Another AC question

["John Van Vuren" <veedublu@prod.net>]

Dammit...   my little red 16v truck's AC system decided to quit on me the
other day....   of course we're looking at a few hot and humid days coming
up this weekend.

I was driving at a high rate of speed (I'm sure this news will shock some of
you out there) for an extended period of time...  basically, about 5500 rpms
for a good 10 minutes or so.  During this time the AC compressor kicked on
and off several times.  I'm thinking I burned the clutch out of the
compressor with it trying to engage at high rpms over and over.

Now when I turn on the AC, the radiator fan kicks on, the idle speed
increases, but the compressor isn't turning...  it does make a "chattering"
noise however, leading me to believe it's trying to engage.  Also, since it
quit suddenly instead of just not being as efficient and slowly getting
worse, I'm pretty sure it's still fully charged.  I can turn the compressor
by hand (when the engine isn't running), so it's not locked up solid.

The big question....  can I replace the clutch in the compressor?  Without
discharging the system?  Of course, I have another compressor here, but
don't have the hassles of recharging.  For some reason I remember a
discussion about this a looong time ago...  Mr Meze, have any comments?
Constructive of course  ;)

Thanks in advance for your time

John

'87 16v Scirocco
and lots of other stuff
website - http://www.prod.net/jvanvuren/vw.htm


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