A part of an air conditioner which is responsible for supplying the cool air is called a compressor. A compressor supplies pressurized refrigerant air to the room as cooled gas which results in the cooling of the surrounding area.
There might occur any circumstances under which you will have to change the compressor of your car’s AC or you might need to take out the compressor to look what is wrong if it is not working properly. Under such circumstances, you need to have proper knowledge on how to extract the compressor from your car’s engine.
There can be many a times when your car’s AC doesn’t work properly and you don’t know what can be wrong. You might not have any mechanic nearby and can have no other option than to take a look at the problem by yourself. More than half percent chances are, that your AC’s compressor has incurred a problem. As the compressor is responsible for supplying cool air to the surrounding are, if it stops working, you will have a poorly functioning air conditioner.
If you have encountered a problem in which you need to extract or replace your car’s compressor, follow the steps below to get the work done easily so you can take it to a mechanic or a car specialist without damaging other parts of your car’s engine.
HOW TO REPLACE YOUR AIR CONDITIONER’S COMPRESSOR;
STEP 1: TAKE THE COMPRESSOR OUT:
Take the negative terminal out of your car’s battery and get to the serpentine belt. If there are any coverings, removing them. You will reach the engine of your car. Take any tubes and hoses out of the engine.
The compressor will be beneath these hoses and tubes and to access it, you will need to carefully remove any obstacles not to inflict damage upon any other part of the car. Use right type of tools such as wrenches to remove any bolts and wires carefully. Keep these bolts and wires safe because you will need them after.
There is an electric connector near the compressor, unbolt it carefully using a screw driver. You will find high and low refrigerant lines there too; you need to unbolt them too. Grip this line, pull it upward while rotating it slightly and detach it. You will be able to remove both upside and downside lines by following this procedure.
Now, you will get to the lower and upper mounting bolts. Using a small wrench or a universal joint socket and remove these mounting bolts. Remove the last bolts carefully, handling the compressor while doing so, to avoid any damage to the car or yourself. After removing all bolts, you will be able to take the compressor out of the car.
STEP 2: EXAMINE THE REMOVED COMPRESSOR:
Before deciding to through away your air compressor, you should check if it can be fixed. It is not necessary that the compressor that you have just taken out of the car’s engine is altogether damaged. There is a possibility that it can have some debris or some foreign metal part stuck inside it, and taking it out can result in finer working conditions.
Try to check what made the air compressor fail. if you hear a grinding noise by turning the clutch, it means that there is some foreign debris that should be taken out. To do this, you need an AC flush kit and unblock the orifice tube or the expansion valve. Check the exhaust port and refrigerant pipe and clean them thoroughly. It may be the best option to get a new expansion valve if the original is completely blocked.
Step 3: getting a new compressor:
If the old compressor cannot be fixed, it might be the best option to replace it with a new one. Though the new model of a compressor can vary in design, the process to replace it remains the same. Be sure about the exhaust and intake side of the refrigerant port. Check the number of ribs on the belt pulley ad also check the outside diameter. Use the bolts that you took from the old compressor to fit the new compressor in its place.
Check user guide before installing. If there is a need to add compressor oil in the new unit, do so after checking that the new unit doesn’t already come with filled oil.
STEP 4: Replace the old O-RINGS:
The O rings are used by high and low side lines that prevent leaks by creating a sealed environment. When changing an air compressor, be sure to change the O rings too, to avoid any future leaks.
Take the O rings off carefully from high and low sidelines and throw them away. Using the old O rings will feel like a good idea but you can have more problems by keeping them.
Take the new O-rings which match the diameter and length of the old O rings. Place these O rings by carefully sliding them on the sidelines. Apply peg oil over the carefully placed O rings to secure them tightly.
Step 5: installing the new compressor:
Make sure that the path is cleared for you to put new compressor in the engine. Place the compressor in the former compressor’s place. Put bolts on the compressor using your hands and when it is safely sitting on the engine, sure the bolts tightly with help of the screw drivers and wrenches.
Install high and low refrigerant lines and be sure to safely tighten the bolts. Put back any accessories you remove earlier and secure everything with bolts.
Note:
While removing all the pipes, nuts and bolts from the engine, make a video or write in the notebook about the complete process so you can easily put back everything.
Before placing the new compressor, be sure to clean the whole AC system to have a longer battery life of you air conditioner and the compressor. So, this is the guide to replace your own Air conditioners compressor.
