOT attempt to replace the electromagnet while the compressor is mounted unless you want to remove the power steering pump. Also, when putting the magnets snapring back on, its nearly impossible with just snapring pliers, I cut a small piece of pvc pipe and got the snapring a little more than half way on then tapped on the pvc pipe to lock the entire ring into the groove.

collinsj

pulley snap ring wont go on for the pulley.
Are these forums dead nowadays? seems I cant get a suggestion for the life of me.

bbirdwell

Not dead. Just no suggestions. I've only worked on AC compressors while they were off the engine.

collinsj

back together still doesn't engage.

machadosl

If the magnetic clutch don't engage the possible reasons are:
Do you have a positive power (12V) going to the wire that goes to the eletromagnetic?
Have you verified the negative wire is good?
Do you have R134A refrigerant gas with the correct pressure?
If so for all the questions above, verify the HVAC pressure sensor, maybe it is faulty.
To replace the HVAC pressure sensor you will need to release the refrigerant gas out of your HVAC system, replace it and after that test it inserting about 100psi of nitrogen (it is cheaper than the refrigerant gas), if the test is ok, then you need to make vacuum on the system for about 30 min and finally insert gas on the system following a chart with the expected low pressure side and hi pressure side according to the environment temperature.
I hope you can solve your problem.
Best regards,
Sergio

collinsj

Prior to me removing it, i could see it try to engage the clutch, every few minutes it would make a slight creeking noise and you could see the clutch slightly move, now that I took the old pulley/clutch off and replaced with a new one it doesn't try to engage at all. I have a brand new magnet, i just can't get it on unless i either remove the entire ac compressor, or the power steering pump so i can reach the power cables that are bolted to the top of the compressor, both of those tasks i don't feel comfortable completing, the 2 snap rings were a nightmare lol😂 I guess im going to have to try to find a shop, last place told me to sell the car but it seems to run nice, I just miss my ac.

machadosl

I recently had a problem with the compressor pulley of my car, so I had to replace it, unfortunately it was 0.2mm thicker than the previous one and so it did not even turn, and this service of taking off and put again the snap rings is really annoying.
I think the new magnet is bad or, the wires that goes to it maybe broken, as the older magnet worked.
Another question, does the pulley rotates freely? Sometimes the bearing can be worn.

collinsj

After discovering i could not remove the magnet without removing the power steering pump, or the pulley to get to the bolts holding it onto the compressor, i decided to just put the new pulley and clutch, yes the pulley spun freely and the clutch also spun pretty easy, i do have it adjusted to where the clutch is only a hair off the pulley surface. So after putting everything on except the new magnet in hopes that the old one was still good, considering it was trying to engage before, i think maybe a wire got pulled on the old magnet thus leaving it inoperable. So im going to try and take it to a shop and say hey i have a new magnet, can you put it on ill pay for labor 😁 haha. And yes, the snap rings are ridiculous, remember I did all this with the radiation still intact LOL! The clutch snap ring was nearly impossible, but I got it back together, it drives. Just missing my cold air </3

machadosl

I understand your situation, driving a car without air conditioner in hot countries like where I live is hard, fortunately I have another car to drive when my Mercedes is stucked in the garage waiting for repair.
I am having an issue with the ar conditioner of my E240, sometimes, the EC lamp come on and the HVAC control does not respond any command. I have to reset it and it comes on again. Maybe I have a short circuit somewhere, but I wasn't able to find until now.
My advice, don't give up if you like your car.

collinsj

Yeah, im in central Florida. It gets pretty hot and humid here. But i was planning on driving this car to nevada soon, so no ac is going to be Crappy. I love the car, i really want to keep it if i can, its nearing 200k miles though and from my general inspection(im not a mechanic by any means) the car looks a little rough. Both front cv axles were torn and completely dry, there 2 on going codes, p0400 & p0450, neither i can seem to get rid of, and where i took my car in to have them try to hook it up to a smoke machine they turned me down and suggested i sell it after the car failed all the tests their computer ran prior to them working on it, like i said, the car seems to run amazing, at least for what im used to, but I miss my ac. Have you tried checking the air conditioner codes via climate control unit?

machadosl

Yes, I received the code that says the gas temperature sensor is faulty, but since I bought the car there were no temperature sensor, only the one inside the car, and this one is okay, and also, the air conditioner was working fine. This problem appeared after I cleaned the engine compartment, washing it, só I think it is a short circuit, but until now I did not had time to take a better look. I hope soon, as I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and here is really hot.
About the errors of your car, it seems that you have a problem with the canister or the evaporative emissions of the fuel compartment, sometimes is only the canister that is clogged with excess of fuel.

machadosl

Hi, just to update the information about the HVAC of my E240, I have found the source of the problem that caused the air conditioner to enter the EC mode and to come back to the normal situation only after a reset. It was the positive wire that goes to the magnetic clutch of the compressor that had a small part of it bare.